It's busy. When you add another child to a family, it's not twice the amount of work, it's more like triple or quadruple the amount. The work load increases significantly with every new addition. Often there is really no spare time, it's always go go go.
With that said, the transition to having 3 kids has been far easier and way less overwhelming than I anticipated. When both my older children were born I remember feeling very overwhelmed and unable to tackle simple tasks without my head wanting to explode. The thought of leaving the house with them was very scary. I couldn't manage to keep up with the housework or the cooking while my boys were tiny babies. I think Finn was probably about 9 months old before I felt I could keep the house clean and cook meals for the family on my own!
I anticipated much the same this time around and was not looking forward to the feeling of being hopelessly helpless around the house while the mess accumulated, but it hasn't been like that at all. We really haven't stopped for much of anything since Lily has been born, rather we have just carried on as usual. We go to all our usual outings, and I've been able to keep up with my housework and laundry without much backlog. Between Tyler and I we've been able to keep up with home cooked meals just like before she was born. Good thing too, because we really hadn't prepared by making freezer meals ahead of time!
It helps a lot that Tyler's job right now is quite flexible so he can be around when I need him. Some mornings he helps before he leaves to work, and he comes home for lunch most days. He is also home early enough to help make dinner which is a big help. We make a good team when it comes to getting stuff done around the house.
The boys are a handful but still relatively easy compared to most other kids their ages I think! They are loud and hyper most of the time, but fairly independent which makes it easy to take care of all three kids because they are not constantly needing me to do things for them. Tristan can be a really big help when he wants to, and actually has been since Lily has been born. He can get snacks and drinks for him and Finn, and he can help Finn put his shoes on to go outside. He can dress himself now with minimal help and take himself to the bathroom. All that stuff makes a huge difference.
Lily has been a relatively easy-going and adaptable baby. She is starting to become a bit of a fussy-pants and I think she might be following in Finn's footsteps as a fussy baby, but since there is no time to slow down she just has to tag along for the ride. For the most part though I can just put her in the baby carrier which calms her right down and we can go anywhere like that. As the third child I suspect she has no choice but to just go with the flow!
So we are keeping up just fine around here. Our days are pretty much the same as they were before, only now it just takes a little extra time to get anything done or get out the door, but it's all good.
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