February 3rd of this year, we welcomed our sweet baby girl.
She’s our third baby and, as of now, completes our biological family. From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I began to worry about taking care of three kids. Even though we always said we wanted three kids, and it took a year to conceive her, the reality of three children ages five and under didn’t hit until the positive test.
Throughout the months leading up to her birth, I’d try to picture what life would be like with a tiny baby.
How would she fit into our everyday lives? Would she enjoy car rides or abhor them like her oldest brother did as an infant?
Our oldest two are eighteen months apart, so it felt like an extension of the baby stage when our middle son was born. His older brother was still in diapers! With three and a half years between our middle son and our daughter, I worried about being out of practice. I became used to having two boys that are capable of buckling their own car seats, going to the bathroom on their own, and even making their own pb&j sandwiches! What was I going to do with a brand new baby, unable to do anything?
For nine months it felt like all I did was swing back and forth between complete excitement in meeting my baby girl and sheer terror of being outnumbered.
Closer to my due date, I reached out to a couple of Facebook groups, asking for advice on having three kids. The response was overwhelmingly positive! So many people said that they loved having three kids and that the older two adapted. I’m pretty sure one mom even said that three kids was the “sweet spot.”
While our daughter is only four months old, the encouraging words from fellow moms of three (plus) kids have all been true. Our baby girl is the sweetest addition to our family. Her older brothers adore her and have quickly adapted to life with a new baby. My middle son no longer tries to sleep in our bed since his sister sleeps in our room. My oldest son loves to talk to her while she is in her bouncer or hold her (when given the chance). Since our boys can be trusted to play in a separate room, I can use nursing as an excuse to rest in another room for a few minutes.
Especially now that our “fourth trimester” is over, and my immediate postpartum days feel far behind me, life with three kids is incredibly sweet. While I am not ready for her to grow up just yet, I am looking forward to watching how all three of my kids grow up together and cherishing the sweet moments. 
