Thoughts

My mind runs crazy all day long and by the time I sit down and think "I should write" it is BLANK.  Because that's the state of the mind after running around with 9 children and one adult man all day! :)

And yet, I LOVE MY LIFE, I LOVE MY FAMILY, I LOVE MY CHILDREN, AND I LOVE MY HUSBAND :)

So, today started with the get the kids up, toileted, dressed, fed, medicated, shoes on, hair up, teeth brushed, glasses on, baby nursed, bag packed, and out the door for therapies.  My mom, who returned from her 2 week stay with her sister during knee replacement surgery (VERY GLAD that my aunt is doing well and that mom was able to go there during that time!!), and promptly called me from the airport when she landed last night... agreed to stay with my two sick kids while I took the others to therapy.  (pretty sure that wasn't a complete sentence... and I don't care :) ).

Being the cruel mother that I am (yes, said with sarcasm because in our lives at this time, this is necessary, not cruel and I recognize it as such :) ), the children that are coughing nonstop and do not cover their mouths at all and have an illness which is obviously contagious based on our family having it spread so quickly... they are staying in their rooms and playing.  Or, staring at the walls if they so choose, or sleeping, or... whatever.  But they are not out in the house interacting with (meaning coughing on everything and putting things in their mouths that other people will touch) everything and everyone else.

So, this morning's babysitting was more like "watch the house, send the kids to the bathroom once, and- oh yeah, this antibiotic kills their stomachs so you might get to clean up 10 yr old poop... thank God I thought to put her in a diaper after the first incident before we left".  Which in turn became "do the dishes, catch up laundry, fold the towels, and watch Everybody Loves Raymond".  Because that's what grandma's do.  They don't just sit and make sure the kids are safe :).

I was only gone for two hours, yet somehow my mom can accomplish twice as much housework during that time as I can... Maybe it's the absence of the 5 children I took with me and the 2 at school??

Then, since I'm such a June Cleaver (HA!), I went through McDonald's drive-thru and brought home cheeseburgers for the kids and my mom, a caramel frappe for Michael, and a tea and snack wrap for myself.   Mom stayed at the house with the kids for another half hour while they ate and Michael and I went to visit his grandmother, aunt and mom at his parents' house since his grandma had a procedure done and we wanted to check in with them all.

Back home and I turned most of the last of our non-thanksgiving turkey in to turkey soup (which turned out pretty good if you ask me!   But I know you didn't ask...) and "hung out" keeping germy kids separated, finishing up the bits of laundry that needed attention, and sat on my bottom with a baby on my lap for some much needed down time.  After all, the dishes were done and the laundry was caught up!

My children are going to be sorely disappointed when I'm not spending my "busy time" disinfecting the house and washing all the extra laundry from sick kids and instead once again focus on their school work.  Or, rather, they will be excited because they actually LOVE doing school (most of them!) and they are getting tired of having free play (with very very limited toys due to sanitation's sake) and not a whole lot of structure to the days the last two weeks.

I am still standing, Michael hasn't run away yet (and after dinner I curled up in a chair with Delaina and she fell asleep and he completed showers and bed time on his own tonight while we supervised kids from a horizontal vantage point and slid a shirt over a few kids' heads that needed help), everyone has received their 40 something meds today, food has been served, the house is clean (even if it isn't completely picked up- especially the rooms that we aren't actively IN during the day with the kids), and tomorrow is a new day :).

Even when it's crazy, I love my life.