How do you do it?

I was 20 when T, my oldest, was born. My husband and I were Active Duty Air Force, and T had been unexpected, but very welcome. Our friends loved to say how they could never handle having a child, how it must be such an inconvenience. These statements were inevitably followed by, "How do you do it?". Umm, it's easy actually, T was an easy baby, we took him everywhere, and considering that we were never very into to party scene anyway, having a baby cause any disruption. Deployments were a challenge the first few weeks, but a new routine was quickly established.
When I got pregnant with W, I got out of the Air Force and we were transferred to another base. We soon settled into life as a family of four. W was much more difficult than T and on more than one occasion I sat with him in the car with a screaming infant while my wonderful husband finished the grocery shopping. Another deployment came and I found myself pushing a hysterical 8 month old through the same grocery store trying to keep my 3 yo close and out of trouble and here come the comments. " I don't know how you do it, I would be going crazy. What's wrong with him?"
"Well, I have to have groceries. I do feel a little crazy sometimes, but I'd probably feel less crazy if people like you would stop asking me questions when I have a screaming baby in my shopping cart. There is nothing 'wrong' with him, he is just very easily overstimulated." Luckily, as time passed, W got much easier to deal with, and while most kids are more difficult at 2 years old, I actually saw a marked improvement in his behavior and I breathed a sigh of relief. My husband got out of the Air Force and we moved... Again.
With things getting easier and having two boys, we started talking about having another try for a little girl. Three boys can't be that much harder than two, and wouldn't it be nice if we did have a girl?
I delivered twin boys when W was 3.5 and T was 6. They came at  32 weeks and spent 17 days in the NICU. Shortly after bringing them home we were once again in a grocery store, walking through the produce section while I breastfed one in a ring sling, pushed the other in a stroller and my husband held W's hand. T by this point could be trusted in a public place. A young couple sees us and the guy says to M, "OH MY GOD, Dude, you've got your hands full!" The woman then looks at me with this deer in the headlights look, "How do you do it?". I was exhausted. Completely stressed out, still recovering from my c-section, and EXHAUSTED. I just smiled at her and kept going.
I remember complaining to my husband that night about how tired I was of that question. Just once I wanted to go somewhere and be ignored. I went on, and on, and on about it. Yeah, that is what we call a pipe dream. Go anywhere with twins and you are going to hear about every random person's cousin's ex-girlfriend who has a friend who is a twin. People can't help but ask if they are twins, are they identical or fraternal, and when you add two other little boys into the equation they want to know, HOW DO YOU DO IT?
B came this summer when H&C were 2.5, another, and final, unexpected suprise, and I have actually learned to love the attention I get when going into public with my crew. I especially enjoy the comments I get from people who can't believe that 5 boys can be so well behaved. Older couples tend to be the most vocal and provide the best compliments. And, of course, there is the expected, "How do you do it?" I'm not sure exactly what changed for me, but apparently I've become a bit of an attention whore because I look foreward to taking my guys out.
Oh, and I finally have a response to "How do you do it?" You just do. It has to be done and the best person for the job is me, so I do.