Here it is:
-Between 4am and 6am (sometimes earlier): The Baby wakes for a bottle. He sleeps in our room. Yes, I was tempted to put quotes around the word "sleeps" since some nights are still quite rough with an occasional sleep-through-the-night-night, and most somewhere in between. His GI doctor called him a "night terrorist." I get up and prepare a bottle. I fill a bottle with 6 ounces of water before bedtime and leave it next to the formula and rice cereal (added to cut down on volume of reflux) by my sink. I add three scoops of formula and two tablespoons of cereal and sit in the recliner in my room to feed him. He eats and falls back asleep. I have to hold him upright for 40 minutes after a bottle, so we often both sleep in the chair for a while, depending on the time. Sometimes I put him back to bed and sometimes I do not.
-6am: Jon's alarm rings. He rises and showers. This is crazy to me because the Jon of yesteryear would not wake with his alarm every single day and immediately rise. He just knows it's his only shot at a shower. At that point, I'm usually trying to get a few more winks of sleep because the night has been full of me having to stick a pacifier back into a baby's mouth with very short bursts of uninterrupted sleep. I am the morning person, but I'm the one dreaming of being able to sleep longer. On the rare occasion that I have been able to sleep well, I get up as soon as I can put The Baby back in his crib.
-6:34am: The hallway comes to life with sounds of six children awake and ready for "Mooooom!" Some of the bedrooms have kids who just play together until Jon or I get them up. Others have kids who call and call for me until they are released from their cribs. We have four bedrooms along our hall, not including the master. The one closest to us has Cassia and Sir Smiles. Sir Smiles is still in a crib, and he is usually the first to wake and definitely the loudest. None of the others can sleep once he wakes. The next room has Poky Puppy and Thing One. They can cause trouble with each other if we don't get up right away. The next room has Zade and Edison. These two don't call for me but beware of letting them play together in there for any amount of time. Mischief reigns. The room on the opposite end contains the sleeping teen. I'm guessing he hears all the chaos, but he pretends to sleep through it and waits until his alarm wakes him for class (6:45 T, Th, and 7:30 M, W). I try to get him up at around 7 if I can remember. Basia's room is in another part of the house.
-We have two kids who sleep in pull-ups and three who sleep in diapers. Wow! I never thought about that before. That's a lot. No wonder I keep having to place Amazon.com orders for refills. We change diapers and tell the others to get out of their pull-ups. On school days, I try to have the clothes for the four school kids (Cassia, Zade, Poky Puppy, Thing One) in the hall ready to go. They get dressed all the way to their school shoes before coming out to the living room. Jon and I change diapers and keep the other little ones on task.
-Edison usually comes out of his room dragging his beloved blanket, a light yellow quilt. It was Jon's blanket when he was little, so it always melts my heart. He is the only one of my kids with a comfort object.
-Within seconds of kids entering the living room, the kids are begging for breakfast. Edison will scream if he thinks we are trying to stall. Before we had to have everyone ready for school, I had a breakfast pattern: Monday-muffins, Tuesday-toast (eggs, too, usually), Wedensday-waffles (or pancakes), Thursday-tummy warming (oatmeal, grits, Malt-o-Meal), Friday-fake meat. This has gone out the window for now. The kids are always happiest to get cereal, so I decided to give them what they want and stop working at making different breakfasts, even though just about anything is less expensive that keeping enough cereal on hand for a family of 11 to eat it EVERY morning. We'll see if summer changes the routine back. I hope it does.
-We currently start serving cereal as the kids are ready instead of waiting for everyone. Edison and Sir Smiles start right away, and the other kids join as soon as they are dressed for school and wearing their shoes. They each get a (cheap, plastic) bowl in their favorite color: Thing One-red, Cassia-purple, Zade-blue, Poky Puppy-yellow, Edison-green, and Sir Smiles-orange (his color was assigned, not chosen). We have three plastic bins with cereal options. Most often, Cheerios are in one, Shredded Wheat in a second, and Honey Bunches of Oats in a third. We vary it at times, but those are the stand-bys. Each child chooses which cereal they want. I only started giving them a choice a couple months ago. Until then, I gave them all the identical breakfast. I finally realized that Cassia really only will eat Shredded Wheat and Sir Smiles absolutely will not eat Shredded Wheat. Nowadays, Sir Smiles usually wants Cheerios but will occasionally choose Honey Bunches of Oats. The other five most often choose Shredded Wheat. We work on manners by reminding them to say, "may I please have Shredded Wheat?" when asking. They sometimes get milk with their meal, sometimes juice, and sometimes nothing. They drink the milk out of their cereal, and that usually leaves any milk in a cup to get thrown out. If a couple of them drink too much juice, there is a possibility for potty accidents at school. I rarely even bought juice until WIC started giving us 10 jugs a month. After the kids are done with their cereal, they clear their spots at the table. If we are doing OK on time, I choose one of them to wipe down the table. Poky Puppy lives up to his name and will take forever to do it. Cassia always wants to be the one and only helper and takes the job very seriously.
