This Sunday was the first day I watched all three children on my own. Although mildly terrified on the run up it was actually completely fine. Here’s what I discovered:
Get out early, and stay out
I knew this anyway – hanging around in the house = bored monkeys, and bored monkeys = riding brother like a donkey, poking sister in the face etc etc etc.
So we were on the 9:30 train to soft play, shops, GBK, play park – anything but hang around in the house. The added bonus was that just after lunch they all did this, at the same time!
Do whatever you need to to keep the happiness levels up
Those photos say it all. That’s Five and Nearly-3 in the double buggy and Really-Quite-Chunky-For-10-Months in the sling. The back ache was preferable to herding the older ones under their own steam.
I could hear Dear Wifey saying “What’s the point of all that exercise if you can’t carry all three children when they have a chronic case of ‘tired leggies'”. And she would have had a point.
Share the load
I’m not sure if this is cheating, or invalidates everything I’m saying, but Five had a birthday party in the afternoon. At which point looking after two children felt like a holiday.
And a bonus fourth point: Dear Wifey does an amazing job
I also knew this anyway. While I’m patting myself on the back she does this every single day. I now have a fuller appreciation of why she falls asleep on the sofa at 8:30.
Andy lifts and moves 
Thank you darling, you did a fab job yesterday and it enabled me to have a gorgeous day out and not feel guilty. I was happily stunned to walk into such a calm peaceful environment afterwards. Love ya!
Well done! That first time is always the hardest – and, as you say, it makes all those other times when you just have one or two of them seem like a breeze. I often have all three of ours for half a day or so at a time, sometimes all day, and it definitely gets easier with practice!
That’s good to hear! I’m sure it’ll get easier as they get older too. Our youngest is so full of enthusiasm for whatever the girls do, but his ‘joining in’ invariable involves trying to eat whatever game they’ve carefully created.
Wooo well done you!! Juggling three is never easy! I know my hubs feels the same 🙂
Thanks! Work felt pretty restful by comparison today
[…] red wine and gin cocktails to die for. Seriously we could have parked up and stayed all night! Hubby did a wonderful job looking after all three kids for the first time, and it was great for me to have a little break […]