A new normal

a great many people have asked me...how do you do it?

my reply:  do what?

their response:  take care of four kids?

well...it's a lot like taking care of three kids, but, well, there's just one more.

and i have a rock star hubby who is in it with me 100%, so although there are CrAzY moments where absolutely every single human being in the world needs something from me at the EXACT same moment....we're getting good at managing this whole multiple kid thing.

and most days are really....normal.

we go for walks (and pick up litter, of course!)

we eat snacks

and plant flowers

we play in the sunshine

and snuggle

we ride bikes and scooters and chase each other around abandoned parking lots and race from one end to the other and mommy calls this "exercise" because let's be honest...there's not a whole lot of time for real working out these days, so playing with and lugging around four children will have to just be enough, okay? ;)

did i mention that we snuggle?

too many snuggles are never a bad thing...

we take naps...sometimes, blissfully, all at the same time

and enjoy the first watermelon of the summer in the back yard.

we dress up and eat popsicles on hot days

we pick dandelions, 'cause, duh!  who doesn't?

we try to have lots of patience and grace with each other and sometimes we get frustrated that we have to wait and that things don't go our way but we try to remember that having each other is a gift.

and, if we're being honest...we had to do all those things before we had our newest love in the house.

now we just have to practice them a little more and people named mommy and daddy have to remember in the wild moments that there is a crown of splendor in heaven for those who calmly survive temper tantrums and blow out diapers.

i won't lie:  there ARE moments when i look at j with wild desperation in my eyes and he looks back with the whole "WE ARE DONE HAVING KIDS" face....sometimes it happens more frequently than i'd like.
but we ride the wave and then its over.

and we laugh about it afterwards because...well, what else can you do?
the moments when it all comes crashing down make for good stories later on.

maybe we'll write a book about this wild adventure some day.
right now we just drink an extra cup of coffee and hang on for dear life

but when we really consider all we've been given, the gray hairs we are earning seem like a small price to pay.  we are finding a new normal, which is actually a lot like the old normal.

just one person bigger.  :)