Four
When I was pregnant with Vega, I got lots of comments from other people about having a large family…. you know the ones… ‘Haven’t you got a TV’… ‘You’ll have your hands full’ etc etc
To be honest, I never thought about having a ‘large’ family or not… In fact, four doesn’t seem that large to me. I guess because we’ve added one at a time over the years, it just feels normal, I forget to others looking in we are a large family {plus I get reminded of this when we have to request a mini-bus taxi to pick us all up!}
I’ll admit, there was a brief moment at the end of my pregnancy when I wondered what I was doing and how I would cope. I already had 3 kiddos at home 24/7, we were home-schooling and I work for myself. Add into that that it’s just G and I, we don’t have family here helping out, my hands really were already full. Many people asked how I was going to cope and I just brushed them off with a smile and a giggle that it’d all be fine. But really, I was a little worried.
When Vega finally arrived, I was so relieved to not be pregnant any more that the first couple of weeks were just great. The middle of winter, we were happy to stay in and snuggle in the warm with the new addition to our family.
Slowly, we’ve gotten back to normal. Yes, our normal is different than before, but we’ve made new rhythms and routines and found our way as a family of six.
And in all honesty, I can’t imagine what I was worried about. Of course, my three girls are not tiny. I’m sure having four under four would be an entire different ball game {and one I never had any care to play!}, but adding a fourth to our family has been so easy. Probably the easiest addition of all.
The girls were all besotted with him, happy for lots of baby cuddles if Mama wanted a {brief} break {or even when I didn’t…
Plus, they are big enough to not *need* me for every little thing. They can dress themselves, and brush their teeth, and wash their faces. They can grab a snack or a drink, the biggest can make lunch, or a hot drink for me. They’re also very good at keeping me in cakes ;)
We’ve been blessed with a happy little baby, for those first 8/10 weeks, he really did just sleep and eat {and poop}. Most of the day and night he’d be snoring away, and when he was awake he’d be content to watch the goings on around him.
Of course, my hands are full and my days are busy. There is rarely a moment to rest. Between feeds, and work, and home-school, and housework, and meals to be cooked my days pass in a blur of activity.
I know as he grows, and wants to play more and be in my arms less, I’ll have a little more time to do the things I need to do. Perhaps I won’t have to multi-task quite so much, or whizz around at 90 miles an hour all day long.
But until then, I’m enjoying every minute.
Four is great.
12 Comments
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Lucy Melissa
May 12, 2015 at 10:32Amazing photo of your babes!
A lovely, beautifully-worded post to read. We are planning 3-4 children and it’s insights like these that fill me with excitement and joy for our life to come (fingers crossed!) Even if we’re not so lucky, we have a wonderful life ahead of us with our Lilybear anyway :)
Love this blog so much! Thank you for posting about your 4 kiddos!
X
katie albury
May 12, 2015 at 14:45Good for you hun…your babies look so happy! People always look in on others lives and feel the need to comment when their lives are very different- even some have said to us that we’re going to struggle with our first as we’re so used to our freedom etc which upsets me because it’s our life and we’re making our own choices. Some people are just too negative! xx
Jess @ Along Came Cherry
May 12, 2015 at 19:23You’ve convinced me ;) x
Neisa
May 12, 2015 at 19:48How adorable. I know my mom and I agreed my first boy needs to at least be potty trained before having another. I can only imagine how nice it must be to have your older ones able to take care of themselves. I agree four doesn’t seem like a large family…to me at least. As long as you have the means to take care of them I say go for it! I’d love to have at least 5-6 more. Your girls are so beautiful and I can see that they love their little brother!
Gill Crawshaw
May 12, 2015 at 21:32People should be banned from saying ‘you’ll have your hands full’! This is such a lovely photo. Make sure you do occasionally try and take it easy though (easier said than done…I know..) x
Jemma
May 12, 2015 at 22:56I’d love 4, maybe one day! It’s sounds like bliss, you’re obvious doing an amazing job x
Zoe
May 15, 2015 at 00:34I had 4 in 5 1/2 years and it was crazy busy and not quite planned but I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world! I get lots of those comments too, and home schooling attracts even more “wow your so brave” comments when in fact it doesn’t seem to be a big deal to me I don’t really think of it as having a large family, just the family I have and I’m so grateful for it. Lovely post x
Vicky
May 17, 2015 at 07:32I always wanted a house in the country and four kiddos – people always seem to have opinions on the size of your family, whether you’ve got one child that will be ‘lonely’ or four that ‘won’t get enough attention’. *Eye roll* I love how happy your brood always look, lovely little family!
Kathryn
May 17, 2015 at 12:55I love your little family and that photo is adorable. Coming from a family of 4 myself it doesn’t seem odd at all but I do appreciate how busy/tired my mum must have been and I take my hat off to you Polly. P.S. Can’t believe that comment about not having a TV!? :)
jodiekins (@jodiekins22)
May 28, 2015 at 23:00Hurrah! Glad you’re enjoying life with your four. Like you, my fourth arrived when my other three were older and could look after themselves more. I’m not sure we’d have had half as much fun as a family of six if they’d all been young at the same time! Enjoy
mandi
May 28, 2015 at 23:50Lovely post and photo, with seven children the comments get even worse, but like you I wouldn’t change a thing, totally agree the older children are a great help, and the jump from 4 to 5 is even easier ;)
Julien Peter Benney
June 15, 2015 at 11:37It is a tough discipline to have children – one that people in today’s Enriched World, ruled by instant gratification and the belief that one has a right to everything others produce – are unwilling to take.
The trouble is that, even with the very best of intentions like curbing global warming, its policies are sure to lead to irrelevance for the Enriched World and a world largely ruled from Australia, where the government is the mineral industry and pollution standards are dreadfully poor – far poorer in real terms than they actually look.