Four

Two months in to having four kids and I've heard two categories of questions OVER and OVER again.

1. How is life with four!? Is it awful? How do you do it?? Do you sleep?
2. Are you having more kids???? Are you done??

1. Four kids is actually easier than I thought it would be. Although, I maybe I just have REALLY low expectations at this point. Ha! Our house is louder and more messy, but it's also more fun. I think we're handling things pretty well, but we do have to start school next month, so that will probably throw everything off and make things more difficult for awhile. Going out in public with all four definitely earns me some weird looks. A woman at the park asked me which ones were mine and she laughed when I said, "Ummmm, all of them.". And a young mom at the Dr office asked me if Zeke was my first (the other kids were home with the sitter) and her eyes about popped out of her head when I said "no, fourth".  Somehow the jump from 3 to 4 makes us one of those "large families" instead of an "average" family. I LOVE having 4 kids and I think it's just going to get more and more fun as they grow up! And I figure I'll get a lot of grandchildren out of them too. :)

I usually answer the "how do you do it??" question with "I don't!". I have help....my house is CLEAN and picked up only every 2 weeks when someone cleans it for me. I clean the kitchen every night and make sure the bathrooms aren't disgusting (thank goodness for Clorox wipes!) and the kids have chores also, but the house certainly isn't anything to envy. Ha! I also have help from our babysitter and sweet church members offering to help out. I took the kids to the free movie last week and met our old neighbor and her grandson, so she helped me out with Mae. She also takes the big two kids to the free movie some weeks, which they LOVE and she spoils them with McDonald's and a park trip after. And obviously, I couldn't do much of anything without Jared! He is always offering to take the older kids places to do fun things. He also and takes Zeke in the early night if he can't settle, so I can go ahead to bed and get started on my night sleep. Four kids definitely is a juggling act and we seem to do it well together. I think there's actually less stress between the two of us with 4 kids than there was when there was just 1 or 2 kids.

2. I think we're done! I never understood people saying "our family is complete" and I still don't really like the statement. I mean, of course, we could have another and love him/her, but I think we're done. I loathe the first half of pregnancy and hope I never ever feel that awful again. I've been pregnant for 2.8 years and breastfeeding for 3.8 years (so far) with very little time between each. My longest break without being pregnant or nursing was between Bo and Mae and that was only 5 months. The big kids are getting big and I really want to enjoy the 'big kid' things with them without a baby in tow or having to work around naps. So, yay for no more pregnancy sickness/exhaustion and newborn sleep!!