This week I was able to talk with Kristen McGuire of MySecretIsMine.com. She’s another Mommy of Many, a retired miltary spouse, a published author and a good friend of mine. We got the chance to touch on how she is able to juggle her newsletter, being a mother to 8 kiddos and homeschooling. I hope you enjoy her story!
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I think that after 3 1/2 weeks of deployment that today was the day that I got into a good groove. One of the things I’ve wanted to do while Clay is gone is to get back to going to the Y. I felt challenged by the idea because Luke-Xavier hasn’t ever lasted there for more than 15 minutes. He throws himself on the floor and screams until they come get me. But today! Today he threw his fit and they just let him throw it until he was done and then he got up and went outside and played. Whoo Hoo! I’m glad that they finally took my approach to the whole fit-throwing thing. So, now it’s up to me go keep up a good routine of going so that he knows it’s just part of what we do. So, don’t tell anyone, but I haven’t actually worked-out there in about a year (maybe longer). Instead I’ve used it (all 15 minutes at a time) to think about show topics and get some writing done. But in the next few weeks if he keeps being good, I’m going to have to find a class and start working this on this body of mine!
After the Y, Luke-Xavier was beat and fell asleep in the car. When we got home I put him in bed and then was able to catch snails with Gabi. Let’s just focus on the “with Gabi” part of that sentence. Icky snails! It was a nice time with her. She’s definitely surrounded by brothers, because for all the wishing she does to become a princess, she LOVES bugs and snails!
Then it was onto a new show idea! Today I was able to record the first of a series of interviews that I’m doing about women and the military. I’m talking to different women who have been touched in some way by the military, whether they are spouses, have or have had a military career or maybe were children in a military family. Today’s interview was with Pilar Hari. She’s a Navy spouse of 19 years, the mother of 3 and the co-founder of the non-profit organization Focus Families. The show will be up in the next couple of weeks. I hope you find her story interesting!
So, after the excitement of trying something new for the show, I was back into the “M.O.M.” routine and picked kids up from school, took Mariah to an appointment (with time enough for a little bonding stop) and then back home to make dinner. I feel like it was the first night since Clay has left that I really embraced the whole nighttime routine as mine. Usually Clay brushes the kiddos’ teeth, reads the stories and tucks them in. It’s funny to say “usually” because his schedule varies so much, but it just seems like it was “his” thing. But tonight I didn’t drag my feet or assign tasks to the older girls. I gathered everyone around, read 2 stories, said prayers, led them to the bathroom, brushed teeth, clipped nails and tucked them each in. Go M.O.M! It’s just after 9 pm and I feel drastically different than I did last night.
Let’s hear it for the routine! Let’s hear it for the whole “deployment reality” finally sinking in! Let’s hear it for M.O.M getting in the groove!
Good night~
As you can see JJ’s arm did get cast. This is an update from an earlier post. Luckily he will be able to be seen and get the cast off before he goes back to school. We are learning a lot about having kids who live away from home and the details of things, like Dr. visits. We have to change both Kateri and JJ’s status so that they can easily see a Dr. where they are at school and then change it back again for each summer. Now, that’s all fine and easy sounding, but I am up to my eye-balls in paper work. I’ve even been asked the question, “what do you do”? meaning what line of work am I in that I have so much paper work to do all the time. Nope, no work, just mothering 9 kids and filling out endless papers in quadruplet. It never stops! But here’s a good example of how far behind I can get or how things get put on the back burner;
Luke-Xavier is 20m. old. We found out a while ago that he needed some paper work done to be able to continue seeing the Dr. Well, in order to do the paper work, they needed his birth certificate. I finally went and got it yesterday. It took all of 5 minutes and required no identification (which made me leery!), but it was the fact of taking the drive to the office that had made me keep putting it off. Crazy! Well, now we have the birth certificate and can make the appointment to do the OTHER paper work so that Luke-Xavier can finally go to a Dr. if needed (he has not been sick or this would have probably been done earlier).
I just keep doing things on an “as needed” basis, because the projects and paperwork are endless. If you have been expecting papers from me and they haven’t shown up, now you know why~
Have a great day~
Yesterday afternoon, I had conferences for 3 of my kiddos. This is a once-a-year requirement with the school, to touch-base with the teachers and get a good feel for how things are going. And, of course, you receive the first report card. So far, so good! The girls seem to be easing into 6th grade and all of it’s demands fairly well and Tristan is just knocking-it-out-of-the-park in 2nd grade. Good job guys! I had a bit of a wait between my 2nd and 3rd conferences, so I decided (not having brought a book or magazine and not needing to make any phone calls) to clean out my bag. This is the same bag that I found the elusive tuition check hidden in. So, I was unsure of what might be learking in the depths of it’s pockets. Hmmmmmm………lost house keys? A pack of gum? Hidden $20 bills? A small child I had forgot about? Alright, I found the gum and the keys. Dang it on the $ and a ~big sigh~ of relief on the child! Apparently this bag has developed a small hole in the lining of one pocket and my keys were able to wiggle right through. I guess I’ll put, “New Bag” on my Christmas list. Any volunteers to help Clay with the bag shopping?
