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These days I often find myself looking around at these three little people, running crazy, destroying things, eating my food, not leaving, and think "who do these kids belong to?" Don't get me wrong, having children is a choice and is wonderfully rewarding (most of the time), gives me a sense of joy that I have never had before (and a sense of frustration I have never had before), and I can't image life without them (but I do daydream now and then), but it's tough having little kids. Before, when it was just Patti and I in a great apartment in Davis Square, we would go months and months without a significant challenge in our lives. Now, if I go three days without something serious popping up, I wave a victory flag. That has to do with life being more complicated, a house, two cars, harder job, but it also has to do with taking care of three additional people.

My thoughts after 6 months.

- There is almost no room for relaxing. The only time we relax is when the other spouse is watching all three, and we are away from the house. Even after the kids are all in bed, there is the constant threat of one waking up, of one getting sick, of the wild parties we throw nightly getting out of hand and one of them wanting to see what the fun is. The 6 month old has starting sleeping through the night, but the middle one gets up. If we get 6 hours of interrupted sleep, it's huge. If we get 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, it's a home run.

- I can't do anything without having kids waddle up to me. If I sit down with a glass of lemonade, I get two of the three stagger over like zombies from Dawn of the Dead mumbling "sip, sip". I totally gave up trying to eat a snack or junk food product in front of them. Forget chips, cookies or candy. I guess I should not be eating that stuff anyway, but I am an adult and can if I want. For the most part the kiddies are not fans of sweet things, but when they see me eating anything, it could be a stick, they want in on the action. I feel like a cast off from weight watchers when I sneak into the basement to eat a chocolate chip cookie.

- Our yard looks like a Little Tikes battlefield. There's a car on it's side in one corner, another car upside down, a tractor is half in a bush, plastic slides have objects thrown all over them, sand from the sandbox is everywhere but in the box, a little table has 5 tiny plastic chairs scattered around it like a group of heavy drinkers had to leave in a hurry, balls of different sizes pock the yard, cast off juice boxes are hidden in flower beds, clothes on the ground like a dryer exploded, Gold Fish and crackers leaving a trail from the table to whatever container is lying emptying on the ground. It's nuts. We have a pretty big deck that after cleaned and straightened, takes about 4 seconds to look like it does after a holiday weekend.

- Dinner time is an adventure. Food everywhere, half eaten plates of mac and cheese, threats of time out or no dessert being thrown by the bucket load.

- Bath time is a juggling act between keeping two kids safe, water in the tub, and carrying a 6 month old. It's amazing how much you can get done while holding a 20 pound child in your arms.

- Play time, or really any time, is sort of like Tom Lee Jones directing the hunt for Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. Orders are being barked out while we plan the next sentence, warnings issued by the minute, pretending to watch one child do something supposedly funny while thinking about when will it be the right time to change diapers without leaving one or two children unattended. It is more of a multi-tasking exercise than I have ever done at work or in grad school.

- One child always wants what the other child is getting. If I am holding the middle child upside down while he laughs, the older one wants me to do it to her. If I am tickling the new born, both of the others want in. I try to distribute my playful antics evenly, but no matter what, each child wants his or her turn.

- With three kids, any time you only have two it feels like a breeze. I know it sounds strange to someone without kids, but going from 3 to 2 is like a walk in the park. Seriously. And if there is some strange time with only one, we cancel our vacation to Jamaica because we've had our fill. Taking care of only one child at a time is like Manny Ramirez playing on a Babe Ruth team. It's child's plan compared to all three. Patti's mom took Emily for a week about a month ago and we felt like we were on a minny vacation.

- Patti has to watch all three kids by herself a lot. She is a pro. When I do it, it's a mess. Not pretty. I try to be calm and cool, kids pick up on that you know, but within a few seconds realize I am overmatched. Imagine entering the Air Traffic Controller booth at JFK and trying to land planes with zero training. Then imagine trying to land those planes while blind folded and the pilots speaking a foreign language. Now imagine trying to land those planes, blind folder, not being able to speak the pilot's language, with your hands tied behind your back. THAT would be better than me trying to manage all three kids. If we are in the yard, no problem. Let them run wild, I have the hose. But in the house, it's life guarding on dry land.

I complain but all three do things that bring an intense feeling of joy. Ethan, the middle, is trying to form fairly complex sentences and confuses us with what he comes up with. Although I don't appreciate it when he catches me changing, points at my neather region and laughs. Not good for the ego.

Emily, the eldest, asks interesting questions that test my imagination with the answers I come up with.

And Emerson, the new born, smiles an awful lot and laughs at me when I make funny faces.

Having kids is great but challenging. It keeps Patti and I in shape, helps fund the alcohol industry and gives me another thing to complain about.