Saturday we packed up and headed over to a friend’s house for a play date. I’m always nervous going to anyone’s house for the first time, especially when I have all of the kids. It can be a little overwhelming to most, and John and I always joke about never getting invited back? When you have an 8 month old, 2 year old twins, a 3 year old, and a 12 year old, things can get a little crazy!

After a fun filled afternoon splashing around, Julia and I decided it would be a good idea to head to Tyler to get a couple of more bathing suits for her before our beach trip. I know what most of you are thinking, “Bathing suit shopping with a preteen doesn’t sound fun.” You would be correct in this assumption! After 8 stores, broken up by an ice cream snack, 30 minutes changing diapers and clothes in the mall parking lot, and 3 hours of of buckling and unbuckling car seats and loading and unloading everyone (<– not really 3 hours), we left Tyler empty handed.

Throughout our day, we were asked the normal questions and got all of the regular comments and stares.

“Are they all yours?” No. There is a new monthly subscription box that sends you one child a month, and I kept forgetting to cancel my subscription!

“How do you do it?” Usually in a bed!

“Are they twins?” No they were just born on the same day.

“Are they identical?” One is a girl and one is a boy!

“Are they triplets?” No.

“Don’t you know what causes that?” Yes and apparently I am really good at it!

But the one interaction that stood out the most was from an older woman I actuallly knew.

“Hi. How are you?” She said cheerfully.

“I can’t complain!” I replied.

She followed up with a short statement that really hit me.

“This must be torture for you. Shopping with all of those kids has to be so hard!”

I smiled and laughed nonchalantly as I walked away, but inside I was aggravated.

Jettie tugged at my shirt. “Mom is shopping with me hard? Am I bad?”

I rarely let it get to me. People make comments all of the time. I know most of them don’t mean anything by it and think they are simply cracking a joke, but my kids don’t get the joke. As they are getting older, they hear and understand more and more of what people are saying. And while I might not be able to protect them from the world, I don’t want them to ever feel like a burden. Our society has done a good enough job of that already.

What I want people to take away from this is just because something is hard doesn’t mean it is bad. I would gladly spend 30 minutes in the mall parking lot changing diapers and clothes in the Texas heat just to hear them giggle in the back seat and see their smiling faces covered in ice cream while they share licks with each other. And watching them hold hands walking through the stores made all of the extra time spent buckling and unbuckling car seats worth it. I can’t remember one amazing thing I have done in life that hasn’t presented some sort of challenges along the way, and being a mom is no exception. Marriage is hard. Kids are hard. Life is hard. Trying to make waffles with three toddlers is hard! But would we appreciate any of it if it wasn’t?

THE END.