Photographs totally unrelated from a family cleanup we did out in the sagebrush somewhat close to our house.This article that I posted on facebook really touched me and had me pondering family size in our society. I think all of us who happen to have more than two children had a magic number when the public comments started. Maybe it was the third baby, or perhaps the seventh. Well, apparently four is the magic number for me. It's quite comical to me because I don't consider my family large by any means. I still see us as quite small at the moment. Ask me again when we have seven, maybe. Then again the amount of food I need to cook each meal does have me feeling like a larger family some days.
The other weekend my family and I went to our local farmers market to pick up a couple of things. I wore Baby F up on me and our other three children were walking with us. I heard a woman's voice loudly say, "You know how that happens, right?" I looked around, not sure of where the voice came from or who is was spoken to. Then she repeated herself, "You know how that happens, right?" This time I saw that it was one of the vendors speaking and she was talking to me. I wasn't quite sure of how to respond to a comment like that. It actually made me giggle and I thought of a few comebacks but then I ended up just smiling shyly and saying, "yep."
I think I giggled because, since I had Baby F, it is starting to become expected that I will get some sort of comment about the size of my family when I am out and about. Most of them are sweet (lots of bigger families around these parts) but every now and then I get comments like the one above, from people that just might not fully see the gift that children are. I don't get offended but rather feel sorry that they feel that way. I would love to engage them in a conversation, show them how filled with joy I am because of my precious gifts, and let them see first hand how incredible children are. I never do, though. I worry that something inappropriate might be said by in front of my children by the commenters. Maybe one of these days, though, I can build up the courage.
What was your magic number when the comments started coming? Do you remember the first comment you received?
Since we are such a large family now *Ha, Ha* I thought I would share one of the ways we save a little money as well as help out our planet. I make our own baby wipe solution. Actually I also do this out of necessity for Baby F as his skin is very sensitive, but we did this for all of our children, as well. I just use water, essential oil and cloth wipes. Easy peasy. It is fast to make, too. You know, so you can get right back to chasing around your large brood. I bought a wipe warmer like this one (many moons ago) to keep the solution warm. I just fill it about 1/3 of the way full with water. Then I add only one drop of essential oil. For the oil, I like to rotate between Gentle Baby essential oil and lavender essential oil. You could do whatever essential oil you like but be certain it is safe for baby first, many are not! One drop is all that is needed because essential oils are very strong and a tiny bit goes a long way. Once I have my water and essential oil in I add the cloth wipes. I fill those to the top. Over a short amount if time they soak up all of the water solution. I then plug the wipe warmer in and am ready for the next diaper change. See? Super simple.
