Life as a Family of Five

I’m writing this from the trenches. We’ve pretty much been in survival-mode for the past two weeks, running on hours of sleep and lots of Red Bull. Adaline is an easy baby, but I know we are only a few weeks in, and she’ll just be more and more awake and life will get more and more interesting.

Being outnumbered is hard. David works from home, which is SO helpful, but he still has to work, so he can only help out so much. It never fails, the minute I go to change Addy’s diaper, Peyton instantly needs juice, or her sock is ruining her life.  The minute I sit to give Addy a bottle, London tumbles off the couch, or goes full toddler and walks into a wall. She’s also cutting her molars right now. Joy. We are working on settling into a routine, but most of the time, all hell is breaking loose, and at least one kid is whining.

Now don’t take this post as an excuse for me to complain, and if you’re expecting your third, don’t let me scare you. I’m sure moms of 4 or 5 are reading this and laughing at me!

This past weekend, it was too cold to leave the house, so we spent the weekend hibernating. Which meant a lot of “I have to do the laundry, you got the baby?” “I need to change London, you have the baby?” “Do you have the baby, I have to pee” “What’s for dinner?” “Did we miss lunchtime?” “Is it bedtime yet?” “Have you seen London’s blanket?” “Have you seen Peyton’s special sticker?” “Have you seen my sanity?” We’ve got this, right?

London spends most of the day trying to climb on Adaline, it’s how she hugs. And yesterday, I caught her putting Adaline’s foot in her mouth. Lo’s a pacifier thief, and still stalks the baby wherever she goes, and likes to laugh loudly in her face when she’s asleep. But you can just see the love she has for her baby sister, even if 90% of the time, she points at her and says, “Doh! Arf arf arf!” “Doh” is London for “dog”.  She’s constantly following me around with all of Addy’s swaddle blankets and burp cloths, you know, just in case.

Peyton is such a great sister, and is my little mama. She’s not even 5 yet, but her maturity amazes me. She has been a big help with occupying London when I need to cook or clean or deal with an overly-cranky Adaline. She’s also so gentle with Adaline. She likes to feed her, and softly kisses her cheeks every chance she gets, and Peyton especially likes to pick out her clothes for the day.

While we haven’t done a whole lot, and it’s a whole new level of insanity most of the time, we are really enjoying our time together as a family of 5. Priorities are different, and we are all taking lessons in patience. I’ve washed my hair a total of two times since we’ve been home, thank god for dry shampoo! I’ve forgotten what our carpet looks like, since it’s mostly covered in piles toys at any given time. I’ve totally forgotten what silence sounds like. And I’m totally ok with letting the TV babysit the bigger girls, so I can bathe the baby or make dinner. But this tiny little face makes it all worth it!