And then there were four.

Just a few minutes ago I went down to the kitchen to put some breast milk in a sink of cold water to thaw. When I opened the freezer I found a bowl inside with approximately one tablespoon of ice cream in the bottom. It was put there by my mother-in-law, who also happens to be my next door neighbor and babysitter-in-chief. I muttered to myself under my breath, "this woman is insane," and what do I hear but her voice coming through my second-story kitchen window...."are you throwing away my ice cream?"

She must have those extendo-ears dreamed up by the Weasley twins because she was a story below me, outside, trying to get through to her sister on her cell phone and I was talking really quietly.

"No, I'm eating it."

I lied without hesitation. Because discussing why or why not one should preserve one tablespoon of ice cream, even if it is the expensive kind, is not something I feel like doing tonight. And also, because even though Hillary Clinton was laughed at, it really does take a village and this woman is critical to the functioning of my village.

And my village has just expanded.

No, no more babies. Instead our 17-year-old nephew has moved in with us for the summer. B is sweet, easy to get along with, mildly moody in that teenagerish way, loves to fix things - anything really, doesn't like sandwiches (how is this possible?), up for just about anything - he is kayaking with his uncle right now even thought it's 10 at night and the lake is just a slightly lighter shade of indigo than the weather that's coming across it in a few hours - and tall. As in, adult sized.

For someone who has been living with three girls, three small girls, B's arrival is like having an alien dropped in our midst. Not only is he a fully formed teenager, but he's a BOY.

He's here because we are part of his village. And suddenly we are parenting four. Each one at a different stage, with a different temperament, different needs. My wish for him is that being here will help him realize that his village is bigger than he thought. That he is truly part of it and that he belongs in the truest sense of the word.

He has landed in chaos. In fact, he arrived the day we brought the baby home from the hospital where she had surgery to put a feeding tube in her abdomen (which went perfectly smoothly and she's fine). Since then it's been a flurry of getting his bedroom set up, relocating Chad's office and everything that was in it, end-of-school projects, softball games, weekend pool parties, dinners on the run, little girls in overtired meltdown, occasional thunderstorms blowing rain into the windows and onto the carpet, misunderstood Facebook posts and multiple job schedules. Oddly enough, he seems to like it.