Barajas, Party of Five

This year our family went through a transition, and let me tell you, going from two to three kids was harder than I thought.

Micah added a new dynamic that we hadn’t dealt with before.

After Luke was born we struggled emotionally due to Luke's medical complexities. We struggled with things no family should go through, but in managing that we also did not experience the normal every day hard. We didn't experience a baby crying in the middle of the night, or a baby wanting to be held twenty-four-seven, and we did not have to worry about how loud we talked when the baby napped. These difficult parts of normal parenting were basically non existent with Luke. Looking back at our first born Mia, since she was the first baby we didn't have to worry about splitting our time when she cried. She started sleeping through the night at two weeks and she was overall a pretty good baby.

So here we are with three children all different in their own way. This transition has been chaotic to say the least. If you could see us on a Saturday morning you would know what we are talking about. On the weekends we don't have help from my mom or mother-in-law so our routine is kind of out of whack. We sleep in as late as possible and for us that’s 10:00am. Yes I know that’s very late but that’s Luke’s second meal of the day so we go by his schedule.

Our morning routine is a beautiful chaos!

So let's break it down. On a Saturday morning Adrian wakes up at 7:00am to prepare Luke's formula. His feeding runs through the pump into his g-tube for one hour and forty-five minutes, so he’s done at around 9:00am and gets a two hour beak. Mia comes into our room at 8:00am and lays with us as she watches cartoons. I feed Micah at around 8:00am in bed and get Mia something small to eat. During this time Adrian and I are trying to sleep as much as possible until we absolutely have to get out of bed. When we finally get out of bed it’s 10:00am. I wash up, change, and then change Micah’s diaper and his clothes then we go into the living room. Once I’m done Adrian also wakes up, gets dressed, and dresses Luke. Once we all are up I put Micah down and start our breakfast. Every Saturday we have eggs, bacon and pancakes. While this is happening Micah is usually crying his head off and Adrian is preparing Lukes medications that are given at 10:30, 11:00, 11:15, and 11:30. Then Adrian and I switch and he finishes breakfast while I feed Micah at about 10:30. At 11:00 I prepare Luke’s second meal, hook him up to the pump and then we finally sit down to have breakfast. While all this is happening Mia is running around playing, asking us to play music, dancing, and asking a million questions. Micah, like I said is crying and Luke will usually have a few seizures which always has us on high alert. Yes, this is our normal everyday life. It’s a beautiful chaos.

Our night time routine is just as crazy but I guess that’s what life is supposed to look like and I’m okay with that. As difficult as our life is right now I’m thankful for this normal every day hard because we have been on the other side of things. Even though Luke still requires a lot of care and watchfulness it’s something that is now part of our normal. I know that one day this chaos will end. Mia will get older and become more independent and Micah will stop crying and keep himself busy. These are transitions of life that I welcome whole heartedly because I know it’s part of life. Yes, parenting is hard but that’s because it’s supposed to be. It’s the natural progression of life. So next time you feel overwhelmed over your kids find joy in it because it’s a sign that your life is as it should be. Luke on the other hand has struggles that are more difficult to manage. His pain and circumstances are out of our control. We will be his caregiver for the rest of his life, and I pray so hard and beg the Lord that it’s a long life. But this hard is different; it's something that is not the natural progression of life.

So yes three kids is chaotic, our house is never clean, it’s always loud, and I always have spit up on my shirt but it's our crazy mess. And call me crazy but I don't feel like we’re done having kids. To be continued...