I got this

Two years ago I took our three kids to the library. It was my first solo outing with three kids. Iddo had turned two and Shimri and Shimei were almost 12 weeks old. I loaded everyone in the car. We drove to the library. I put Shimri and Shimei in the double stroller and we went in. I sat in a corner of the kid section. Iddo went looking for books. I nursed Shimri and put her back in the stroller. I nursed Shimei and put him back in the stroller. I helped Iddo check out the books she’d found. And we went home.

I’d done it. I’d left the house with three kids all by myself. Nobody had died. Nobody thought they were dying. And from there on we just went places.

Last week I took our FOUR kids to the library. It was my first solo outing with four kids. Iddo is four. Shimri and Shimei are two. Izri was 3.5 weeks old. I loaded everyone in the car. We drove to the library. I put Shimri and Shimei in the double stroller and Izri in the Baby K’Tan carrier and we went in. I wandered around the kid section while Izri slept in the baby wrap on my chest. Iddo, Shimri, and Shimei looked at books and colored the coloring sheets on the table. I followed Shimei around because he likes to pull the things on the shelves out that indicate what letter of the alphabet is where for the authors and put them on the floor. We found 15 books we needed to bring home. I helped Iddo check them out. Shimri and Shimei got back in the double stroller. We got Izri his very own library card. And we went home.

Piece of cake!

On the way home I thought about how different the transition from 1 to 3 had been (the transition from 2 to 3 only took 20 minutes so we don’t count that) compared with the transition from 3 to 4.

For example, Iddo was born on a Saturday and the following Sunday, at 8 days old, we took her to Sacrament meeting at church and then came home (it seems like for some reason that’s all there was anyway that week). Shimri and Shimei were born on a Sunday and the following Sunday, at 7 days old, we took them to Sacrament meeting at church and then I came home with them. Izri was born on a Monday and the following Sunday, at 6 days old, we stayed all three hours of church and I taught half of a Gospel Doctrine lesson (Brett taught the other half).

Going from 3 to 4 isn’t that big of a deal for us it seems. We’re already out-numbered (definitely playing a zone defense now, not a man-to-man), so what’s one more? Of course it helps that our #4 is one of the most chill people around. And an awesome sleeper. And an insanely fast eater. And it helps that our other three are good listeners and not runners and not prone to nuclear meltdowns in public (they do happen at home on occasion though).

I’m knocking on wood and I may eat my words later. But for now, I got this. 🙂