You may call me Mother of THREE!

So, the kids moved in last week, we're on day nine of being a family of five.

DD7 and DS5 have adjusted well, considering, but there are and will continue to be some turbulence. DD8 is having to make huge adjustments, including moving bedrooms and sharing a room with DD7.

The younger ones start public school on Monday. Until we adopt them they are technically still foster children and must attend public school. Unless we file for an exception. We'll see whether they want to or not. The homeschooling is really the only thing that I see being a problem--DD8 staying home while they go off to school each morning.

In the meantime it's been tons of fun and extremely exasperating by turns. I started calling them The Horde in my head when it tool me fifteen minutes to get them in or out of the car on our first outing together with just me (DH was working). Now I call them that because they're eating like a Horde of Locusts.

Last night they all had THIRDS of the rosted chicken and vegetables and corn on the cob. This morning they ate two eggs and a slice of toast each, then asked for seconds. So I gave them all a bowl of cereal.

We're going through 32 ounces of milk and a dozen eggs a day.

This is the biggest adjustment for me, believe it or not. I intellectually knew that our food consumption/cost would almost double, but seeing it happen, going ot the grocery store four times since last Wednesday, it's all a bit of a shock.

And the jealousy. I was not expecting the rampant jealousy and competitiveness. It takes five minutes of diplomacy just to get them to agree on who feeds which animal, who sets the dinner table with what items, who sits where in the car. So I'm stepping in and assigning. Doesn't matter how fair we try to make it, someone feels cheated, so I'm calling them on it and not letting them do things I might have normally done because they're freaking out over who gets to do what.

It's mainly because of DD7. She want everything her way, every time, she wants to be first, will grab stuff out of the other kids hands, had issues about impulse control and immediate gratification, etc. Her insistance that she get everything first makes the other two hyper-sensitive that they "get to too". It's driving me nuts. I know why she's doing it, she's a control freak because she has had NO control over what happens to her since she was removed from her mother's home at the age of four. Her younger brother was two at the time. He's very easygoing, does not have any issues to speak of other than what you'd expect from trying to adjust to a new home, family, everything.

And, OMG, he's just the cutest thing. He plays the guitar, has a black tshirt that says "Boy in Black" with a guitar on it, and is just the sweetest thing you can imagine.

It helps that they were in an awesome home for the past six months, their great-aunt, but it will take time.

In the meantime, we're getting ready for Halloween. DD8 is a girl from Singapore (mom brought her back a Kabaya from her last business trip) DD7 is a black kitty cat, and DS5 is Spiderman. We're getting ready to fix them sandwiches and then dress them up. Spiderman will require much facepaint.

Jackolanterns were carved last night. Very cute. Must get out camera. We've already had trick or treaters at our door (it's only four o'clock).

And with that, I'm off to be with my three kids!