Three Kids...and Adjusting

This past week, Justin was out of town for the whole week on a hunting trip, and it was my first experience as a "single" mom of three children (Just for the record, I am all for my husband taking time to do "manly" things with his guy friends. I think it's very healthy and good for him to have that time away every year, and usually there's the payoff of a full freezer! Not the case this year, but still...). Many of my friends and family called to see how I was doing throughout the week.

Do you need anything? Overwhelmed? Stressed?

And I could honestly answer all those questions no...most of the time. However, as my beloved friend Becca found out on Wednesday, I answered YES to all of them! I really was doing great with my kiddos, until I went to the grocery store. Keep in mind, this is not the first time I've hazarded a trip there with all three Limmer kids. We have been successful on two other occasions. But it seems that there has to be at least one horrendous shopping trip every time we add a child to our family.

I should back up. When we had our second child, Trinity, our oldest, Asia was 2 1/2 years old. I could not fathom going to the store with both of them. How in the world did my mom ever do it with four? Eventually, we had to eat, so off we went. The trip went great at first. Asia decided she was now a big girl and didn't need to ride in the cart. Fabulous! I needed to fill it up with food anyway! I'm thinking, "Wow, maybe this isn't so bad! This is no problem!" We got down to the final three aisles of shopping, and my big girl adamantly insists that she needs to get back in the cart. She's tired, she's hungry, and there is no way she is going to walk anymore. Small problem - there's no where for her to sit. Her space in the cart is occupied with cans of vegetables and jugs of milk. While she is rather loudly voicing her desires (if you've ever heard Asia cry then you know what I mean), my darling sweet baby who has been so contendedly sleeping this entire time decides Mommy's allotted grocery shopping time has expired and it is now time to nurse. Immediately. In response to my baby's urgent demands, my milk let down and my face instantly turned the color of a tomato. At that moment, I had two thoughts. I could either abandon my overflowing cart and run for my car with screaming kids in tow, or I could sit down on the floor in the frozen food section and have a good cry right along with them. I actually did neither of those things and somehow managed to get through the checkout and back home (I can't really remember how, though). Eventually we got our system down and never quite had a mishap like that again.

Fast forward to last Wednesday. Foolishly thinking that I'd already figured out grocery shopping with THREE kids, I am sure that we are capable of handling a rather long shopping list that day. Moses sits in the front of the cart, Asia walks, and Trina sits in the big basket until either I bury her with groceries or she can no longer stand being "little" and wants to walk like her sister. Again, we have successfully navigated the entire store and only have the frozen food section and produce to get through. Everyone is tired and hungry and ready to be done. Trina decided she needed to walk directly in front of the cart. Only problem is that I cannot see her when she walks there and promptly ran her over. Screaming child number 1. While I'm trying to console Trina, Asia tries to stuff herself on the bottom rack of the cart, right where Moses is sitting. Never mind that I had repeatedly told her not to do this because her brother has dangerous feet. In a matter of seconds, Moses had kicked her in the eye. Screaming child number 2 (and yes, she still screams really, really loud). Just for good measure, Moses decides he's frustrated being in the cart and lets his opinion be heard. Screaming child number 3. Again, we somehow made it through the checkout, out to the car, and back to our house. Now everyone is REALLY tired and hungry! So being the wonderful mother that I am, I sat them all at the table, gave each one a big pile of Cheetos and put away the ice cream, juice, and milk. After making them eat their real lunch (I had to make them of course, because they were no longer hungry after Cheetos), and getting them all to their beds for a nap, I laid on the couch thankful that we had all survived.

So here's to all you mothers out there! You're amazing people and don't ever forget it!