My life with 3 children under the age of 3

So, Danielle Bean, Jennifer and Betty are all teaming together to try to get help for the Roses! My comment got so long I figured I might as well make it a blog post too. The question is how do you make it work with many small children. I have 3 children (all single births) under the age of 3 and no family living nearby to help. Here are some of the purely practical ideas that have helped me.

First, try to abandon perfectionism. If you can keep your kids in clean diapers (for the most part), fed and not killing each other or themselves, you have succeeded that day. Some days all you can do is keep them alive.

My kids go straight for the kitchen and eat first thing in the morning, then we change diapers and hang up PJ’s (to be used for the next night if still clean) and get dressed (well, at least most days we get dressed.)

My kids generally have energetic play in the morning, nap time/quiet time after lunch, and reading time in the afternoon. We try to pick up toys once a day. I find limiting toys to dress up, books, blocks, stuffed animals and music has helped keep things from getting out of control. Any extras (like play-dough and games or puzzles) are put somewhere out of reach for when I have a great day and feel like getting them down. And they usually get to watch one video at some point during the day (I try to limit it to one, because otherwise my children get bored with our video selection and it doesn’t work anymore!)

Plan lots of snacks (like at least 3 a day over here), and never use all your diversions at once, if you’re going to read books just do that, if you’re going to have a snack then just do that, if you’re going to watch a video just do that. If you use up all 3 at once you might be out of options later during the day.

I have several easy meals that get cycled pretty often, spaghetti, tacos, some crock pot meals. I try to have ingredients for beef and beans or tuna on hand all the time since they can be thrown together in a few moments after a particularly bad day.

I don’t do special meals for kids at dinner. They usually eat whatever we do, and if they don’t want to for some reason they are allowed to get down and go play. I don’t force them to eat it, but they don’t get anything different either. They usually get a snack of bread and butter right before bed and that helps them sleep a little longer.

Less is more! Anything that I don’t use EVERYDAY is put in the basement. Its that much less stuff for them to get into, and that much less for me to clean and keep track of and feel bad about when I don’t have time to use it.

I try to get one load of dishes into the dishwasher everyday, since if I don’t they pile up like crazy. I have a little hand vac in my kitchen, it makes cleaning up highchairs soooooo much easier.

I try to sweep the whole kitchen floor once a day, then the amazing amount of food that my kids manage to drop on the floor doesn’t get tracked all over the house and I have to wash my kitchen floor less often.

If my cleaning gets really backed up (usually happens at least once a week) I get my hubby to spend an hour with the kids while I do a whirlwind pickup and vacuum.

I try to get one load of laundry in the wash machine at some point during the day, before I go to bed I make sure that I threw it in the dryer. I have all our clothing stored in the basement right next to the wash machine and dryer. Yes it makes it a little strange when my hubby forgets to grab clothes before his shower and has to hike downstairs in a towel to grab some clean clothes, but the clothing never got put away otherwise. (Plus my kids were always unloading the dressers to play dress up if by some miracle some clothing had gotten put away.)

I have a table and a hanging rod in the corner for all my hubby’s clothes, a long shelf each for the kids, and a small shelving unit for myself. I wash all sheets and towels and underwear on hot, everything else is washed cold and unsorted. When I empty the dryer I throw it onto the clean laundry pile on top of a blanket I leave on the floor. I try to sort through the clean clothes for a few minutes every night. I fold or hang hubby’s and my clothing. I don’t even try to fold all the tiny pieces of toddler and baby clothing, I sort it by kid and lay it on their shelf.

I try to keep the diaper bag loaded and ready to go at all times, then I don’t have to think about it when I am trying to stuff all those wiggly fat little arms and legs into outerwear to go out somewhere.

Hats and scarves get stuffed into the coat sleeves and the coat hung onto a high hook, mittens must be on a string. When boots get taken off at the door they all get thrown in the plastic bin right there.

We do our grocery shopping as a family every other week. On hubby’s day off we go to the store first thing in the morning (2 carts and the baby in the sling) and we stock up on everything we will need for 2 weeks. I plan dinners so I know what to buy, and just get stuff I use most often for breakfasts and lunches.

I can’t think of any books that I’ve really gained a whole lot from, most of them are about dealing with one or 2 children. The product I can’t do without is probably the baby bouncer and the bed rail I have on my bed (That way if I am nursing at night I don’t have to worry about the baby falling out of bed).

If you get to sleep during the day, DO IT! My oldest won’t nap anymore, so it isn’t usually an option for me. Be sure that you get enough water (I always forget to drink enough) it might help to keep a full jug on the counter to remind you, or just drink one full glass every time you nurse or go to the bathroom (yes, you really do need that much when you are nursing). Vitamins D and B are important. Exercise is important, I’ve been trying (the last month or so) to walk for 20 minutes on the treadmill during the babies video everyday.

This list is pretty comical if I look at it, but hopefully helpful. Don’t think that somehow I actually keep up with all of this every day (or any day for that matter) but these guidelines have helped maintain sanity.