-After breakfast the kids are sent to clean their rooms, which usually just means putting clothes and pajamas in the hamper. We can only send one or two at a time, or they get into fights or craziness when they are in their rooms and out of our sight. Jon has usually started to make coffee while I disperse the cereal.
-School lunches are made. We originally had four of these for their lunches:
Zade and Poky Puppy broke their clasps on the same day. I still don't understand how that happened, especially on the same day. Cassia and Thing One still have theirs. The compartments are labeled dairy, protein, grain, fruit, vegetable. I just like them because it cuts out all the plastic baggies. After a while of not having any for Poky Puppy and Zade, I decided to try another brand, the Laptop Lunches one:
The compartments are quite a bit bigger, which I like. I don't love having to wash all the separate lids and containers. Overall, though, these are my favorite.
We send them water for lunch in these:
-Even though Basia's room is near all the action, she tries to sleep through it for as long as possible. I try to wake her and Brishen up at 7, but sometimes they make it until 7:30 or even 8, if I forget to get them. They get themselves breakfast. Brishen then feeds the dog, empties the dishwasher, and then showers. Basia empties the dishwasher later in the day and is responsible for the dog's water. They both help by holding the baby, tieing shoes, and other ways, as needed. Brishen is in class by 7:30 twice a week, so that sends him to his computer in the library (formerly known as the front room).
-In addition to the lunches, we are asked to send other water bottles. We also have to send daily snacks for Think One and Cassia. We use these:
And these:
-Somedays Jon helps a lot by making lunches, but other days Jon only really has time to get himself ready for the day, so I do the rest.
-After breakfast and room cleaning, the six middle kids play. Sometimes I will put on a Leap Frog show for them if I am needing them to be extra calm or make as little mess as possible while I get things done.
If The Baby is still napping or is content to play on the floor, it makes this part of the morning go so much more smoothly. If he hasn't eaten since 3:45am and wants to eat or be held by me, it's pretty tough to get things done and give him what he needs.
-It's hair time. If it's been too long since haircuts, I'll fix the three boys' hair. Otherwise, it's just Cassia's that needs done.
-7:45am: I disperse medicines and log it. We have kids on the following: ranitidine, cetirizine (sometimes 5 kids at once), fluticasone (always 5 kids), Singulair (this is nighttime, though), Qvar, Symbicort. If everyone is healthy, that is all. If there are any coughs and/or wheezing, This is also the time for nebulizers. 6 of my kids have used nebulizers in the last few months, sometimes 5 of them at once. Pulmicort and Albuterol are the medications used in the nebulizers. Luckily the Qvar and Symbicort are inhalers that have significantly cut down on the daily nebulizer need for a couple of my kids. We definitely put Leap Frog in if nebulizers are needed.
-8am: The alarm on my phone sounds, reminding me that it is almost time for the kids to go to school. They are sent for their final potty breaks and to get their backpacks. Once they are fully ready, they sit near the front door to prove it. We hear the counts, "One is ready! Two are ready! Three are ready! Four are ready!" Edison is sometimes ready to cry by this point because he a) is scared I'm going to leave with the kids and leave him behind and b) because he hates to be left out of anything.
-8:10-8:15: Jon loads the four school kids and takes them to school after we've clarified how and when my van will be returned.
-Edison comes back into the living room and demands his TV time. I spoiled him in the early days when he was so devastated to be left behind, and now he thinks it is his constitutional right to watch a show, usually "Mater" or "Thomas."
Even though they beg for a show, they rarely sit and watch it for long before they are off to play. Depending on the baby's schedule and mood, I may get to load the dishwasher once the kids are gone or else am sitting to feed The Baby. If Brishen is out of class, I may even get to take a super quick shower. Basia gets herself ready for the day at this point, too. This is also when I can get the three little ones dressed.
-We regularly do a devotion at this time, too. Basia's school has recommended Bible passages to read and a book to accompany, but we prefer:
-9am: School starts for Basia. Her first hour is math and memory hour. She prefers to start with math. We do memory with Brishen when he is not in class. Of course it's not smooth sailing since there's a baby who gets hungry and sleepy and poopy. There are two toddlers who love to take advantage of a mom who is not focused on them. There are PE classes and recorder lessons and social worker and therapist visits. The rest of the morning is spent trying to meet the needs of the littlest three while making sure Basia gets as much schooling as possible.
-11:20am: Basia loves to ask the question, "What do you want me to make for lunch, Mom." That is one of my favorite questions. She made lunch three or four times last week. It cuts down on her school time, but I feel it is time well spent because she is getting to feed her passion (and feed the rest of us!).
-12pm: Lunch is served, kids are put down for nap, bigger kids are sent to read or do homework or fall asleep (Brishen!!). I sit with the baby, feed him a bottle, and get him to sleep. I can often get some reading done at this time or even nap a bit if it was a really rough night or morning. If I hold him with very little interruption for most of an hour, he will sometimes let me put him down at 1:15ish. At that point I can clean up from our morning messes for 45 minutes until it is time to pick the kids up from school.
That, ladies and gentlemen and my future self, is what a typical morning looks like around these parts.
1 comment:
Wowza! I needed a nap by the time I got to 7:45am of this post! You are a super mom! You're organization with everyone is impressive! :)
Post a Comment