the power of three

One of the smiles to greet me each morning.

I have always understood the power of language. I speak, write, read, sing using those fantastic 26 little letters. It was the ABC song I first introduced to my own little ones. I remember Madden particularly liked to accentuate the letter "X" when he sang it at only 2 years old. 

However, I am starting to appreciate the importance of numbers. I wake up each morning and immediately the numbers I read on the clock dictate how my day will begin. 7:30 = leisurely and calm 8:15 = frantic and furious. Another day in the life of a mommy of a 4 year old and two 2 year olds: change 2 diapers, pour 3 bowls of cereal, help put on 6 shoes and buckle 15 clasps on 3 car seats. These weren't the numbers I was thinking of when I found out we were having twins. My math equation was 2 babies = 2x the cuteness! What didn't occur to me until later was 2 babies waking every 3 hours through the night = very little sleep for the person expected to feed them, or that the width of 3 car seats > the width of the back bench of our vehicle, or that 3 x daycare costs - the salary of a teacher ≠ a particularly large number.

On rough days I feel completely overwhelmed by 3 people constantly needing my attention. Strangers even seem to refer to the imbalance when they say to me "you have your hands full", as if one should limit the number of children they have to the number of hands they have.  

But no matter how much the numbers might work against me, I do have 3 little smiling faces to wake up to in the morning, 6 little arms always ready for a hug, and 30 little toes to count and play "this little piggie" with. Every night I check on three perfect little bits of my heart sleeping soundly in their beds and can't help but think I am the luckiest person on the planet. 

Irving Berlin had it right, "I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads, and one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds. So if you are worried and you can't sleep just count your blessings instead of sheep and you will fall asleep counting your blessings."