Last Friday night, Rich and I went to the temple together. I happened to sit next to a pregnant woman. I discovered after the session in the changing room that she is expecting her 8th baby. We visited for a few minutes, sharing thoughts and ideas about our families. Her name is Aurelia.
Aurelia asked me how I handle all the laundry. She expressed, "I don't have the laundry handled yet. I don't have a system that works. The toys? Those I have handled. But not the laundry."
As I left the changing room, I thought to myself that we don't have much "handled." But then I realized that this was pessimistic thinking. We have all kinds of things handled.
Rich and I made a short list:
We have putting our kids to bed too late handled.
We have looking past the over-flowing laundry baskets handled.
We have saying sorry over and over again handled.
We have feeling overwhelmed handled.
We have ignoring the mess handled (well, maybe not handled, but we are pretty darn good at it.)
We have collapsing on the bed in exhaustion handled (which might explain the mess...)
Yep, we have a lot of things handled. I hope the other stuff that we don't have handled doesn't matter too much. ; )
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Jacob and Katie turned 16 and the laundry piled up
16 years ago, when we had our newborn baby twins on May 17, three days before my birthday, I was just glad I was able to finish my college classes and get through graduation before they were born. It never occured to me what having two birthdays at the end of May would mean later on. It's not as bad as having two birthday in December, but it is pretty bad.
In the month of May, we attended one track trials, two track finals, two orchestra concerts, three awards banquets, and three graduation/promotion ceremonies. We had my mother-in-law visit, celebrated the twins birthday on two different nights, and held a 16th birthday party on a third, separate night. We also searched for and purchased a used car (after we found out the cost of insurance if we put one of the twins on Rich's car).
I personally went to the DMV three times in one week. In person. For things you cannot do on-line. And I'm not done. I get to go back to the DMV one more time next week. None of these were to transfer the title on the new car.
All of these activities involved our oldest three children who are attending public school. (This is why I always say that home schooling is easier.)
Of course, normal life also went on. During the month of May, we had multiple birthday parties to attend and gifts to buy, and we were invited to three different baby showers. And I had to go grocery shopping and birthday shopping (and baby shower shopping). I was also supposed to be doing laundry, but something had to give. Beth was attending a weekly soccer clinic and Daniel was also playing two sports with its different games/meets, something he will continue to do all summer. (We are against this as a rule in our family but for Daniel--Mr. Energy--we make an exception...)
We also attempted to celebrate my birthday. That didn't go so well in the immediate family, but extended family, friends and Facebook birthday greetings came to the rescue!
Oh, and I need to mention that we all had the stomach flu over the course of the first two weeks of May. All ten of us.
Now my point in writing all this is not to have a pity party. I love our big family, and really busy times come with the territory. However, writing it down justifies to myself why I have about 20 loads of laundry to do and why I cried for an hour after I got home from Stake Conference, telling Rich "I just can't do anything else!" And it explains why all I wanted to do on Memorial Day was sleep.
It also explains why I have about ten different things to post on this blog.
So if you are going to have twins, I wouldn't have them in May or June (or December) if you can help it. Either that, or just get used to wearing some of your clothes for a few days in a row! ; )
In the month of May, we attended one track trials, two track finals, two orchestra concerts, three awards banquets, and three graduation/promotion ceremonies. We had my mother-in-law visit, celebrated the twins birthday on two different nights, and held a 16th birthday party on a third, separate night. We also searched for and purchased a used car (after we found out the cost of insurance if we put one of the twins on Rich's car).
I personally went to the DMV three times in one week. In person. For things you cannot do on-line. And I'm not done. I get to go back to the DMV one more time next week. None of these were to transfer the title on the new car.
All of these activities involved our oldest three children who are attending public school. (This is why I always say that home schooling is easier.)
Of course, normal life also went on. During the month of May, we had multiple birthday parties to attend and gifts to buy, and we were invited to three different baby showers. And I had to go grocery shopping and birthday shopping (and baby shower shopping). I was also supposed to be doing laundry, but something had to give. Beth was attending a weekly soccer clinic and Daniel was also playing two sports with its different games/meets, something he will continue to do all summer. (We are against this as a rule in our family but for Daniel--Mr. Energy--we make an exception...)
We also attempted to celebrate my birthday. That didn't go so well in the immediate family, but extended family, friends and Facebook birthday greetings came to the rescue!
Oh, and I need to mention that we all had the stomach flu over the course of the first two weeks of May. All ten of us.
Now my point in writing all this is not to have a pity party. I love our big family, and really busy times come with the territory. However, writing it down justifies to myself why I have about 20 loads of laundry to do and why I cried for an hour after I got home from Stake Conference, telling Rich "I just can't do anything else!" And it explains why all I wanted to do on Memorial Day was sleep.
It also explains why I have about ten different things to post on this blog.
So if you are going to have twins, I wouldn't have them in May or June (or December) if you can help it. Either that, or just get used to wearing some of your clothes for a few days in a row! ; )
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