Last weekend we temporarily became a family of seven. For three crazy days we housed five kids in this humble abode. Five kids, with three of them under the age of five. It was amazingly fantastic.
I don't think too many people are surprised by my admitting that I love large families. Although I don't think that five kids makes for an overly large family, just robust! If our little tribe of six is pretty perfect, I can't help but think that seven is even better!
I know more than a few people who are very against large families. Sometimes people are opposed to them due to personal parenting abilities, or finances, or lack of quality time. I know Nathan feels pretty maxed out on all of those levels. But I think as a family, we are doing alright. Our kids know they are loved (immensely and unconditionally) and they get all of their needs and some of their wants. We provide for our kids on a much wider realm than simply financial. We currently make less than we ever have, but we are still able to give them everything they need. It just so happens that currently, they are able to enjoy a mom at home to play/feed/adventure/clean more than they get to enjoy trips down the toy aisle.
We have a small house, but the kids fit fine two by two in their bedrooms. Where our dining room used to be, we now have a playroom, with a little extra space for tea parties and train tracks. We don't eat dinner out much, but we enjoy making each other's favorite foods. Fortunately we seem to have a house full of blossoming chefs. Morgan is gaining all of her father's culinary talents, and can be left entirely unassisted in the kitchen to make pretty much anything. Last weekend she roasted us a whole chicken, with homemade Au Gratin potatoes and an apple dessert.
We avoid the movie theater, but enjoy a large screen tv with netflix instant streaming! We have a home espresso machine, a playground at Nana and Papa's and duck pond across the street.
I think that the most difficult thing about large families, or having kids in general, are outings that you can't always schedule around good behavior. I'm talking about those grocery shopping trips for milk and bread where your son lays down on the floor in the cereal isle because he wants the spiderman toy inside the cheerios NOW. I remember when I was a mom to just one and I took her shopping and she decided that since I wouldn't give her a cookie she would roll on the floor all the way to the fish department. That one child had me pretty exasperated. I don't think the number of kids really changes anything, the parenting business still stays the same. I still have terrible outings, but it's usually only one kid having the hard time and gratefully the others help out as much as they can.
For me, the hardest part of parenting more than one, is time management. There is so much that we want to do with these kids, and only so many hours in the day. I want to get on the floor and build trains all evening with Simon, but Zoe needs help with her homework, Isla's diaper smells, and the dishes need washed. So you do all of them, because what else can you do?
Last weekend we watched a little cousin who's four months older than our Isla. We had Morgan that weekend, and filled every single seat in our outdated minivan. We went geocaching/treasure hunting and had a pizza picnic at the park. We took them all to a house warming party, kept them all up until eleven, and made a mountain of pancakes in the morning. We drank a little more coffee than we usually do, but we also got things done, like cleaned out our filth ridden cars and loaded the dishwasher a few dozen times.
By Monday morning we were back down to five humans in our house, which felt incredibly easy and quiet. I had to wait for two meals to pass before the dishwasher was full, and a box of cereal has lasted us more than one day.
I know child raising isn't everyone's idea of a great time, but I love it. I'm glad I get to do it with this great group of kids I call mine, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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