I know it’s been a long time since I have written a blog, and I feel badly for that. So much has happened in the past few months around here that is keeping me beyond busy! The most significant event is the birth of our new son, baby Josiah, who arrived on October 13th ten days late and almost ten pounds. After a short but intense labor of one and a half hours, he made his appearance before the midwife arrived and was delivered by his Daddy! It was a glorious moment for me to have him out of my body at last, and I was overjoyed at his speedy arrival….God is so good to me!!
The first Monday that Kevin was back at work I went into the week with a little bit of dread that my “break” was over after less than two weeks of help. Unfortunately my mother could not come as planned because we were too concerned about the stupid swine flu outbreak to put her on an airplane. So it was just me and the kids as usual. After only a few hours of sleep, Josiah and I got up to begin our day with the family. Kevin was already up cleaning the huge water mess in our kitchen which resulted from a leaky water cooler that we hadn’t even known was broken. Thankfully, he was able to repair it and his efforts made him only a little late for work…
Erika took over cooking breakfast for the bunch while I spent time nursing the baby and changing diapers. The little girls got baths and shampoos, and Josiah peed through his second set of clothes for the day. The bus showed up to take Nicky to school, but he was still in the tub and I didn’t really mind since most of his classmates and his teacher had recently been ill. I was not taking any chances since we have a new baby around this flu season, so I had been keeping him home for the previous couple of weeks. The problem was, I couldn’t keep him home indefinitely unless I withdrew him from school, but I was not sure if I wanted to permanently remove him from his autism program. Last year was a tough one for us illness wise- From December through April we caught everything under the sun, and when the boys went back for summer school, we started getting sick again! This confirmed our decision to keep Jacob home this year, but we were still not sure about Nicky…and then came the pandemic!
Although I think that the swine flu is really a lot of hype, people ARE dying from it, and we all have weakened immune systems in our family. As the vaccines are being distributed, more people will get sick (especially from the nasal mist which is a live virus). So my concerns are probably legitimate, but I am starting to feel a bit neurotic anyway…
After everyone was washed and dressed, we started our morning supplements which can take awhile. I talked to my mother on the phone briefly while the kids took their minerals, and then we passed the phone around as they were all eager to talk to their Nanny. We had a quick morning cleanup of the house and the children took care of their assigned areas, and then Grammy arrived to help out for about and hour (she is employed doing some attendant care for us). I had to nurse the baby again, and the older children took the younger ones out back to play on our playground while I chatted with my mother-in-law. When the baby was happy, Erika gladly took him outside to join his siblings so I could take a shower and get dressed…the lack of sleep is seriously throwing off my routine! Grammy stayed inside with Nicky because he refuses to go out with the other kids, but he needs to be watched all of the time.
I emerged clean and dressed and much happier, only to encounter bickering children who could not be happy with anything! I was seriously ready to pull my hair out and the day had barely begun, but I took a deep breath and tried to settle their arguments instead. It seems that Elijah and Leah can never be wrong lately, and Erika teases everyone to tears. These are not exactly the fruits that I am trying to encourage in our house, but kids will be kids at times, and heck I have eight of them now!
We spent some time trying to shuffle kids around so that everyone would be safe, happy and productive. Finding morning activities to engage young children as well as children with special needs proves to be quite a challenge. We settled for Erika working with Nicky on his speech drills while Leah played on the trampoline with Jacob and Sarah, and Elijah kept Trinity busy. I was nursing again (of course) and keeping a watchful eye on everyone. We managed to throw in a few loads of laundry despite the chaos, and as long as the kids keep folding and putting away, we’ll make a dent in the backed up piles eventually.
After the morning learning activities were completed, the kids decided to go out back and paint some rocks for a rock exhibit they were planning. Unfortunately, they all ruined their clothes and even got the paint in their hair and on their faces! We cleaned them up well, but Sarah snuck out the doggy door and did some more painting in her clean clothes leaving us with yet another mess. It would take a day or so before we realized that the “washable” paint would not wash out, and we now have several “colorful” outfits for the children to wear. Erika brought a few rocks inside to show me their work, and Jacob picked one up and threw it randomly, breaking a glass picture frame on the living room wall. Thankfully no one was hurt, but I found myself thinking of what could’ve been and breathed a sigh of relief…
It was only noon, but it felt much later. Finally, our help arrived at 12:30pm in the form of Tyrus, the boys’ faithful therapist of three years. Usually we all eat lunch together at this time, but my constant nursing schedule has made many meals late this week. So I worked on preparing lunch while the children kept each other busy, and basically ran around a bit creating more messes for us to clean later on. I found myself digging deep to keep my patience, and I kept reminding myself that “this too shall pass”… Yes, life is always more challenging in the first few weeks after giving birth!
*Part two coming soon!!!