Being a mother of 8 brings a lot of attention when I go out. Even if I don't have all the kids with me, I have family stickers on the back of my Venture that loudly announce who we are. And shoot, even if I leave a few at home, we're still one of the biggest families in the stores at any given time, lol. So a question I hear often from curious strangers is, "How do you do it?". On the other hand, I also sometimes get judged as lazy for not working outside the home to help my husband support our large family. In either case, this depiction of what some of my days are like should answer the questions of the curious, and slap the ignorant upside the head. Now, as being a parent takes up primarily mental and emotional work, I will be adding all that I have to *think about, solve, plan, etc.* in red (emphasizing the fact that not all hard work has to be physical labor).
I wake up at 6 AM, grab a cup of coffee and wake up 5 kids for school. I stay on top of two of them to get in the shower while picking out clothes and ironing outfits for the other three. *Is it cold out? Gonna rain? Shorts? Jackets? Did I sign all their planners? Who has gym today? Where the hell are the matches for these socks???*
During the course of the next hour I solve the following issues; "Can I have chip money?" *find change*, "Can you do a mowhawk in my hair?" *get spray bottle, gel, and blow dryer*, "Can you get the knot out of my sneakers?" *struggle with knot as child panics about being late for bus*, "Where's my clean undies?" *where the hell is all the laundry I did yesterday? mental note, wash undies today. dig through piles of yesterday's clean laundry for clean pairs*, "I can't find my other shoe!" *ask for help from other kids in locating lost shoe, but they're busy finding their stuff, so crawl around on all fours looking under couches and cushions for lost shoe*, "He took my only clean shirt!" *who should wear the shirt? and gotta find another shirt for the topless*, "Someone lost my planner" *try not to get aggravated b/c I always tell them to put their planners away at night, but back on all fours looking for lost planner*, "Can I stay home today?" *determine if a sick day is warranted, or perhaps a hooky day is deserved, and discuss decision with child*, "My teacher said I had to have snacks for the class today" *deep breathe, remind child to tell me these things sooner and scramble through cabinets looking for snacks for 20 students*, "My library book just got wet!" *obtain book, open to air out, and scribble note to teacher about the accident on the back of last weeks' grocery bill*, and "Can you sign my behavior sheet?" *ISS?!?!?! listen to story about talking in class, determine appropriate discipline, administer discipline* while watching for the bus, moving the slow pokes out of the shower, brushing 2 girls hairs, getting the baby out of the crib, into a clean diaper, and set up on the couch with a bottle and cartoons.
After the bus comes I get Emmie and Rosie up, make breakfast for them and the baby, put on load of wash, empty and run dishwasher, and plan something for dinner *aim for balanced meal for 10 people*.
NOW maybe I can take a few mins to myself to go potty, text a friend, put on a bra, and/or drink a cup of coffee *try to accomplish all these things within my 10 or so mins of break time before I am needed again*.
Most times Rosie or Coda bust in on my break to let me know it's time to get back to work. No union here, and a toddler and a pre-schooler are more demanding than an old school German running a construction company with too many jobs and very short deadlines to meet. And I can't quit and walk off the job, hahaha.
See here now, I am using up my morning break time. I have gone well over my loosely allotted 10 minutes, but for the moment the little ones are watching Handy Manny and Emmie is with them (she's usually doing her school work right now, but I asked for some help today). However, even with Emmie with them, I can hear the baby fussing, I know she's in need of a clean outfit and a nap, and I still have to go potty. So I am off for now, be back with more parts later..... :)
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