As promised… a day in the life of me (this is from Thursday, March 15)

6:10 a.m.- That dreaded alarm went off…gosh…it is still so hard to get up thanks to stinking Daylight Savings time. You wouldn’t think one measly little hour could mess things up so badly!

6:20 a.m. - Drug myself out of bed…spent 5 minutes in the bathroom freshening up and headed out to the kitchen.

6:26 a.m.-Looked over emails quickly and took Jazz outside.

6:30 a.m. - Nate, Ry and Shane came up (they aren’t allowed upstairs until 6:30 a.m. and they are ALWAYS up on their own. Crazy early risers!!!)

6:40 a.m. - The big girls’ alarm went off and they dragged themselves up the stairs

6:45 a.m. - I served breakfast to the five school kids that were up

6:57 a.m. - I heard Belane on the baby monitor and went down to get her and took her potty. She wakes up really happy and cuddly.

7 a.m. - I went in to wake up Benjamin and Marcus woke up too. I noticed Maggie and Amanda had come upstairs too, so I had them come eat breakfast with Marcus, Belane and Ben.

7:15 a.m. – I started packing backpacks, did the boys “1 minute math” practices with them, signed reading sheets, etc.

7:26 a.m. -Cleaned up breakfast and made sure everyone was almost ready to go

7:33 a.m. -I kissed the six school kids “bye”, reminded them what they had after school and sent them out to the end of the driveway to get the bus.

7:34 a.m. -I folded a load of laundry, moved the wet stuff to the dryer and started another load. Pulled out clothes for the four little kids. Checked the kids’ rooms fast to make sure the beds were made and laundry was in the laundry room (it was).

7:50 a.m. – I sat down to a bowl of cereal and did some email and blog reading. I answered a few emails (including one about becoming the new AHOPE supplies/donations coordinator… I am excited about that).

8:15 a.m.- Put the babies in the tub…washed them up good and pulled them out before they had too much time to make trouble (Marcus can completely flood an average-sized bathroom in under 60 seconds). He also peed on the potty (applause). I supposed I should say he peed IN the potty, which is progress, because earlier in the week he didn’t see the need to actually OPEN the lid and pee inside of it. I guess he figured if he hit the pot in some way, he was doing fine. Ummmmmmmm, no. BOYS!

8:30 a.m. –I pulled the babies out of the tub (insert sound of Marcus wailing here) and had Maggie and Amanda get in. I gave Belane her morning meds, got the babies lotioned and dressed and then went in and gave the little girls their shampoo.

8:50 a.m. – Despite their desires of staying in long enough to see if they actually could grow mermaid tails, I got the girlies out of the tub and sent them off to get dressed. The came back about 15 minutes later to have me comb out their hair.

9 a.m. – I put on Playhouse Disney so the kids could watch “Little Einsteins” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” while I got in the shower, got dressed, etc.

9:40 a.m.- Got Marcus’ shoes on and got a diaper bag ready for him. Josh came a few minutes later to take Marcus to his doctor appointment…he was getting his “hole” where his g-tube used to be checked by the surgeon, since it doesn’t want to close on it’s own.

10 a.m.- Folded another load of laundry, moved wet stuff into the dryer.

10:10 a.m.- Read a book to the three little girls (Green Eggs and Ham…Amanda picked it)… and then let them take out some puzzles.

10:45 a.m. -Checked email and answered a few more (and decided what to make for lunch).

Continued...