...of our 3 amigos:

Last week was a pretty bad week for me.  It peaked mid-week but thankfully got better after that.  I was way beyond "Calgon take me away."  I wanted to just *poof* disappear and not come back until I was ready.  I just didn't want to be the "mother".  Not that I didn't want my kids or love them, I just didn't want to be the primary caregiver, responsible for how things went, deciding what to feed them, when to put them down for naps/bed, and determining whether or not they ate enough.  Let alone play the referee, discipline and change diapers for 3 bottoms.  I think what exacerbated things was that I was also feeling poor physically.  I'd been having some tingling in my muscles for a while now which I thought was strange.  They'd come and go, mostly in my back muscles, sometimes my arm.  But then I was really really tense last week.  Probably from stress and the various things I was doing as well, but my muscles were all so tight.  Mrfufu would try to massage, but it would only help while he was doing it.  Once he stopped, it felt the same as before.  Just couldn't get relief.  Then I started to have some muscle ache in my right leg Thursday morning.  While I was nursing Emma, it dawned on me that I'm probably experiencing symptoms of low calcium!!  I cut out dairy from my diet because it gives Emma some crazy gas pains, but I also haven't been great about taking my multivitamin or calcium supplements so I think it was taking a toll on my body.  So I've been diligently taking both my MVI and Ca and am happy to report that the symptoms have almost disappeared!  Yay!

Make sure you're getting adequate calcium!  (Btw, if you take the supplement, it's better to take the ones with vitamin D to help your body absorb/utilize it.  Or make sure you get enough sun exposure).

So I guess it's time to update, if nothing else, just to give myself a break from the daily routine (whatever "routine" means these days!)

Transition to 3 kids has been... busy, to say the least.  Definite sleep deprivation.  Praise God for our parents who live nearby and have given us tons of help since Emma's birth, though we know that this is just a hard stage that we'll need to get through right now.  Thankfully, Mrfufu's parents came over yesterday and gave me a chance to nap, which was a REAL refresher.  I was beginning to really drag, with the accumulation of lack of sleep.  To illustrate this point, here's a typical occurrence while putting Josiah to bed:

(Reading bedtime stories): I narrate, Josiah likes to be in charge of the book & turn the pages.  Inevitably, he turns a page, hears nothing, and turns around to look at me and whispers, "Mommy" -- to which I wake up and pick up where I left off.   Repeat this a few more times before I put him to bed.  haha.

Anyway, it's been said about motherhood that the days are long, but the years go by fast.  I think I would agree.  We're at the "days are long" phase right now (as well as the "nights are long"). 

But to focus on the positive side of this stage, here are some recent photos:

Welcome, Emma Bethany!  Admittedly, we've taken far fewer pictures of her up to date; we've already started the 3rd-kid syndrome of no photos...


Our three amigos: 



Some flashback/comparisons:

1) Josiah (20 months) with Abby (4 months).... vs. Abby (~19 months) with Emma (6 weeks):


2) Abby feeding herself.... vs. Mrfufu feeding himself (both around 18 months):


Okay, back to the tunnel.  Have a good weekend, everyone!
P.S.  Happy Birthday to Josiah who turns 3 tomorrow!  And Emma turned 2 months today.