staying right where I am

OK, I alluded to this before, but I seriously need to stop leaving the house for a while.  The main reason is that I might murder the next person who lets their gross kid sneeze near (or on!) my babies.  The babies have each had five colds in the five months they've been alive.  When their noses get stuffy, they won't eat; this means they become even more distressingly underweight.  Violet is ten pounds; Harry is fourteen pounds and he's still so small he's off the growth charts, so that gives you an idea of how tiny Violet is.  We've all been sick this week, but she's had it the worst and I've decided that keeping her healthy has got to be the priority around here.  She needs to get strong, and her parents need a chance to recover from five months of taking care of three sick kids and being pretty constantly sick ourselves.  I feel awful that Joseph won't get to go to playdates, but he's going to have to take one for the team.  

The other reason I need to just stay put is that going anywhere with three kids is a circus.   Even just getting everybody in the car to go to the park is really stressful, and that's only followed by the babies screaming for most of the car ride.  And then there is the dumb shit total strangers feel the need to say to me.  "Looks like you've got you're hands full there, ha ha."  Unless the next words out of your mouth are "how can I help" or "I guess I should keep my germy hands to myself," you ought not to be talking to me.  And then there's the helpful advice ("can't you breastfeed them both at once?" "can't you put them both in a sling?") which I could respond to rationally if I weren't a total mess, but as things stand all I can do is fume and feel judged.

I am really tired, sick, and run down so this sounds more negative than I mean it to be.  Most people I know, even random acquaintances, are helpful, supportive, tactful, kind, and awesome.  And I am so grateful for that.  (And I seriously need to mention how fantastically helpful my parents are.  We would be so screwed without them around.)