Dec 2, 2009

Hands Full

I have three children. Three. Did I mention the oldest is three? I have my hands full. Or so I'm told. I have only taken them out by myself once. To the mall. I didn't think it was a big deal. A lot of people go to the mall with three children. And then EVERY single person I made eye contact with said the exact same thing --"wow, you have your hands full". I heard it at least 37 times.

It caught me off guard. I mean, I have three children, not ten. And aside from Ian dumping a cup of water all over himself and Max begging to go buy a treat the whole time, they were fairly well behaved. It took all of my remaining energy to smile graciously to 37 strangers and say "yes, I do." I haven't taken the three of them out together since. Not because I can't handle the kids, but because I can't handle the onslaught of "you have your hands full" comments.

Today I had to get out. We went for a walk. I put the two boys in the stroller and the baby in the carrier. I didn't even make it one block before I ran into a pest control technician who stopped spraying, stared, and said "you sure have your hands full".

7 comments:

Kendra said...

This is too funny. I HATE it when people tell me that! HATE IT!! I complain all the time to J.D. when people tell me that. I am actually offended by the statement! I say "No they aren't full, I am busy but I wouldn't want it any other way!" I am with you on this one!!

Andrea said...

I remember discussing this with a mom of seven and she said she always replied "Isn't it WONDERFUL?!" or "I know, I'm so lucky!" I don't know that I've actually said that to someone but I think about it!

Andrea said...

PS - LOVE your photos!

Aaron & Sara Warren said...

First, Love the family photos. Second, I sort of like when people say that to me. It makes me feel proud to be a Mother. Guess I'm a sucker for attention? ;o)

Shells said...

I'm totally guilty of saying that to people, however, only when they have screaming kids and I'm trying to convey the message "don't worry about it, it's understandable with little ones."

I don't understand saying it to someone whose kids are behaving well.

Kathryn M said...

I agree with Annie kill em with kindess! Although I don't have any kids so I guess I can't really give advice :) However I can't wait to come see you and your crew at Christmas!!

Anonymous said...

It makes me smile that you have 3 kids who are three and under. That will be me one day.