23 Things Noone Tells You About Having A Large Family

“Your house must be crazy!”

“Aren’t you exhausted!”

“It must be so noisy!”

People ask me this ALL the time. Every time someone hears I have four kids they ask me about life as a large family! So I have put together a few points on what life as a large family is really life.

1. The noise is overwhelming! There is always someone crying, someone laughing, someone singing than, someone talking – all at the same time, all in their very best outside voice.
2. Leaving the house is more challenging than completing an Iron Man triathlon and probably requires more energy.
3. The cooking. There is always someone needing to eat and the older they get the more they eat. 
4. The stuff. Children have so much stuff. Bottles, monitors, dummies, toys, blankets, books. Everywhere you step there is just stuff!
5. Trying to juggle the schedules of 2 school going kids was tricky, four school-going kids is all kinds of fun. How are children so small so busy!
6. With two, your best friend will offer to babysit, with four she will send wine and a list of babysitting services! Finding someone to babysit four kids is not easy.
7. The laundry basket is never empty. EVER!
8. It is expensive. Very very expensive.
9. The sibling fighting will never end. Even with a big age gap, the teenager will find something to fight with the toddler about.
10. A clean house is something you pin on Pinterest, something you dream about having one day when the children have left the house. 
11. You will do school again with each and every child! 
12. No one naps together. As soon as the baby wakes, the toddler will want to nap or vice versa. 
13. You learn to do amazing things with only two hands, like carry the baby, hold the toddler’s hand and cross the street with 2 dozen eggs balanced in between.
14. It is possible to love more than one child. The love doesn’t dilute with subsequent children, I actually think it multiplies.
15. They do actually keep each other entertained. 
16. Watching the love siblings have for each other is something beyond special.
17. You discover you have more patience than you ever imagined possible.
18. It doesn’t get easier. Having the experience of four newborns doesn’t make it easier each time, it just means you know what to expect.
19. People will ask you “Are they all yours?” repeatedly!
20. Taking all your children to the grocery store is not advisable, the store will never be the same again, your wallet won’t recover and you probably will need to go back to buy what you actually needed.
21. There is always someone willing to give hugs freely. 
22. You learn how to laugh at yourself.
23. You learn to not sweat the small stuff and appreciate lives little moments.

What would you like to know about life as a large family?