Lucky number 7

We are now a family of 7.
I am still getting used to that.
It shouldn't be such a shock growing up in a family of 9, but it's an adjustment. A big one.
Sometimes I hear people say, after three kids it doesn't matter. Being outnumbered is being outnumbered, you can't tell the difference.
Those people are highly delusional or highly stupid or just plain high.

Every addition to my family has mattered
and has rocked our world
and thrown our routines out of whack and
added extra chaos (believe it or not it is possible).

I mean, 7 people under one roof.
You people with big families know what I am talking about.
And no, watching the Brady Bunch doesn't count.
Those people were WAY too happy with each other to validate anything you saw on that show. [We all know Marsha would have kicked Jan's butt to the curb on more than one occasion.]

7 people.
We are now just one person shy of having our gratuity automatically included at a restaurant.
We have filled our mini van to capacity.
One hotel room isn't big enough.
Laundry is oozing out of every surface.
Trips to Costco, even though frequent, cost a small fortune.
And the noise level? Well lets just say, I may be deaf by 35.

But 1 mom +
      1 dad +
      1 girl +
      4 boys
________________
= more fun,
   more laughter,
   more inside jokes,
   more learning experiences,
   more sweetness,
   more chances to teach tolerance and service,
   and so much more love than I ever thought possible.

And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Except maybe for someone that would permanently clean my bathrooms.
That's worth at least one boy.