How do you deal with 5 kids and a fulltime job?

I get comments about working fulltime and having 5 kids all the time.  Trust me I don't love to work, it's a necessity if we want to pay our bills and keep our modest home to live in.  I'm also not a perfect mother, but I do try to do my best. 

One thing we do try to do is make a menu.  It helps tremendously if you have a menu to shop by so nothing goes to waste.  So, we try to make a list of about 5 things for the next several days that consist of a couple of fairly simple to make meals (aka quick) and some more extensive ones.  This keeps us out of the boring rut we sometimes get into leaving no one wanting to eat because dinner is BORING.  Plus, before work we can have something thawing so it's that much easier to start dinner when you walk in the door after work.  Of course, during the week this is Brian's job since he is home the earliest.  I take the menu on the weekends.  This past week we had sausage/broccoli pasta, enchilada casserole, teriyaki chicken, parmesan chicken and a couple of other yummy meals.  We like to load them with miscellaneous veggies and the kids eat them right up.....in the recipe or not.

Another thing I do is my job at work.  While there is something to be said about the stress lack of money can cause, there is also stress in stressful jobs that no matter how much you try not to bring it home you do....just because you may hate your job.  I don't love my job as in I'd rather not work...duh, but I don't hate my job.  I'm appreciated and though because of who my employer is I can't be compensated with monetary rewards my supervisor openly appreciates me, trusts me and gives me job satisfaction with all of this.  There was another job that was possibly going to be coming up soon (hasn't yet) that the person over it has been talking with me about me looking into it.  I really had seriously considered it because it was working with something I currently do and one of my favorite pieces of my job.  I thought that would be perfect; a huge raise and doing more of what I enjoy if I have to be there anyways.  I recently was put on a project with some folks in that area and realized that it's not what I thought.  Because of the way they run things it wouldn't be working with what I thought and I think there would definitely be personality conflicts.  After a remark that was made this week by a potential coworker I realized it's not worth that.  It's not worth hating who I work with, possibly getting belittled on a daily basis when I do know what I'm doing and allowing someone else to possibly take credit for my work.  I may not have money left after paying our bills, but at least I don't have extra headache and stress.  Money's overrated when it brings on extra stress.

So, yeah, moms CAN work and be present for their kids, but if you don't make the best use of your time, organize and prioritize (just like at work) and keep a job that minimizes stress, not maximizes it, you may not enjoy your life too much.  Life has it's ups and downs, but I do enjoy it because I enjoy my kids and I don't know that I would if I had all this stress I was bringing home and flying around by the seat of my pants.

It's all good....even when it's not.  Keep telling yourself on bad kids days...."as long as we have each other and our health".  I remind myself of this a lot.

Anthony Robles on Ellen

I saw that he was a wrestle and had Cole run upstairs to watch.  Anthony seems like such a well-rounded, mature young man with great advice!  He said everything I've said to Cole a million times every time he's been bullied or dismayed because of his heart condition.  When Anthony said he didn't begin wrestling until his freshman year it was perfect for Cole to hear this kid started late too and really exceeded his dreams because he motivated himself, didn't feel sorry for himself and pushed himself daily without letting 'challenges become excuses'.  Perfect advice!  I hope this young mans gets so much in life.

http://anthonyrobles.com/

Next therapy

We asked the school to take a look at Jaemin again this year, since it's been a whole year and his delays can get bigger as he ages and that's when he's finally qualify for therapy.  We didn't ask for a formal evaluation, but just to check in on him.  The OT came in while he was in speech and agreed he's very weak in his upper and core and that's affecting his ability to grasp a writing utensil hard enough to really control the writing.  She asked that we have him do more tummy time to color, more exercise, more of the same we were already doing. 

We've also been in contact with Holt International USA because they currently have a 1 1/2 year old boy waiting for a family that sounds exactly like Jaemin and they're unable to diagnose as well.  They said they would let us know if Korea or his new family (when he's matched) finds a diagnosis so we can at least have something to look into.

For now, we're back to more brushing therapy, more pushups, bear crawls, etc.  He HATES it!  I did buy him the color wonder markers so he could lay on the rug in the living room and color and he thinks those are pretty cool.  But last night he was in one of his moments where he couldn't stay still and they ended up being thrown around the room. I brushed him hoping that would help, but not a lot.  So, I asked one of the coaches for kids club wrestling if Jaemin could participate in practice even though he's a year shy of old enough.  I'm thinking that he could find a it fun to exercise with other kids around.  Hopefully, this in combination with getting him a ball to sit on will help.  I agreed that if he got in the way of practice we would discontinue, but it's still feels worth it to try.  He's so energetic so hopefully this will be a good fit.  I never had intentions of getting him into sports SO young, but if it's for his greater good and a form of therapy seems like it's worth trying.

