Sharing a Mommie: The Three-way Split

Something has been happening as of late. I suppose it has always happened in my family, but I think that I am noticing it more now that my babies are toddlers.

Anyone with more than one child knows what it's like to have your kids demand your attention at the same time.

And, I know first hand, how hard it is to appease them when they each decide that they need you NOW!

I often times wonder if it is any different for Mums having more than one child of varying ages than it is for me having three of the exact same age.

After all, my husband and I have conquered feeding three all at the same time, sometimes even doing it solo.

We have mastered bathing three babies, dressing them, changing their diapers (yes, multiples really do EVERYTHING together including soiling their nappy's!)

The only thing that I haven't quite mastered is teaching them that it is okay to SHARE THE MOMMY!!!!

This morning, I heard Kian start to have a meltdown in the living room.

I decided to go ahead and see what the frustration was, and ran in to see if I could make him a bit happier.

As it turns out, he was sitting in the recliner with a Christmas toy that had bad batteries in it, still (the horrors!)

The silent toy had him all out of sorts, so I went ahead and ran to the rescue armed with a butter knife and a fresh set of batteries.

He was delighted at first. He and I sat in the huge recliner together, checking out all of the nifty things that the new toy does.

Our baby-Mommy moment only lasted a few minutes. It was interrupted by Kaiden taking notice of the cool music and pretty blinking lights coming from the new toy.

He came running over, and scaled up the side of the recliner and one of my legs with the skill of an experienced mountain climber.

Before I really could realize what had happened, he was sitting perched on one of my knees, his thumb in his mouth, playing with the half of the toy that faced him.

Kian was left still sitting in my lap with only half of a toy available to him, and apparently not near enough of his Mum to himself.

Of course, in typical Kaiden fashion, he had managed to toss one of his legs over Kian's to where he was also technically sitting in part of Kian's lap as well.

We have long since dubbed Kai our little personal space invader, as this is his usual habit which he takes such a delight in doing!

Kian's lower lip went square and the crocodile tears began to fall. Pretty soon, he was all snotty, which made him even more upset (he doesn't like ick of any sort.)

Kai remained oblivious to the entire thing, finding Kian's reaction completely natural and apparently normal and to be expected.

Since it was nearly nap time, Kaiden decided to throw himself around to where he was facing me, and burrow his head into my shoulder, regardless of poor Kian still sitting in my lap.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not comfort Kian and calm him down. It was all that I could do not to let either of the boys fall out of my lap, really.

Kian kept trying to wriggle out from under Kaiden. Kiaden couldn't decide whether he wanted to snuggle more, or play with that really super cool toy.

Then, Vivienne, who had been playing quietly with her dollie and her doll furniture, decided to come and try and join us.

Apparently a good snuggle seemed like the order of the day for my tiny trio. The only problem was, that my lap was more than full.

That fact was lost on Vivienne, who feels that there is ALWAYS room enough for everyone regardless of logistics.

She just surveyed the situation a little bit longer before attempting to scale the recliner and find a spot on top of us.

So, there I was, sitting in my mother's recliner, under a pile of Christmas toys and babies.

I was in quite a quandary, really. If I tried moving, somebody might fall. Then again, if Kaiden or Kian decided to move, Vivienne might fall.

I only had two arms, and they were both supporting the boys at that very moment. Thankfully, I could tell time by what was playing on the television.

The "Wonder Pets" were rolling their end credits, meaning that it was 10 o'clock and definitely nap time.

Hoping for the best, I decided to ask the babies if they wanted to go, "Night, night" and go to sleep.

Kaiden gasped, and began to scramble down from the body pile in my lap. Somehow, he managed NOT to upset or topple anybody.

His feet hit the ground running as he made his way to the hallway baby gate.

Vivienne also hopped down and tried making a beeline for the baby gate.

She got all the way there before remembering that she had forgotten her baby in her haste. Where ever Vivie goes, so goes baby.

Meanwhile, the mass evacuation had given me a chance to actually get to hug Kian properly which calmed him down enough to want to make the same trek that his siblings were making.

Nobody wants to lose the race to the stairs at my house! When I opened that gate, Kian took off as fast as he could, leaving Kai standing by himself at the bottom of the stairs.

He was trying to figure out how best to use the banister to his advantage, when his sister managed to pass him on the landing with baby in tow.

Thankfully, everyone really was ready for a nap and went pretty much happily and of their own volition.

Wow, after that, I really needed nap time to recuperate! What's a Mum to do? Sometimes, one baby needs more attention than the others.

But it's times like these that inspire the other babies to decide that they also need the SAME solo attention!

There are days when Vivienne will absolutely lose it if someone else even climbs up onto the couch and sits next to us while she is in my lap.

You don't even have to touch her to upset her, either. Just the mere presence of a sibling can set off a flurry of tears and Vivie wailing.

I suppose it's the one thing that I never will figure out. I suppose that they might outgrow this Mummie-need rivalry...or not.

Sadly, this problem extends to my husband as well. Lately, Kian has taken to calling him, "My Daddy!"

It is as if he is trying to warn the other babies that their Daddy time is to be vastly limited and not nearly as important as his want and need of it.

Funnier still, they even do this to my eldest son. They adore their big brother as well!

I suppose that it is good to be loved, even if it means that you get looked at as some sort of high-stakes prize that must be split up and time-shared!