I've been a big chicken since having my third child.

I used to take my other two kids anywhere and everywhere by myself. The zoo, museums, playgrounds, roadtrips, everywhere. I never once thought, "Gee, can I handle doing X with two kids?" I just did it.

But when I had my third, I found myself a little bit of a hermit. I was afraid of the most basic of things: When I get out of the car in a busy parking lot, will the other two jump out on either side of the van and get hit by a car? If I'm at a playground holding the baby, how can I watch both big kids if they go play on different things?

But this summer, I have been proud of myself. We've been getting out. I've even been taking them to the pool by myself. It's hard, but I'm getting better at watching three kids, and my older two kids are getting better at listening to instructions and following them.

This morning I woke up feeling hungover -- the baby's teething had robbed me of sleep for the past two days. And to add insult to injury, I was out of my favorite caffeinated tea.

I was just too exhausted to take the kids to the pool. But I did have some errands to run, and I figured while we were out, I'd take the kids for lunch. But could I do it? Could I hang out for a few hours with the kids in wide open spaces without someone running off, or breaking something, or having a meltdown? And could I do it on four hours of sleep?

We made our way to a local strip mall and browsed both a shoe store and furniture store -- with no incidents! I thought -- Wow. I'm so good at this.

At lunch, I worked my way through the cafeteria style deli with little incident. It was so crowded, we had to wait for a table. But still, I kept my cool. After we sat down, I cut up fruit for the baby, sent my oldest to get water for all of us from the fountain, and blew on my 5-year old's dish. When we were done, I orchestrated the carrying of meal carnage to the trash, and buckled everyone back into their carseats.

What a success!

On the drive home, I realized I felt a little strange...I was still hungry! How could that be, given the enormous size of my baked potato?

Oh, yeah.

I'd was so busy with everyone else, I'd only managed to take two bites of my own lunch!