So, on to today-This morning I’ve got to get the kids moving and off to school. It’s the final 1/2 day in a week of short days due to the conferences and tomorrow is off for Veterans Day. Then Max and Gabi are scheduled at the dentist. Both of their Tonsil-Ravaged mouths seem to be doing well now. Max had MAJOR dental surgery earlier this year to remove, repair and cap his little teeth. He had terrible tonsils that had kept an acid wash in his mouth that rapidly decayed and destroyed his teeth. His health has improved since the procedure and so has his confidence. We had started to see the same effects on Gabi and had her tonsils removed promptly and the damage to her teeth repaired before it got to the point Max’s was at. Today they are just heading in for a cleaning. Of course, this will mean juggling Luke-Xavier while trying to convince each of them that the dentist is NOT going to hurt them. Once all of that is over we will head back to the school to get kids. This afternoon brings; volleyball practice, a play-date, soccer practice, Girl Scouts, John Robert Powers and a gathering that I’m not sure I will make it to. Whew! The time change has still got me all off kilter. Hopefully when Clay returns, we can get things back in order and get used to having it be dark so early.
Ok, that’s it from MommyofMany’s headquarters. I hope it’s a great day for each of you. Until tomorrow, I’ll be here listening to the rhythm in my head and Doing the Dance of The Children~
This morning as I was racing around to see if I could get, just one more load of laundry in before getting the kids off to school, I had a great idea! There should be Mommy Olympics. I mean, come on………who else can fold a load of laundry in 1 minute and 10 seconds or race from a sitting position to a screaming toddler in 8 seconds or jump over, around and through the gauntlet of toys, that are on the floor, in the dark? Oooo, oooo……..there could also be memory tests like; name that favorite Raffi, Wiggles or Laurie Berkner song. If they ever do put together an event like this do any of you want to be on my So. Cal. team?
Good night~
Whew! The balls are all still in the air, but now I have to walk with them. That’s how I’m feeling right now. It’s all self-induced and I know it, but I’m still feeling overwhelmed. Wait! Didn’t I say I felt overwhelmed BEFORE I decided it was a good idea to start a website, blog and podcast? Hmmmmm?! Honestly, I can manage anything, but the thinking about it is what makes me anxious. If I break it all down into small pieces, I’m good. Clay says I need more sleep. More sleep?! Ok, I’ll try. I can work it in between 11pm and 4am. He’s not satisfied with that answer. Ok! I’ll try a new sleep regimen of 10pm to 4am. But not today. 
So, the new website is coming along. I am www.mommyofmany.com. It’s not up and running yet, but soon will have the blog and a podcast. I’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a REALLY quiet day for a Saturday around here. It rained a little, so that canceled a couple of our planned events. The 3 older girls went to a bday party in the afternoon and Clay took the 4 littler kids to the park. It was SO quiet here! I got a little work done and later went down to the park to join them. Very nice! I have to put days like this into my “good memory” file to pull out when it’s a tough Saturday. Well, I hope it was good for all of you too.
Good night~
I have been working hard to get all of this podcasting stuff in place. Some of that means that I am trying to move this blog to another site. You would still be able to access it here, but when announcing it to the public, there would be another website. So, yesterday I was working on doing that when, BAM! My whole site disappeared! I was sick! It took me hours to get it republished and lots of “on-hold” time on the phone. Anyway, it all made me realize that I haven’t got the slightest idea what I am doing. I just wanted to throw my hands up and say, “ok, you’re right, I’m in over my head and I quit”. But I didn’t and here I am today. I just really know NOTHING about how computers work and talk to each other and how moving things from one site to another works. It seems like so much to think about when all I really want to do is share stories and be connected. Ok, one hurdle at a time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, Clay and I are going to the ball (annual military function) next weekend. This means a new dress. So, I took the 3 little ones, while everyone else was in school and headed to the mall. You can imagine that I didn’t get very much accomplished. I grabbed several dresses and headed to the dressing room. Thank goodness the large one was open, because I had the stroller with the 2 little ones in it and Max following along. Now, I should mention that I wasn’t feeling the normal dread I feel, when about to try on clothes. The baby is getting older and I am busier since the oldest kids are gone (not as many people to delegate tasks to) and this all means less snack time for me (I’ve also found that since canceling cable, I don’t sit in front of the TV late at night with a snack). I’ve started to shrink a little. A couple people have even commented on it. So, I grabbed those dresses in a size smaller than normal. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!! The ones I did manage to get on had to be zipped by Max (4 yrs. old) and if you’ve read any of my other posts, you get the idea that he’s a straight talker. Well it was no different in the dressing room. When he was asked to zip one dress with a side-zipper, he tried with all his 4 yr old might and then stepped back and said, “There’s just too much side”. Point taken! I grabbed the matronly, black dress with an easy, up-the-back zipper and promptly checked out. Whew! I guess the accessories will have to speak of the beauty I hope to feel that night, ’cause the dress says , “there was just too much side”.
