While watching 4 kids at once can be a tad chaotic, I can also see how some people get to a certain point and decide they might as well have more kids because adding one more doesn’t change things that much.  That being said, we have no plans to have more children, but we did trade babysitting with my sister-in-law and her husband about a month ago and got to experience a bit of the craziness parents with larger families do on a regular basis.

I think the key to having so many kids is to not have too many under the age of 3.  Once they’re over 3 they aren’t as reliant on naps and don’t turn into terrors if they miss said nap, also they basically just take care of themselves so you can keep a closer eye on the smaller ones.

Also, you’d think that with more kids you would need more toys, but in the fact the opposite is true.  If you think one or two kids can destroy a room fast, you should see what four can do in half that time.  Before you know it you have tiny cars imbedded in your feet and even the children are stuck in limbo afraid to move because each step brings pain.

Thankfully children are easily amused, and watching a neighbor mow the lawn can be called entertainment.  With luck, the children will also play nicely together in which case you’ve found the golden ticket because you don’t need to spend half your time refereeing.  Phoebe still got a little jealous at times, but she’s pretty easily distracted.

It also helps that if she’s tired enough she won’t fight it and will just crash.  I cannot even express just how much of a gift this is.  Sure, it has its downside like when you’re trying to get her to stay up just a little longer so her afternoon nap isn’t completely shot and she collapses on the stairs or in her chair, but for the most part it’s magical.  With Enzo, the stars have to align and angels need to sing for him to take a nap anywhere out of the norm. Hey, you can’t luck out with every kid, right?

Truly, though, it was nice for the kids to fully wear themselves out with their cousins.  They were all go-go-go and had a lot of fun (we did too).  Granted, it’s always nice to settle everyone down for a movie and quiet time too. Ha ha!

Especially that big kid in the back… he’s a trouble maker.