Three is a herd, eight is a crowd

I have three kids.....Roo, Princess G, and E-man. When we just had two kids (12 1/2 months apart!), my husband just called them our kids. When we had the third kid, he said "We now have a herd." The title has stuck. For me, three is not usually overwhelming. It's busy, but perfect. They're definitely not perfect kids. Each one provides his or her own challenges. But we had gone through all the infertility nightmares, and I learned quickly that children, no matter what, are gifts and blessings.

I grew up with three of us at home. I loved it. There was always someone there to hang out and play with or talk with. I am in the middle.....the mediator, the overachiever. Maybe that's part of the reason I ended up with a herd. But my brother, sister and I do make a point of getting together with all our respective children. It is awesome and amazing to see them all together. My brother has three, I have three, and my sister has two. Yep, that's eight all together....four boys and four girls.....all aged 10 and under, with the youngest (mine) not yet four years old. It makes for some serious entertainment, a lot of noise, some fighting, and quite a few stares when we take them all out together. For five days, all of us were in one house. The last of them just left this morning. It was insane....messy.....obnoxiously noisy......occasionally overwhelming...hilariously funny.