Seven kids--7 and under

Since I survived a whole year of four kids under 4 years old, I thought I would give a week of seven under 7 a try. My brother took his wife on a cruise this week and we have their two kids for the week. After all, seven isn’t that far from our originally five. The energy in the house hold is definitely up and there hasn’t a day gone by that a game of chasing didn’t end in crying. The other bonus is that I watched their kids last month for a couple of days so they know the rules and we have most of the kinks worked out.

We had an interesting start to our week—my car battery died. I missed most of church on Sunday and then was stuck home on Monday. With school out for the day, we had to rely on bikes to get Jacob & Samantha to their friend’s birthday party. It was a squishy few moments when I had four loaded in the bike trailer, one more in a bike seat on my bike and Samantha & Jacob on their own bikes. After dropping them off, I made everyone else walk to the park where we hung out for the next two hours and had a picnic lunch from the Walgreen’s close by.

I am sure I was quite a sight with a sleeping baby in my arms and 4 toddlers walking behind me. At least after the party, we bummed a few rides. I guess I should explain that I could have called for rides in the first place; but everyone had wanted to go to the park and we tried leaving early so that we could stop at Walgreen’s on the way to the party to pick up a candy bar to add to one of the presents—it just took too long to get organized and out the door. However presents were at the end of the party, so I was still able to slip a candy bar on top of Samantha’s present.

The next two days all my kids disappeared and went to school. So the constant party toned down a little bit. Poor Carrie would walk around the house at 9 in the morning asking if it was time for Matthew and Joshua to come home yet.

Before my week started I had made sure I got all my shopping done, but over the week my errands started stacking up. Finally on Thursday with Samantha and Jacob still at school I loaded everyone in the car to make a few quick stops. Everything went so well that as we passed the mall I spontaneously added another stop so they could go in and play. At the store I had five kids piled in the shopping cart and just picked up a few items, at another store everyone was assigned a place to hold onto the stroller, and at the bank we opted for the drive through. (I left the bank for last so that everyone could look forward to a sucker as a treat fro being good.) It was a successful trip, but once again I knew that everyone was looking at me when they passed by.

Anyone who knows Carrie and Jonathan knows how happy and excited they can get. They are bright, loud and chipper at 6:30 in the morning, which doesn’t mix with my preference to sleep-in as late as possible. For anyone that has younger kids and is used to getting up super early you probably don’t have any sympathy, but when kids get older I love that they get more independent. My kids wake up around 7-7:30 and sometimes I can hear them tip toe in my room but then they walk right back out when they see I am still sleeping. School days I have to get up but on weekends Samantha is old enough to pour milk, so she helps get everyone cereal. Then there is Alex who usually doesn’t wake up until 8-8:30; I guess that is a long explanation for 6:30 is too early. Every morning I keep trying to go back to bed, but memories of last month with Jonathan leaving the fridge open and eating all the bananas haunts my dreams. At least they take naps.

My twins stopped taking naps over a year ago, but these early risers are still some what regular in needing extra sleep during the day. The problem, both at nap time and bed time, is just getting everyone to stay put. Luckily I have a good book to read and I have found that the watch dog approach works well. Carrie was adamant this morning that she wouldn’t need a nap today, but after a lot of tears at lunch from everyone they were all put down. Even the twins, but I can hear them playing very quietly in their room.

With two kids at school, two playing in their room and three sleeping even a mother of seven can find a moments peace. Too bad it will only last for the next 26 minuets till school gets out. I did want to take a nap myself but I couldn’t bear to waste this time on sleep.