having number 5

crazymum in March 12 has just had #11

I have five, number 6 still under consideration.

I have some days when I don't "cope" so I bundle kids into van and go for a drive, or I walk out door to go for some "me" time as soon as Dh gets home from work. Or I just sit outside on the doorstep with a coffee for 10mins while the kids sort themselves out inside. But thankfully now that youngest is 18mths those days happen less often, once they get older and are a bit more independent you start to feel human again.
I have some fantastic friends/neighbours that I can share the load with, we look after each others kids for 15-20min supermarket runs, vacuum/clean up at each others houses when we pop over for coffee etc, trying to share the load rather than add to it.
I think key to our "success" as a bigger family is that dh and I work as a team, not against each other, we do our best to decide how we're going to handle something before it crops up. We're flexible/adaptable in our parenting and yet we also have very clear boundaries/rules, we do our best to be consistent, and try to be fair with discipline.
You can only do your best after all!
It's also very rewarding when something you've worked at comes right, eg last week DD8y and dd6y settled down to do their homework as it's become something they enjoy doing together, it used to be something I'd nag about every evening, Ds10y saw them doing theirs and remembered to do his too and dd3y plonked herself down with a book with them because she wanted to be involved. So I had 4 out of 5 working quietly and co-operatively and I hadn't had to growl once, it was awesome![:D]