Lessons Learned from Having 3 Kids

image courtesy of softerlogi via sxc.hu

For the first 7 years of our marriage, Joanna and I seldom drank coffee. We'd drink it on social occasions, or maybe once every 10-12 weeks with breakfast. But that all was about to change.

We had a lot of life change in a seven-week span between December 2006 and February 2007. We sold our house, bought a house, fixed up the new house, moved, and I started a new job. But the biggest and best event (and the one that we blame for our current coffee habit) is that our third child, Sender, was born on December 23.

As with most families who have multiple kids, we were much less uptight in our parenting style. This is good in the sense that we are not stressed over so many things like we were with Hannah. This is bad in the sense that Sender gets away with a lot more than he should be. Our discipline style usually consists of one of us correcting Sender while our spouse tries to stifle his or her laughter.

Some good friends of ours, Ryan & Molly Burns, also have three kids. Over the years, we have received so much encouragement and support from them. We have learned a lot from how well they have parented, including why they chose to be a Santa Family.

The Burns just celebrated year one of having three kids, and in Year 1 With 3, Molly shares some lessons she learned. If you have kids, especially three or more, you can appreciate the topics that she hits on, including:

• Shredded cheese
• The time it takes to get dinner ready
• How long it takes to get ready to leave the house
• Laundry
• Why she might call you at 11PM

For the record -- Molly is one of the best thinkers and writers I know, and I wish she had time to blog more. But with three kids, I know it's hard. I mean, look at her blog. She doesn't even keep up with it enough to take off the link to the blog of "My Dear Husband," even though he hasn't written on it in over 18 months.

Oh, well, check out her latest post anyway. And maybe you can share what lessons she could expect in year 2.


Related Link:

• Why First Time Moms Lose Their Minds