“Your house is chaos,” my sister whispered. “Like complete chaos all the time.”
At first I was taken back, and maybe just slightly, a wee little bit offended. I mean, I get it. I have four kids, a new puppy, a husband and a million balls in the air at one time. I guess no one ever really said it out loud to me, but she was right. My house is a madhouse where circus monkeys can be found swinging from the banisters at any given moment. Think Jumanji without Robin Williams…although it would be totally amazing if he were a part of our story.
I knew I wanted kids, a whole slew of them, from the time I had a little Cabbage Patch Kid. I couldn’t wait. But the doctors assured me that it may be tough without surgery and medicine, which was exactly the route we took. I cried, I prayed, mostly at the same time, and we finally got pregnant. Three more times that happened and now we have a crazy house with two little boys and two little girls. We have gone through princesses and pirates, race cars and Polly Pockets.
Sometimes when I tuck in the youngest boy, I fall asleep reading a story. Rarely do I get to drink a hot cup of coffee or eat a hot meal without interruption. My hair is usually piled high on top of my head and my clothes usually look like someone had target practice with their lunch (thanks baby girl.)
Often when I am getting the kids in the car, I have to go back in the house 17 times because I forgot something (i.e everything). I think the brain cells that used to store information that I had retained during my undergrad have been replaced with brain cells that store lullabies and math facts at the ready. Our life is crazy, loud, busy, chaos. It is also full of lots of hugs, lots of laughter, lots of lessons, and SO.MUCH.LOVE. We have kids running in every direction, my husband and I sneak kisses and sleep as much as possible.
But ya know what y’all? These are the best days. When we can’t remember if our kid has eaten a vegetable in three days or wonder if the dog will ever get potty trained – these are the days that make up our big loud love. And I couldn’t ask for more.
