Typical Day #2

This is the way our days have been going recently.

I have been going to sleep pretty late at night so not waking up until about 8 am. I spend a few minutes checking email while the younger kids wake up.

Then I go downstairs and make breakfast and do some cleaning (since Aidan’s surgery — amazing how I have energy nowadays). I made waffles. Today my main project was to vacuum in the corners upstairs and shampoo all the carpets. I convinced Kieron and Sean to take Aidan and Paddy outside. I also swept all the accumulated ashes out of the wood stove and polished its windows and surfaces.

By then it’s about time for Brendan’s overview — so I make him hot cocoa and read Beowulf. Then I usually make lunch, then check mail again.

(I don’t clean for 3 hours straight — I have 7 kids so various interruptions occur).

Then I spend some time with the little ones, then have a rest and usually a nap. Since I am going to sleep at 2 am and being wakened at 8 am by Aidan saying, “Mom! Get up and make me some nachos!” I need to make up the extra hour or two somewhere.

Then some more cleaning or making phone calls or sorting papers or reading or hanging out with the kids, then dinner prep. Today I cleaned up a bit more, did laundry, then read When Character was King and watched City Lights with Kieron.

After dinner we go outside, then tonight baths, and then Liam and I say a Chaplet of Divine Mercy and a Rosary. Or sometimes we all say a decade together. Kevin and the older kids watch a movie (Murder, She WRote right now) while the little ones fall asleep.

Then I usually spend quite a bit of time on the computer, recently. Today I was tracking back through archives of an elist where I was posting updates on Aidan when he was having all his medical problems. My laptop that had all that stored crashed and died and I lost all the writing I did from that time period, so this was an attempt to salvage some of it. Yesterday night I wrote my article for a homeschool newsletter.

I am thinking we need more outside the home activities now that Aidan is on the mend, so I’m going to spend some time thinking about possibilities for that. NExt week a friend of Clare’s is coming to stay for several days, which leads to all sorts of planning, and then in two more weeks we will be driving up north to see friends.

Things I think I am neglecting too much:

• Healthy eating and exercise.
• Reading aloud to the guys, playing games, doing crafts — fun mom things.
• Writing my story.

Things I’m happy I am doing:

• Getting outside with the little ones daily.
• Getting the house looking better. Today was the first time in several weeks I haven’t been absolutely ashamed of it.
• Taking photos now that we have our digital camera.
• We are eating dinner together at the table! Big change and seems to work for everybody.

Eating Lunch!