Last Game

We're done with the last game of the regular 2012 season.  However, we now are in the playoffs and since we're not ranked too high we have an away game at night, during the week.  That's going to kinda stink, but I want to go watch what could be their last game.  I really love games like today.  When they're pretty much blowouts you get to see kids play that don't typically get to play as much or in Chase's case he gets to play offense a bit instead of defense.  He didn't make any touchdowns, but he got some yardage for them and broke an almost tackle on his way.  He says he almost had an interception on defense, but when he jumped up his shoe came off.  The referee was pretty much laughing at him.

Time's flying

I'm not exactly saying when you're having fun, but nevertheless it's going by very quickly.

Kaelin got the Responsibility Character award this month.  Very proud that my girls are such good citizens in school.  Responsibility surprised the two of us since she's a tad flighty, but hey, maybe she's different in school.  YAY!

Chase and Cole had their orthodontic visit and Chase decided to do away with the green bands and he went with pink and black.  I talked him into pink for Breast Cancer Awareness and then he decided black too.  Looks good and the boy isn't afraid to sport pink!

Everything else is just coming along.  We're still waiting on Cole to get all Bs so we can give him his cell back, give him his letter jacket and he can have a little more freedom.  One test and the progress set him back.  He was on the tippy top of that C when his College Prep Chemistry test got the better of him.  I guess he better learn some better study habits.  He's not very good at that yet since he's never really studied before.  Tough lesson to learn as a sophomore for sure.

Jaemin's speech is really coming along.  He still really struggles with certain letters and sounds, but his sentences are slowly getting longer, more complete and more understandable.  Glad his therapy is helping.  Now, we get to start doing more OT exercises at home.  The school's OT checked on his light pencil grip and is planning to give us a list of exercises we can try doing with him to strengthen his upper body (arms and core).  She's suggesting an exercise ball he can sit on and watch tv, like adults use.  So that's our next purchase.  He's getting more patient and willing, so I think his therapy is helping him along.  I can see progress....slowly, but surely.

2012 Reminder

I'm not totally disappointed that my mother-in-law really wants an 8x10 photo of the kids every single year.  It gives me an excuse to force the big ones to just get dressed and let me take their pictures.  The girls will allow me to do that anytime...but the boys, not so much.  They'll do stuff for grandmas, that they won't do for me.  I'm now all finished with 2012 reminders of my babies.

No internet break

forced internet breaks are great to an extent.  We went down on Thursday and came back up some time Monday.  It was nice to find other things to do, but I had Kohls cash to print before it expired, Chase had homework he needed the internet for and I couldn't print any coupons.  But, we all survived.

So, what's changed.  Really nothing.  No exciting time in our lives.  It's been a miserable week at work.  Everything that goes wrong with our providers is being blamed on me, by the provider, of course.  My boss 100% backs me up because she knows it's not anything I can do anything about....just circumstances....but I understand their passion.  Hopefully, tomorrow's better.

Got snarked at by our school's superintendent for having any concern of kids waiting on the front steps of school because the doors are literally locked until 7:30 while teachers and staff (and the principal herself) parade their kids through those same doors into the warm and safety of the school right in front of those kids.  I respectfully asked if they insist on their kids going in if they could just use the side entrance, but that's when I got the snarky remark about it being all about me.  I just know my baby and her friends don't understand at their ages the fairness of this.  To be honest, I struggle with it.

Chase had a good football day Saturday.  He made his tackles as cornerback and then went in as the back up runningback on offense.  He never got a TD, but he got some yardage for them and a sore hip.  I hope the other two runningbacks are better for this Saturday.  I wouldn't really want him playing both sides all the time at this very young age.

We're working on a grade issue with Cole.....or should I say Cole's in charge of straightening it out.  Hopefully he's able to so I don't have to, but we'll see.  It's a big misunderstanding that cost him a grade because of another student's bad attitude and lack of any work ethic.  I did finally find Cole some jeans that fit.  They finally were delivered last week.  29x34's.  He could have used 28s, but unless I wanted to pay $60 (at least) I couldn't find any.  If the boy grows anymore, we're in big (I mean tall) trouble.

On to the rest of September.  There may not be much, but I hope it's better.