I found this picture on another blog I love so much — Momastery — and it just made me smile. It’s too good to keep to myself.

Greetings from a whirlwind of children and postpartum healing. I just wanted you to know that my silence does not mean that things are going badly. Things are actually going not badly.

Pepper is 11 days old. The scale says I have lost over 20 pounds, which I guess means all of that was baby and fluid and the remaining 30 must be straight up fat. I swore I would stick to the recommended 25-pound gain this time around, but because I’m such an overachiever I doubled it instead. 

I wore my Belly Bandit for 3 days straight, but when we got home from the hospital I ended up having to ditch it because I couldn’t handle wearing the wrap and the Ergo carrier, with the baby breathing on my chest and the summer heat that still makes the house hot in the afternoon despite cranking the A/C down to 65 degrees. It was beyond claustrophobic. So I threw my vanity out the window and decided I would rather have a flabby stomach for a little longer than ignoring my fussy baby who just wants to listen to her mother’s heartbeat. I can address my stretched-out midsection in a few months when I start going back to the gym, but Pepper seems to require listening to my heart for a certain number of hours per day right now …

And that is fine with me.

The Belly Bandit totally worked for the days that I wore it. At first I couldn’t close it — I had to lie on my hospital bed and wrench it shut with all my might and it was still not really shut all the way. But a few hours later, I tightened it and I continued to tighten it over the course of those three days. I didn’t realize it would be such an ordeal to wear it while also “wearing” the baby … they should mention that somewhere on their website. Maverick helpfully pointed out to me yesterday that my stomach still isn’t all the way flat. Yes … yes. I’m aware.

We are all adjusting to this new juggling act, but it’s really going fine. The boys both have some angst, but they are handling the arrival of their sister a lot better than what I was prepared for.

Because I’m having major mood swings, I waffle between thinking I have the sweetest children on Earth and thinking that they are all purposefully trying to send me to the asylum. I’ll feel like I have everything under control and then the next minute I feel like I have no business being a mother. Hormones are exhausting. I mean, men probably find women exhausting, but they should try actually being one.

Tomorrow, Husband and I are going on an actual date. I’m going to put on actual clothes and leave the house with an actual purse. It’s my first step towards normalcy, and I can’t wait.

There are a few things that have happened in the past week, aside from Pepper’s birth, which have changed my life. 

First, Husband got a big promotion. Like really big. I am so ridiculously proud of him I kind of want to cry every time I think about it. I know that this is a direct answer to so many prayers I have whispered during my crazy days at home, asking God to “PLEASE GIVE ME STRENGTH and help me to be a GOOD AND DECENT MOTHER to these children, and You know what would help me out too? A little financial freedom and a gym membership again.” Apparently He agreed with me.

So many things have been happening around here that we haven’t had a chance to properly celebrate and acknowledge this huge accomplishment. I am no longer the wife of a car salesman. I am now the wife of a Finance Manager.  

And all the people said … AMEN.

Here are some other, less consequential things that have helped my transition into mothering three children be slightly less shocking:

1. I have learned to trust myself. I thought I already trusted myself, but as it turns out there are different levels of confidence. I am proud of the choices I’ve made and continue to make.

2. I’m not medicated, but I plan to get medicated immediately if I start to go off the deep end. I think Pepper’s birth reminded me there is no medal for soldiering on when you can just take the drugs.

3. Baby gates. I finally bit the bullet and allowed Husband to put a horribly tacky baby gate up to keep Asher out of the kitchen … and off the dining room table … and out of the refrigerator … and away from the dishwasher. It may be tacky, but my life seems so much simpler now.

 
 Asher begs to differ.

4. A normal baby. I have never experienced the joy of a newborn who didn’t scream incessantly. Wow … life without colic is so different. If you have kids and none of them were colicky, count yourself blessed. For once, I can enjoy my infant without feeling like my stomach is all tied up in knots from endless hours of screaming. Maybe THAT is why I don’t need medication. 

I’d say our first week has been a surprising success.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have to juggle multiple objects … may I suggest … 

Strap one to your chest.
 

Look what finally came in the mail today! My Belly Bandit(s)!
 

My hospital bag is complete. My teeth are whitened. Now, I am ready to go into labor.
 

Husband and I were alone in our house for 48 hours this weekend while he recovered from his vasectomy, and it was amazing. We watched movies. We ordered takeout. I didn’t cook. I didn’t clean. All we did was lounge and move awkwardly around the house … we made quite a pair with our matching waddles.

It was nice. So, so nice. We’re already plotting our next escape.

But then … the children came back, Husband is still in pain 4 days later, and Asher fell out of the shopping cart in Hobby Lobby (yes, he was strapped in, and I have no idea how it even happened), and we learned that Maverick will have to get weekly allergy shots for 25 consecutive weeks which is something I can’t think about right now so I gave myself permission to put it out of my head until the end of the summer.

That’s what we’re doing. Husband is hobbling around and kind of green with pain, but he is at home with us — a rarity. So we are enjoying him while he’s here. I sure hope he’s recovered from V-day before D-day arrives.

I have a new obsession.

How will I while away my time before baby #3 arrives, you ask? Well … I think we have our answer.

This is day 6 of having both kids home with me 24/7. We still have 13 days to go before Maverick starts summer camp. 

God help us all.