Things I didn't consider

I always wanted a lot of kids, but now that we have 8, I'm finding there are things that I didn't consider that are tricky or surprising about having a lot of kids.

For example, I didn't think about:

-having to wrangle 8 Halloween costumes, all of which have to go on in the same hour on Halloween

-how many socks, shirts, pants, underthings, etc. 10 people wear in one day, or have to own all together. (Once a friend suggested we might simplify things by having fewer clothes. So I started doing some math: if I limited each person to only owning 5 shirts and 3 pairs of pants, that's 80 items of clothing not counting socks or underwear or specialty things like swimsuits. And everyone seems to agree that nobody can live with just 5 shirts and 3 pairs of pants.)

-the fact that my dishwasher actually can't hold all the dishes it takes just to feed (not even to cook for) 10 people a single dinner

-how much it costs to get one person a decent, simple Christmas. Times ten.

-fitting people around a normal table in a normal dining room (normal tables and dining rooms are not designed for dinner parties)

-that everywhere we go, we'd be our own parade

-shoes. SO. Many. Shoes. (and none match when you're in a hurry)

-how long it takes to put 8 people to bed, and how shocking it can be when, an hour later, six people show up in the kitchen insisting they can't sleep without a snack--and that's when some stay in bed. (Is there a bedtime equivalent of elevensies?)

-preparing 8 math lessons every single day. Or even just finding places to put 8 different math books.

and so much more....