I HATE BATH TIME!

I used to love giving The Girlchick a bath, it was fun, relaxing, and great 1:1 time.  The Girlchick used to have a bath every night, it was just part of the bedtime routine and it worked for us.

With the small babies I've always found it easier to get into the big tub in our bathroom to give them a bath.  It is easier for me to control them and hold them then in those little baby tubs.  I never liked those and found them very hard to use.  So I always just took a bath with her when she was really little.  Then we moved to the bathroom upstairs and she loved it, I loved it.  Then the boys came along and it has been a real struggle to get everyone bathed.  Now we don't do a bath every night, and that is hard for The Girlchick's bedtime routine, she is still adjusting and on nights when she doesn't have a bath it takes her longer to settle down in bed and go to sleep.  Which I understand - it has been part of her bedtime routine since she was about 6 months old.  We have been doing ok with the boys and had gotten into a routine of baths on Sun/Wed/Fri, or every other day if we needed it.  The Girlchick and I would get into the big tub with one of the boys while Dad played with the other boy then we would trade off boys, then I would take care of getting big sister cleaned up.  She loved it since it was extra play time for her.  But it has been getting harder as the boys get bigger and more squirmy and slippery.  I decided during the last bath, that it would probably be the last time since it was getting too dangerous for me and try to hold them. 

For the next bath I took them upstairs and put them in the baby bath seats.  Well that didn't work.  The tub isn't big enough for all 3 of them if we use the bath seats, and the boys are so all over the place that they need to be in the seats to contain them.  But they just don't work very well.  They are hard to get the boys in and out of, even the one that is supposed to be easy with the flip down front (it is nearly impossible to get it open when it is dry with no kid in it and down right impossible if there is a kid in it and it's wet).  Plus the suction cups on the bottom don't hold it to the tub so they move and float even with the weight of the boys in them.  But I was willing to try just doing the boys and then putting in The Girlchick after I was finished with the boys.  I finally get them in the seats, and they are ok to start with, but then I poured water over them and then WWIII started.  They FREAKED out!  They both were trying to get out of the seats and out of the tub.  I was leaning in trying to calm them down and getting soaked for my efforts, but they were not having it.  I struggled with them for a bit then threw in the towel and called for back up.  I ended up taking Thing 1 out of the tub and trying to just do one boy.  He still wanted nothing to do with the seat and refused to go back into it.  I even tried to just sit him in the tub and no seat, but that didn't work either.  I even called in big sissy to see if having her in there with him would help keep him calm, but he was NOT having it.  He would calm down for a minute and then would start to scream and try to get out, and forget about actually trying to bathe him or pour water on him to get him wet.  Oh man...... I now hate bath time!  This sucks!  I finally get the boys clean and was so worn out that Dad had to give The Girlchick a bath.  I am out of ideas on how to get all of them a bath at one time.  I know I am not the only person with this problem.  Anyone have any ideas?  I know I am fresh out of them.  It really shouldn't be this hard, but for the life of me I can't seem to figure it out.