Babies.

I love it when we go somewhere with just Lochlan, and some nice stranger thinks he's our first baby. That means we still look young, right? Then they start talking about how before we know it, he'll be walking and talking and we'll wonder where the time went. I always smile and nod, like I've never heard all this before.

Then the person always has to ruin it by asking if he's our first. So when we tell him or her that Loch is our fifth, they always look stunned. Yeah, people do have that many kids. Yeah, it's still a miracle every time a baby grows up into a toddler, then a pre-schooler, then goes off to school. But we've been there, done that a few times now.

Maybe they expect all big family parents to look...what? More frazzled? Older? Fatter (that would be a trick for me!)? Wear a denim jumper and look like Michelle Duggar? Hey, I'm not knocking her, by the way. That family is amazing, so kudos to them.

I am trying hard to enjoy every minute, even the ones where I'm cleaning up Ivy's latest poo-tacular mess. Picture it: Hollis' new Hot Wheels track, a lot of poo, and some very "muddy" cars. It was off-roading of the worst kind. And when the Hens were here, we found a nice dump, taken into an open book, then the book was closed and left in an out-of-the-way corner. By the way, the book was a Thomas the Train one called "Percy's Chocolate Crunch." I'm not making this up, it's too disgusting.

Anyway. Everyone with kids old enough to leave home tells us that when the kids were little was the best time of their lives, they just didn't know it at the time. But the sheer work gets in the way. The kids are adorable and funny and shocking and appalling all at the same time. There is a MOUNTAIN of laundry that must be found, washed, dried, folded and put away at all times. The kids are always hungry. The house is always worse than messy. There are always flies buzzing a sinkful of dirty dishes. I'm always working on about two hours' less sleep than I need. Lochlan is sweet and precious...and he needs to be fed and held for hours every day. I have a relationship to maintain. On top of all this? I have a full-time job, sewing corsets madly and trying to keep up with the fall Renaissance Festival and Halloween rush.

Maybe I do look frazzled.