Guest Post

This is my friend Kim looking pregger fabulous with her hubby Kevin (doesn't Chase have beautiful godparents?) ......

 and these are her 3 adorable kiddos, Kate 3, Jack 1, & Joseph 1 month!!

I heart the Kosek Clan!! Kim is a fantastic mom!! Even though her plate is a little full with three bambinos under the age of four, she always remains Mrs. Calm, Cool, and Collective!!

I'm so thankful she blogs.....it's always refreshing and absolutely HILARIOUS! You should check it out....The Kosek Family!

Kim's outlook on adding baby #3 to the mix..........Get ready to follow her blog since you are about to fall in love!!

When Kate came home from the hospital almost 4 years ago, I was more than prepared…I was anal! I had hand sanitizer strategically placed on every hard surface, which should only be used after a nice piping hot hand wash. The bottles were sterilized on the stove top and then again in the microwave, and those sterile bottles were ready for milk from the sterile breast pump. A perfectly orchestrated nursery décor waited, posed and ready for 3 months before the little bundle of pink monogrammed joy came home from the hospital. There were enough baby apparatuses scattered about to entertain a daycare of little ones. Kate wore new outfits for at least the first 3 months of her life, and she had at least 3 outfit changes a day…and not because she spit up or blew out the diaper, but just because her mother was in full diva mode. And let’s not forget the daily baths…








My level of preparedness with Jack tapered off slightly…like, I’m pretty sure I only bought one bottle of hand sanitizer and I felt that a good ole’ fashion hand washing would suffice rather than scrubbing in for surgery. Clothing options were much more limited, so one outfit a day it was, and monogramming was saved for church clothes and Christmas cards.





Next enters Joseph, poor, poor Joseph, who had his first runny nose at 3 days of age and those pesky buggers still come flying out from time to time. I probably say, “Don’t touch the baby until you have washed your hands!” at least 10 times a day, but when my children are attempting to touch him 100 times a day, I guess you could say that 90% of the time Joseph is being loved on with grubby fingers. Let’s all pause and say a prayer for his immune system.





Aside from the grubby hands, just today he had waffle syrup, lasagna, and chocolate pudding dropped on him…by ME, while he was nursing. Oh, and let’s not forget the feeding that he enjoyed from the Baby Bjorn while I was talking to the trim carpenters at the construction zone of our new house. I’m not sure who was more uncomfortable with this situation, Joseph, who must have been dining on both saw dust and breast milk, or the trim carpenters who were discussing the size of my Kenmore range with my boob hanging out of my shirt. Modesty left the building long ago!





I tell myself that Joseph has dry skin and it’s good that I only bathe him every 3 days…truthfully though, I know that his skin would be just fine with a few more baths. But, lately clean hair has been a luxury around here. Granted, Jack and Kate get baths (which includes a hair washing) every day…mainly because their hair seems to be a collection dish for breakfast, wood chips, and stickers, and I really would like to keep my children and not have to turn them over to DHS, so the nightly bath is essential for those two wild children.





One thing that we probably shouldn’t mention to DHS is Joseph’s sleeping arrangement. Joseph does not have his own bedroom, or his own bed. There is no room in our apartment to accommodate this want…notice I said, “want” not “need.” He does have the bassinet, which seems to be about as comfortable as a pull out sofa, and Joseph wants nothing to do with it. Plus, laying him flat is really not an option, because this child has some serious gas issues that can not work themselves out without a little gravity. So, his bed is the Boppy. I kindly ignore the Boppy tag that has a big X through the word “Sleep.” And I lay a blanket over the Boppy, prop Joseph up in it, cover him with a second blanket and place him between me and Kevin in the bed. That one sentence is probably enough evidence to justify some jail time for Mommy, so please don’t tell. If it makes you feel any better, Kevin and I basically sleep with one eye open, and little man is up every 2-3 hours nursing so sleeping is really not what the majority of his night time is devoted to. Thus, neither is mine. Hooray for coffee!





I did have a jolt of guilt the other day, as I bundled Joseph up in a blanket that said, “Jack,” which was better than what I had in my hand originally, which was one that read, “Kate.” So, I headed to Target bought a cute little blanket and had it monogrammed for “Joseph.” See I’m a great mother...even my third child gets his own monogrammed blanket, and if you live in Mississippi you see the importance in this. I will say it does help that both my boys have the same initials: Jack Alan Kosek has kindly passed his three articles of monogrammed clothing down to Joseph Anthony Kosek…and that wasn’t even planned…surprise, surprise!





Regardless of the number of germs spread to Joseph, and the number of times his onesie acts as my personal bib, and the amount of grease that collects on his head before his bath day rolls around, there are some advantages to being the third child, and in my opinion the advantages far outweigh the less conventional baby trends that Joseph has involuntarily adopted in his day-to-day routine.





I don’t know many 3 week old babies that have had their hair brushed with a Barbie brush more times than Joseph, or had Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (currently Kate and Jack’s favorite book)read to him 3 times a day, or had a popsicle pressed up against his lips before even being introduced to rice cereal, or had Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star sung to him more times than I can remember by his big sister, or told 100 times a day, “I love you little buddy!” or asked, “You doing ok Joseph?”





It’s humbling to see how the kids express their love to Joseph. They use such simple means. Kate and Jack use means that make them happy, thus they reason that these must be things that also make Joseph happy. Kate thinks…I love putting lipstick on, so I’m sure Joseph will too; and Jack thinks…I love bopping blocks against my head, so I’m sure Joseph will love that too.





That’s the thing about the third child, I’m able to relax just enough to allow Kate and Jack the time to show Joseph how much they love him in their own ways. Who knows maybe their way translates better than all my milk and kisses? Who knows, maybe the stuffed animal offerings that are placed around Joseph’s Boppy, or the ½ chewed chicken nuggets go just as far in the love department, as a clean diaper? A child’s love is as pure as it comes, so I try not to stifle that, I want Joseph to know how much his siblings care, even if “care” comes in the form of the Fisher Price guitar placed immediately next to Joseph’s little ear with the charming lyrics, “I play my guitar who will sing in my band?” blaring.





The kids have found their own ways to show Joseph how much they love him and how much they care for him. And although, Joseph doesn’t realize that when that sticky finger is prodding at his nose and the creature attached to the sticky finger is yelling, “nose!” it’s really a term of endearment and Jack is showing his little brother love and attention. Seeing the kids express their love to each in the cute little ways that make sense to them makes my heart smile. It makes me count my blessings. It reminds me that the flowing runny nose is not the only permanent fixture around here, but the love that my kids share is also here to stay…and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. And thank goodness, because I have not purchased a single bottle of hand sanitizer this go around!


Until Next Time........