Four daughters for four days.

We are babysitting for our Aussie friends in Singapore for 4 days, while they travel to Sydney. They (the Bryce family) have three girls age 7, 5, and 3. Throw in our 3-year-old, and that makes Mama and Papa Saigh the "parents" of 4 girls... For 4 days. We spend a lot of time with this family in Singapore, as Papa Saigh works with the girls' dad, and I am very good friends with their mom.

I love this one of all four girls (L to R: Kyla, Macee, Chloe, and Linna). I also
think this is Linna telling me how she feels about having three sisters;)

Day #1: Today, we took all 4 girls swimming, scooting, to the park, and they are all currently watching a movie quietly at 6:30 p.m., while Mama and Papa Saigh are enjoying a couple well-deserved beers. They have to be exhausted after our first day together. I know we are! These girls are hard to keep up with.

I do, however, think it's "easier" having multiple children, simply because they play together constantly. Yes, it's more difficult keeping an eye on 4 kids, but I love the constant playmates our daughter has. I'm so used to having just one child, who is constantly wanting my attention. Papa Saigh disagrees, and I think he aged 10 years today trying to keep up with all 4 of the girls. They certainly are exhausting, but I'm loving being a "mom" of 4 girls! We'll see how I feel after day #4. Here's a video of all 4 girls tonight, after our first day together...

Day #2: Here's the video we shot tonight after our second day together...

As you can see, the secret to my sanity is revealed in this video... The Bryce's helper Vikki. This lady has been with the Bryce's since I met them over a year ago, and she is so great with the girls. She cooks, cleans, and in all honesty, the girls probably love her more than me! Last night, Chloe (the youngest) and Macee (the oldest) had a hard time falling asleep, and they both wanted Vikki to lay with them... Not Mama Saigh:( All four girls love Vikki, and I couldn't be a mom of four girls for four days without her. Well, I'm sure I could, but the girls probably wouldn't eat three meals a day, and/or Mama and Papa Bryce would come home to a disaster of a house, with laundry piled up sky-high.

These girls know how to keep Mama Saigh on her toes!

Macee and Kyla have school all day tomorrow, so it will be nice spending a majority of the day with the two little girls. Time to get these girls off to bed so we can start day #3!

Day #3: Alright, so change "we" (as in Papa and Mama Saigh), to "we" (as in Mama Saigh and the "helper" Vikki). Papa Saigh slept at our condo last night, as he had work in the morning, which leaves Mama Saigh and Vikki to manage all 4 girls. Easy-peasy right?! I mean, come ON... I DO have a helper while I'm babysitting. It's safe to say that I have officially lost control of these 4 little Energizer bunnies...

They seriously DO. NOT. STOP.

The older girls have to be up at 7 a.m. for school. Holy sh*t, that's early. I don't function until 8 a.m. Thankfully Vikki knew the routine, as I slowly dragged my lazy, expat-wife ass out of bed. How do people get up so early?! She had the girls fed, dressed, and on the bus by 7:30 a.m., as I waited for the two little girls to wake up (AKA, I fell back asleep). Poor Chloe (the youngest Bryce girl) who was up all night coughing, was up shortly after the girls were off to school, and my little princess Linna slept in until 9 a.m.

Papa Saigh with the four girls. He's ready for three more, right?!

Kyla's homework helpers... Chloe and Linna.

Last night when Chloe wasn't feeling well, I tried to get her to come sleep with me and Linna... but she only wanted Vikki. Macee (the oldest) also had a hard time falling asleep last night, and do you think she wanted Auntie Melissa?! No, she wanted Vikki. Auntie Fail. I wonder if they'd even ask for me if Mama Bryce and Vikki weren't here. OMG, I can't even imagine doing this all on my own... GAHHHHHHHHH!

After an oh-so-fun night trying to get Linna to fall asleep (she had an afternoon nap), Chloe's cough under control, and the two older girls to go to sleep so they could function at school in the morning...
Day #3 was a bit rough. I took the two little girls (Chloe and Linna) swimming, while the older girls were at school. Vikki deserved a break. I even managed a dual toilet-poop at the pool between Linna and Chloe. I so wish I would have had a third arm to snap a photo of the two little loves, pooping simultaneously in side-by-side toilets. At least it wasn't IN the pool!

Spending the morning at the pool with the little girls while the
two older girls were at school.

We greeted the older girls as they got off the bus around 4 p.m., and all 5 of us went back to the pool to swim, and then a quick stop at the park before bath and dinner time. I was more than ready for a glass of wine and bed at 6 p.m., but NO... these girls just keep on goin'. Thank goodness for Vikki. She cooked the girls' dinner AND had the house picked up when we got home at 6 p.m. I cannot stress the importance of having a second pair of hands around when managing multiple children!

Chloe and Linna. Best buddies!

It's currently 8:30 p.m. Linna is asleep in the guest bedroom, Chloe is passed out on her mom and dad's bed (thanks to Vikki), and Kyla, Macee, and Vikki are all sound asleep in the girls room. I'm enjoying my second glass of wine (the first one had to be poured before the girls' bathtime, because that is a job all its own) and I'm onto my third. I will be in bed by 9:30 p.m.  P.S., I was stumped tonight reviewing 7-year-old Macee's homework, and had to Google the answer. Does anyone else know the plural for "roof"?!

Onto Day #4! I will survive.

Day #4: Well, I survived four days with four daughters... Just barely.

Man did these little loves keep me on my toes. And to add a little more to the mix, the girls' friend Florence stopped by on our last night together. What's one more, right?! These girls played so hard, and although I am completely exhausted, I love that Linna got to experience what life would be like with siblings. While trying to give each of the girls some one-on-one attention, and simply trying to keep up with their day-to-day needs, it's amazing how easily you just "let go" of the things you worry about or focus on when you just have one kid. Linna definitely didn't get as much attention as she normally does when it's just the two of us, which was both good and bad. While I had not one, but four little girls to worry about, Linna had a few lessons in survival. She learned how to use her words when one of the other girls did something she didn't like, and she learned how to move onto something else when one of the other girls invaded her personal space. At one point on day #2 or #3, I looked at Linna and thought, "Oh my gosh, I haven't just sat and talked to, or cuddled with you, like I normally do every day!". I felt like such a bad mom for not giving her the attention she's used to, but she survived, right?!

Linna did her best to keep up with the big girls when we went scooting, swimming, and simply playing. I really think she loved learning how to play "house", catch and raise fairies, and other games from with older girls, but her favorite part of the day was when we put all four girls in the tub together for bath time. These girls could seriously play happily in the bath for an hour.

I'm happy to be back in our Singapore home with Papa Saigh and Linna, but we really missed the Bryce girls today. While these temporary sisters came with 3X the whining, crying, fights, tears, and work for Mama Saigh, I really miss the consistent playmates for Linna. I think I heard all three girls' names a half-dozen times today.

Alright, time to enjoy a little bit quieter house with my one baby girl. It's probably time to start working on some siblings for our little Linna, huh?! :)