Chaos Expanding

Things I should have though about more before I said yes to watching my brothers 3 small children for 2 weeks:

1. A not-walking almost 11 month old is more work than I recall.

2. Feeding 8 children and trying to get 3 out the door for school in the morning is a lot harder.

3. I did not know anyone could walk slower than Delaney!

4. A baby that sleeps through the night is not necessarily a better thing if she wakes up well before my alarm goes off.

5. Coordinating the convoy to get 8-10 children (I usually pick up the neighbors 2 kids as well, and they are not a problem) home from school requires more energy, patience and finesse than I seem to have. Plus, I only have a double stroller and 5 children under 5.

6. Bedtime with this many children .... yikes!

7. Of course, Andy's baby has molars coming in right now.

8. Of course, Rylee suddenly has a runny nose and Marian just started coughing. Let's hear it for a houseful of sickies, cuz its a-comin'!

9. Who knew little kids could eat so much?!! My children are light breakfast eaters, but Andy's are little piggies. Matthew ate 3 bowls of cereal!! Marian, Joshua and Delaney barely ate one today. (I will have you know I do make a real breakfast, but Charlotte wanted to be snuggled and I wasn't going to make breakfast one-handed.)

10. 3 kids in diapers, plus 2 more in bedtime diapers ... nuff said.

It's not all bad. I did know what I was getting into, I just carefully did not think about any of the details. I did stock the freezer with dinners and I planned to just stay home for 2 weeks and never go anywhere. The only thing I HAVE to do is pick kids up from school. My lovely neighbor takes them to school, but she has a brand new tiny baby, and she's not actually suppose to leave the house. So I pick up her 2 children plus my 3. And right now, that means I take 5 small children with me on the 1/2 mile walk to fetch them all.

Charlotte (almost 11 mos) and Rylee were happy to hang out in the stroller to go to school and back. Charlotte is 6 months younger and nearly the same size as Rylee. And Rylee is a bully.

I did let them play at the playground for a bit. Unfortunately, it had rained the day before and Callie and Rylee went down the slide and got wet pants. Plus, I discovered it is reeealy hard to keep track of that many children!

Charlotte sure is a cutie-pie!

Delaney cried the whole way home. That was a lot of fun! Surprisingly enough, Matthew walked even slower than her whiny, crying, refusal to walk.

One of the things that IS a lot of fun is Callie. She is so adorable. When Emma was crying for her Mommy, Callie was able to go to her and cheer her up. Soon Emma was running around having fun again. I was grateful to Callie since Emma just screamed for her mommy when I tried to comfort her.

Callie also managed to gather all the younger children in the living room and she "read" them bedtime stories. It was cute to see them enjoy it, and super-cute to hear her interpretation of the story as she told it.

Emma is 2 and she's pretty quiet so far. Isn't she cute?!

Matthew is 4 and he and Delaney seem to either play really well together or really not. Sometimes their ideas of what to play differ, and then there is such drama!

I have not yet figured out when shower time might be for me, and it is a little crazy, but I expect we'll settle into some semblance of a routine and it will be fine. Dora may become my best friend!