Groan.
I didn't hesitate to tell her I wasn't due until December, and would have enjoyed watching her hem and haw if I wasn't wondering if I had somehow blown up to the size of a blue whale when I wasn't looking.
It was just one more on a growing list of eveidences that I am, in fact, going to have a baby.
I know, right? Shouldn't this have sunk in, oh, about the time I got a positive pregnancy test?
You'd think so, wouldn't you?
I think I've adjusted to the idea of being pregnant. Now the idea of that pregnancy actually leading to a real baby? Yeah, not so much.
Four. Four kids. It just seems like so many. I'm going to be seriously outnumbered.
I have lots of friends with four kids. Most of them have an oldest child the age of my middle daughter. They do great with four. They handle everything with grace and style. I'm not sure how well it's actually going to work out for me.
I'm mildly hyperventilating at the thought of parenting four kids, including my toddler terrorist and a newborn. I don't deal well with chaos, and I've been having viscious flashbacks from the six months of hell that was Abby as a toddler with Ashlynn as a newborn.
Don't get me wrong. I love this little person, and I'm looking forward to meeting him or her and adding them to our family. I have little doubt that a year or two from now, I'll wonder what I was so worried about. But nights like tonight, when Tom is in class late, the girls are alternating between bickering and singing stupid Cub Scout songs at the top of their lungs, and the toddler launches his uneaten bowl of chicken noodle soup across the kitchen that I wonder how I'll handle fitting the inevitable screaming newborn with the diaper blowout to the mix.
Once again, I'm finding myself glad that it takes nine months to cook a baby. Because while I may look like I'm ready to have a baby, it might take a few more weeks for me to actually be ready to parent four kids.
Moms of four or more, tell me it's easy. Tell me that the transistion didn't rock your world to the core. Lie if you have to.
PS- This new school/teaching/practicing/being pregnant schedule is kicking my butt. Hoping to get back into a good posting groove soon.
We only pretend to get along fine with four! LOL It's hard but each new child brings that much more reward!
ReplyDeleteI am a mom of four, but my older 2 were 8 and 6 when the next one came. They were kind of helpful!
ReplyDeleteThings will get better. I am rooting for you.
(deep breath) You can do it, you can do it! I get an avg of 6 hours of sleep a night. Still not sure if that's my kids faults or my own. But I'm not having any more kids to prove otherwise.
ReplyDelete:) A day at a time, right??
I've got four and I can honestly say that adding the fourth was much easier than adding the third. By the time number four came along I was used to being outnumbered and there were older kids that were really helpful.
ReplyDeleteMy tips to having four children:
ReplyDelete**Remember---every phase is temporary. They will grow, they will potty train, they will eat with manners, they will dress themselves and hopefully do laundry..........this too shall pass!
**Remember---they are children. Not plagues or diseases. They are a gift meant to bring joy, not a death sentence. Every gray hair and ounce of cellulite will be well worth it from the other side my dear.
**Remember--- take a deep breath and realize how lucky you are. You WILL miss these days, they are a brief second of time. You will forever have four amazing people that will forever call you, and only you, MOM.
**Remember--- Call me, I have chocolate. :)
I've been told that it's all the same after 3. Of course, I only have three, so obviously I didn't want to risk it, but you'll be fine. If there's a baby, there's a reason, and there's a way.
ReplyDeleteI don't handle anything with grace and style, let alone my four kids.
ReplyDeleteI just pretend I do when I take pictures of them doing something that makes me want to scream.
That's my secret.
P.S. It's not all the same after three. In any way.
ReplyDeleteBut it's not as huge of an adjustment to have another. I think that's why people say that.
So I have 4, and they're old now. I haven't had a baby in years. But those first few months? I let my big girls grow into their responsibilities. A lot. They were 8 and 6, and I counted on a ton of help. Also, with 4, I started doing at least 1 load of laundry every day. That helps me stay above water with that particular chore (and see the part about letting the big girls help? They became master folders.)
ReplyDeleteHaving 4 is great! It makes you realize you were an idiot when you thought 2 was hard :) OK, 2 and 4 were the hardest for me but 4 wasn't as hard as 2. Does that help?
ReplyDelete