Three Children

I never really imagined myself with three children. I am one of two, and after my second child I thought we were complete. A mere 11 months later, though, and I was expecting my third. My last pregnancy was miserable-- I had terrible morning sickness, bad back pain, headaches and was dealing with a major relocation to boot . It was not fun, to say the least. Few things made me smile through the vomit: The thought of decorating a new nursery, little tiny onsies, giving my children a new sibling and Halloween costumes for three. Oh, the Halloween costumes. They made me happiest of all.

There are just so many wonderful ways to go with a trio. Thoughts of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe danced in my head. The Tin-Man, The Scarecrow and Dorothy would be picture perfect. Three peas in a pod? Simply adorable. The only thing I didn't anticipate? The fact that my children would have an opinion on the matter.

Fortunately, my daughter is pretty easy to manipulate. Her baby brother, for the moment, does what he is told. My middle, however, is the impossible one. This year we settled on an under the sea theme: My daughter as a mermaid, my middle as a shark and the littlest as a crab. Perfect, right? Except that when the shark arrived it wasn't quite as scary as my son had anticipated. He threw a fit lasting for an hour when I tried to get it on him and made it perfectly clear that he would not be wearing it come Halloween.

So, we started over. He chose a very frightening giraffe, and I played up the animal theme, purchasing a cheetah for my daughter and a monkey for the baby. They form the perfect little zoo and I cannot wait to capture them on film in a few days. Assuming I can actually get them to wear the costumes. Best I can hope for is two out of three.

Jill