Our Five Ring Circus: Life With Four

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Life With Four

Four kids.  FOUR.  There are times when I actually pause and shake my head in disbelief over the fact that we have four children.

In the early days of our relationship, Grant and I would spend hours discussing our future.  I remember when he asked me how many kids I wanted.  I blurted out four without even thinking about it.  He laughed, and said that he was thinking one or two, but we would see.

I don't think either of us imagined that four kids would become our reality!

We didn't plan on having children until we were in our thirties.  HA!  After 4 years of marriage, Dylan came along. We were 24 and 25.  Two years later, Lexie joined our family.  We thought we were done having children, but in 2010, we decided we needed one more to join us.  We became a family of five in August 2011, and we finally felt complete.

Then Liam came along.  Our oops.  Our beautiful, amazing, wonderful oops.

It was then that we realized our real mistake was thinking our family was complete.  We didn't know how much we were missing until Liam was born.  He was the one that completed us.

I get asked all the time how life is with four kids.

Brace yourself....

It's easy. It really is.  Once you have three, one more doesn't make much of a difference!

I'm going to be honest.  There are moments when the chaos or bickering gets to me.  There are moments when all four kids need something at the same time, and it feels like my eyes are going to bulge out of my head as I run around, trying to meet their demands.  There are moments when I don't want to clean another mess or cook another meal.

But those other moments?  They are perfect.  The love that fills our home exceeds anything I ever imagined.

Our days are full of hugs, kisses, laughter, big smiles, sweet little voices, singing, dancing, jokes, and I love yous. Most days I go to bed thinking I'm the luckiest human being on this planet, and every morning I'm reminded of that when I'm greeted with big smiles from four happy, healthy children.

Our life is filled with love.  So much love.   Sometimes our days are filled with chaos.  But even through the chaos, I realize just how blessed I am.

Dylan, Lexie, Lily, and Liam were the best gifts I have ever received, and now they get to enjoy the gift of having siblings.  They have an incredible amount of love for each other, and I'm so proud of the way they take care of each other.

So...life with four kids?

Joyful.  Chaotic.  Loud.  Messy.  Emotional. Breathtaking.  Challenging.  Funny.  Crazy.  Exhausting.  FUN.

But most of all...rewarding.

Our home is full and our hearts are full.  This is my life and it's more beautiful than I imagined it would ever be.  

 005

13 comments:

  1. Haha! I thought this might be leading to a pregnancy announcement about halfway through there! :-)

    You have a beautiful family and I'm glad you're one of the few parents today who seem to KNOW that they are supposed to enjoy their children!

    God Bless!
    Love,
    Joy

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  2. Bless you all because 3 has done me in - ha! I thought the transition to 2 wasn't bad; we could handle it. This transition to 3 has rocked my world. I know it'll get easier when Liam is older and I see how you handle it all and I know I can do it too!

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  3. You are amazing!! I agree that four hasn't been that much more choatic than three kids was, I think its because the older kids help out a bit more now.

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  4. This is great, when I was younger I always said I wanted 4 but now that I'm older and after having one I think I would be good with 2 haha. Now I just have to convince my husband that another one is a good idea!

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  5. I love this! They are all so adorable!! We've always said 3 or 4 so we shall see :) Big families are the best!!

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  6. So so true! Going from 3 to 4 isn't much of a difference! I can't even imagine only having 3 now. And it wouldn't be the end of the world to have 5 either. :) Nix was our "oops" #4 too! :)

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  7. :) Every family has the chaos but the awesome balances it out. I am so happy to be part of your families lives. Watching our kids grow up is the best thing!

    xoxox

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  8. I love this! Life with my 4 year old, 2 year old and 7 month old feels hard. Thanks for the reminder to focus on the love and laughter, which is more plentiful than the screaming... most days :)

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  9. You are the BEST momma of FOUR kids! You have so much to be proud of, love them all!!

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  10. I feel that way with our 3 kids. I don't think I could do 4, with me working full time. Life is chaotic, but it's also just so much fun!

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