Three kids...

I had a little practice today on what it is going to be like to have three kids to contend with. I got to watch precious, little Eli (my friend Kandice's 3.5 month old son) all day while she was in a meeting. I had already planned to take the boys to this fun little kid place and just brought Eli along with us. Kandice dropped him off, I got instructions on when he would need to be fed, we strapped him and the boys up in the van and took off. About 10 minutes down the road, Eli starts crying (he's not big on car rides, apparently). Before I let myself get too stressed out, I reminded myself that he was fine, there was nothing I could do to help him as I'm driving down a busy highway, except keep him safe. I knew that we we got to our destination, I would be able to calm him down. Well, my poor, sweet boys did not know all this. They didn't like that Eli was crying, they didn't know why, Sam couldn't put his paci in for him (he tried), it was a loud, weird noise and they just didn't understand, so they started crying! I'm driving down 24, with three kids in the backseat, crying, tears streaming down their cheeks, Sam's hands on his ears, crying, crying, crying. It was hysterical, I just drove and laughed, because really, what was I to do? I tried the radio, it just made things louder, I tried talking to them and finally that calmed my boys down. I just told them that babies cry, but that he was okay. They finally believed me and calmed down. Eli quit crying when I took him out of the blasted car seat! The rest of the day, he was a little angel. Such a sweetie, he's got these dimples that are killer and he stares. He stares you down, and never stops staring at you, it's so cute. When we got back in the car to leave, I prepared the boys that he might cry again and that he would be okay. He did cry, but just for about 15 minutes, then he squeaked his unhappiness the rest of the way home. When we got home and the boys went to take their naps, Eli and I had a little photo shoot and then he fell asleep to me rocking him, he stared me down until those little eyes couldn't stay open anymore. It was a fun day with three kids...although, I will say I'm going to bed as soon as I finish this...it's 9pm...I put the boys to bed at 7:30...I'm tired!