Good night~
What to do and where to start? These were the questions on my mind this morning when I looked around my messy home. I was finally going to have a day at home to clean and organize but couldn’t decide where to begin. The dishes? The laundry? The dining room floor?……..I should not have worried so much. As the morning progressed, it became clear that my children were going to guide me through the house (and the yard) on my cleaning expedition. First stop; the dining room. After taking my older children to school I returned home with the 3 little ones and made them their second breakfast. The first one was cereal, this one was the, “make me feel like I’m a real mother and cook something” meal of eggs and toast. I sat them down and delivered the dishes. While they were happily eating a lovingly cooked breakfast, I decided to start a load of laundry. But just moments into the whole thing I heard a loud crash and the sound of a broken dish. What was I thinking?!!!! I had given Luke-Xavier a glass dish on his high-chair tray. Ok, obviously the message was, “not time to do laundry. Time to sweep and clean dining room floor”. Great! Thank you Lex for showing me where to start. Once that was cleaned up and everyone was done I let them go outside while I headed back to the laundry room. And soon I was guided to my next cleaning job……the back patio, followed by the bathroom. Lex, having not eaten the eggs and toast, was still hungry and decided that the dog’s breakfast looked more appetizing than the one I had prepared. But, the key to really good dog food is that you have to dunk it in the dog’s water first. MMMMMM! Gets just the right amount of flavor and texture going. So, out I go to sweep up the dog food and dump the water. But wait! I now have to bathe Luke-Xavier (Lex) because dog food not only tastes good,once it’s wet, it becomes a fabulous moisturizer. So, #3 on the cleaning list, the bathroom. I figured while he was in the tub I could get the rest of the bathroom wiped down. Mission accomplished. I dried him off and relished the fact that he now smelled like a clean baby and not a puppy. However, I had underestimated Max and Gabi’s need to show me where to clean next! So, off to the playroom! They both think that baking is great and like to help me or the older girls when we make something. This time, they decided to try it on their own. And why not?! After-all we have provided a perfectly good kitchen for them in the playroom They were just putting it to good use. Flour is hard to clean up (helpful tip of the day). Thank goodness I’d gotten there before the eggs were brought out. Well, by the time this was done, I no longer wondered where to clean. By now it was lunch time which meant back to the kitchen to start all over again. You’ll be happy to know that I did, finally, get that load of laundry done. And thanks to the guidance of my children the house looks great!
Child guided house-cleaning. Try it!
Good night~
Where’s my lunch box?
“In the cupboard with the dog treats”.
And so started Max’s first day of preschool. He had a great time in Miss Allie’s class. I can’t think of a kid who wouldn’t. The classroom looks like she walked into Pottery Barn Kids and said, “I’ll take one of everything in red, please”. It’s a kids’ dream play place! It was super tough to get Gabi to leave! So, Gabs gets to be the big kids at home 2 mornings a week. And Max gets to join the ranks of the “school kids”.
I was able to talk to JJ yesterday!!!!!! He sounds great! After saying hello, he went right into his list of “needs”. So, off to the store I went. Does a day go by that I don’t have to go to the store?! It was so good to talk to JJ and to hear that he’s happy. He has hired himself a latin tutor. What a kid!
Once I had purchased the items of “need”, I headed to the UPS store. I had Kateri’s requested items and some ebay things that had sold (yea!). And the great mailing expedition of 2007 began! At the UPS store, they were very helpful getting me the correct sized boxes (thank you very much)but when they told me how much shipping would be (of course everything was already boxed up) I wanted to faint! They then let me know that a couple of my boxes were going to PO Boxes and that meant they had to go via the USPS and that they charge double for sending things to the USPS! STOP! Then I had to split everything up, tell them to charge me for the boxes, mail the stuff that wasn’t going to PO Boxes and hand over the other stuff. By this time the kids had started to call……”when are you coming home?” So, off to the post office. I managed to find a parking place (beach town, remember) and unload the armloads of items and got in line. I stood in line for about 10 minutes when I remembered that the addresses were on a piece of paper in the van. What to do?! I relinquished my spot and went out to the van. I swear 20 people showed up in that time! Back in line to wait for another 1/2 hour. And the kids just kept on calling…..”So and so dumped such and such/He’s running around outside in his underwear/She fed the dog cheese/Can I get on the computer?/When are you coming home?……..Of course I was trying to quietly answer these phone calls and juggle the items I had to mail…..”Ok, Honey, that sounds great. I’ll be home shortly.” Everything finally got mailed and I think I will have a couple of happy kiddos in a few days and happy ebay buyers (I can hope).
More stories later. Have to get the kids to school.
Have a great day~
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