3 under 3

I'm babysitting Eva today, which, as always, is an exercise in my juggling abilities. We realized that each child is more than 9 months apart, so I could, theoretically, have had 3 children at these ages. And Eva looks remarkably like my children, so strangers would probably believe she was mine.

First, let me tell all you mommas out there a little secret: magic beans. I bought a bag of dry, raw lima beans at the grocery store the other day because Isaac wanted to play with them. While trying to cook lunch today, I stuck Anders in his high chair and gave Isaac one half and Eva the other half of the lima beans and then I didn't hear a peep out of them until lunch was ready. They stirred them, poured them, spilled them, picked them up, and buried little toys in them. Awesome.

After lunch was nap time, which would be wildly entertaining to a fly on the wall. First I tried to read books to all three of them on my bed. Anders thinks my bed is a place to wrestle, so he was all over the place and cracking up. Isaac was being a stinker, so he was hiding in my curtains and just coming to check out the stories once in awhile. Eva was ever the angel and attentively listened to the story despite being mauled by Ando baby.

Then we all said goodnight to Eva and put her in the pack and play in my room. Anders and I stopped in Izey's room to tuck him in, but couldn't find a mimi, so went back downstairs to get him one. Said good night to Izey and then went to Ando's room. Nursed Anders and put him down, but heard rumblings upstairs, so went to check it out. Isaac was out of bed, so I took away Baby. Then Eva was crying so I went to see if she was okay. She had pooped, so I changed her diaper and tucked her back in. Isaac was out of bed again, so I took away blankie. Came back down and heard that Anders was crying. Nurse Ando again and put him back down, finally truly asleep. Went back upstairs and heard Eva saying, "I no ni-nigh! I no ni-nigh!" and Isaac singing, "THAT'S ELMO'S WOOOOOOOORLD!" Decided to give it a minute before intervening. Went back up stairs a few minutes later and... all is quiet.

Whew.