I am still working through this. I seriously just can't get my head around the thought of going from 3 kids to 5 kids in a snap.

Here's the thing. 3 kids is normal. People do that sometimes. 4 kids is okay. Some people are still crazy enough to do that.

But 5? That's a game-changer. I am fully aware that many people have upwards of 4 & 5 kids. And that's great, but a lot changes when you become a large family.

Selfishly, we wanted to wait for #4 for at least a couple of years. We were hoping to do a little traveling and get Claire potty-trained. Now don't get me wrong, we always delight in the Lord's plan. Always. If it's not in our plan, we amend our plan quick. So we have 3 in diapers? Whatever! But for me, it's going from "normal" to "large" without praying and considering it. Wow. I mean, we're thrilled to pieces, but 5 kids is a big deal when you were a 3-kid family just days earlier.

Travel? It seems like a pipe dream now. I guess we could take some of them, but travel is going to be pricey. It'll have to be road trips, which is fine with me. I'm a domestic gal. Let's do road trips!

Diapers? It'll have to be cloth. THREE kids in diapers is pricey. I'll just double up on cloth and get better at laundry. I will, however, changing over to Bum Genius.

Food? We usually go through a loaf of bread in about 3 days. Now it'll be a loaf of bread for a meal.

Party invitations? Well that will be handled one of two ways. "Honey, should I add the Cookes to the list?" "Well you could, but I thought we wanted this to be smaller party." OR "Honey, should I add the Cookes to the list?" "Yeah, add them. At least we'll have a full house if no one else shows up."

School? Private school is definitely out, and while homeschooling is still a desire, we need prayers to discern the right choice.

Carseats? How do we fit 5 carseats into 5 car seats? Lucy will clearly need to be able to jump in and out of her seat like a firefighter, as she'll be our number one paci-grabber. But putting Molly next to twins would be like giving Lenny a litter of mice. And Claire on the bench seat would be a little disastrous. I need a diagram. I also need a carseat budget, as it's time to retire the old carrier and we need to do some adding and replacing. 4 kids in carseats and one in a booster. That's a TON of compressed styrofoam. Ohhhhh the chemicals!!!

Bedrooms? Handled. Adding baby #9 is where that will get tight.

Nursing? I have no expectations, there. Either we do or we don't.

Co-sleeping? Well I think that's probably out of the picture. They can co-sleep in their crib!

Housekeeping? Out of the question.

5 children with 4 under 4, is bananas. BANANAS, I tell you.