6 Days

Last week Joe went out of town for a work conference. From early Sunday morning until early Saturday morning it was just me holding down the fort with 4 crazy kids. I didn’t realize how much I rely on Joe to help keep this house operating smoothishly. I can typically handle the craziness that comes between 9-5 but the early morning hours and late nights were tough. But we survived.

Thankfully I had some help. My mom can over a few days to hang out out and she also took Noah to school in the morning. Additional, I had a mother’s helper come a couple of hours during the day so I could pick up Noah from school, get some work done and spend a little one-on-one time with each kid. This was especially useful on the days when Abel was extra fussy. Her primary role was to just play with the kids and keep them occupied so they didn’t get into trouble. Then some friends offered to watch the oldest 3 kids so Abel and I could go run errands a couple times during the week. Overall, things went pretty well thanks to my awesome community.

I occasionally got a little stressed out when everyone needed my help at the exact. same. time. But that’s when you have to take a breath and determine what is the most urgent need at the moment. A crying baby, a poopy diaper, an overflowing toilet, or help with a math problem. (In case you’re wondering it goes – toilet, poop, baby then math.)

Needless to say we were all very excited to have Joe back home with us.