it never fails to amaze me when i hear ‘you must be so busy.’ or the most recent i’ve heard is ‘what do you do?” which i was dumbfounded by. my response was ‘well, umm, i take care of them.’ she then responded, ‘oh no all i mean is how do you do it with that many, i think it’s hard enough with three.’ Me: ‘okay well, i guess i participate in my life and the life of my children like anyone else, one day at a time.’
my days are busy cleaning, constant laundry, home-schooling, cooking, and interacting. I work a part-time evening job that I enjoy. some days i feel like i get nothing accomplished and other days i’m like a whirlwind that doesn’t stop. i get so much accomplished on those days. however, the aforementioned days of nothing accomplished are more common. by the time i get through home-school, from 8/9 -12/1, i feel exhausted. with summer coming on, we get the itchies for being outdoors in the sunshine. the only difference between my family and other families around me is the number of kids in my home. otherwise, everything basically runs the same. having eight kids is noisier, but i also have more helping hands, it may be hectic, but at the same time, it’s more rewarding. everything is more in our house: more love, more arguments, more smiles, more impatience, more giggling, hollering…..more, more more! in the chaos, we find what works for us. i am not much for schedules, but we’ve found what works for us.
in essence, i just want everyone to understand that we may have a large family, but our life is really not that different from smaller families. so, yes i thank you for your compliments to me as a mother, but i am not anymore special than the next mother. like you, i love my kids and want them to grow up to be happy healthy adults. they are my everything!
All Kinds of Moments, 2016
The above quoted post is from a previous blog that I had, but stopped doing about a year after my son passed away. It was a hard time for me and many things fell through the cracks, suffering as much as I. The featured photo is the only photo in which all nine of my children are together before my son passed away. Unfortunately, this happened when the baby in the photo was only eight months old.
Anywho, I recently ran across the post and my how things have changed, but stayed the same!
These days, the older kids are growing up. Two have moved out, one passed away and the twins will move out soon enough. Children think they need to move out the day they turn 18! But, I guess it happens to all of us.
My girls are my four youngest ones – from 13 down to 5. So, our house may be a little less chaotic, but the noise is still the same. Raising girls tends to be a little different than raising boys. At one point, I thought boys were easier, but I learned, they aren’t. And between raising the boys and the girls, I’m amazed that I have any hair left!
My days tend to run a little differently. All the kids are in school and I work 4 days a week while they are in school. By the time the work day is done, we go home and feed the kiddos, take care of the animals, ready ourselves for the next day and enjoy some family relaxation by working on homework (if any to be done), reading, playing a game, or just piling on the couch to watch a tv show.
We still have the same ups and downs of parenting and of life, but we carry on the best we can always looking toward a better tomorrow. Sometimes, I wish the kids were all still small, but then I appreciate that they are growing up. It means more time with my hubby and my own enjoyments.
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