My Life With 6 Kids

Chaos. That's the best word to describe my life. And thanks to the Coronavirus, schools are closed for a while, so things just got even crazier around here. So I thought I'd do a post to describe what daily life is like for our wild, young family. Honestly, adjusting to 3 kids was by far the hardest adjustment. Everything after that has just been "Bonus Chaos".

What is life like with 6 kids?

• It's loud. Quiet is dangerous in this house, so we just have to learn to embrace the noise.
• It's crying every night wondering how you'll keep going, and then waking up the next morning just to do it all over again.
• It's endless piles of laundry and never finding that matching sock or that favorite pair of pants.
• It's spending all afternoon making a fancy new dinner because you like to see how many faces they can make and you enjoy the exercise of scraping food into the trash can.
• It's having to lower your OCD standards of what a clean house should be or else you'll go crazy.
• It's going to bed at 10:37 pm and waking up at 12:13am because the baby is awake and your day just began all over again.
• It's nursing in public while also trying to divvy up food and sneak in a few bites for yourself only to realize your nursing cover has slipped and the whole side of Chick Fil A just saw your boob.
• It's neighbor kids coming to ask if Brynlee can play and suddenly realizing you have no clue where she actually is. 
• It's finding her in your closet with your high heels on, lipstick all over her mouth and your bra on with two balls stuffed inside it.
• It's trying every reward/punishment system in the book and discovering that they all require individual techniques, but you can't even master one, so how can you attempt 6?
• It's coming up with endless new explanations to why life isn't always fair.
• It's saying you'll take the oldest to piano in 15 minutes only to realize an hour and 15 minutes later that you somehow lost track of time and it slipped your mind. 
• It's setting a daily alarm at 2:30 to give yourself a pep talk and practice breathing techniques before the kids get off the bus at 2:36 and come pounding through the front door. 
• It's tearing the house or car apart to find out where that smell is coming from only to discover that it's the 7 year old who has been refusing baths for the past 4 nights. 
• It's going nonstop from morning until night (and even through the night thanks to a baby who never sleeps) and still feeling like you've accomplished nothing.
• It's breaking up the 23rd fight and checking the clock to find out it's only 9:30 am. 
• It's being told you're the meanest mom in the world by one kid while another kid squeezes your leg and tells you you're the best. 
• It's always having someone to snuggle with.
• It's reminding yourself to laugh because it really wasn't a big deal. 
• It's Baby Shark on repeat an hour straight. 
• It's baby laughs and smiles to brighten everyone's day. 
• It's attempting to listen to the 9 year olds hour long story only to realize that you zoned out 45 minutes ago and pray he doesn't ask you to repeat the story back to him.
• It's trying to help the 11 year old with his math homework and feeling like an idiot because you can't remember anything.
• It's feeling the constant weight of the world on your shoulders.
• It's never watching a movie straight from start to end.
• It's somehow still wanting more babies because even though you're in over your head, babies still make you melt. (Don't worry, James won't let me...)
• It's praying every night that you aren't completely blowing this.
• It's knowing you're being hoisted up by angels because there is no way anyone should be able to function on such an intense level of exhaustion and still be alive.
• It's endless boogie and bum wiping.
• It's running here and there and everywhere and always having to rush because you're running late no matter what. 
• It's being reminded everytime you go out in public that your hands are full and then laughing because there are 4 more not with you.
• It's taking all 6 out in public and getting looks and seeing people back away like we're the plague. (pre-corona issue here)
• It's cleaning up spill after spill after spill after spill after spill......
• It's hunting down the toddler because you know she's into trouble somewhere.
• It's an audience while you poop, shower or even while you try to sleep.
• It's holding that baby anytime he wants mommy because you know that one day he won't.
• It's hearing that big 11 year old ask you to tuck him in and snuggle and teaching yourself that the dishes can wait because he needs you more.
• It's being asked what you like to do for fun or in your "free time" and not only realizing you don't have free time, but also realizing your hobbies must be doing dishes and pulling your hair out while helping the kids through HOURS of homework in the afternoons.
• It's dance classes, piano lessons, church activities, soccer practices, art lessons and your kids are still asking you to sign them up for jiu jitsu and basketball.
• It's nagging and constantly having to repeat every single thing you say!
• It's constant nightmares that you've missed something or forgotten someone.
• It's counting heads when you get in the car and almost always leaving before Deklan realizes he's not in the car.
• It's never a dull moment.
• It's days upon days upon days of whining, laughing, fort building, video games, fighting and snack sneaking.
• It's wondering how your kids ever survive at school without food every 30 minutes. 
• It's being so broken, feeling so guilty, and past the point of what feels like deathly exhaustion and yet you can't help but love these little people with every fiber of your being.

I could go on and on and on about the craziness of our current phase of life, but even if I knew being a mother of 6 would be this hard, I'd still choose it. I might space them out a little more, but I'd still want each of these babies. They're pushing me harder than I would've thought. Kids have a way of showing you all your weaknesses; some you knew you had, some you didn't realize were your weaknesses, and the worst is some that you thought were your strengths, but suddenly appear to be weaknesses. When I first had children, I thought I knew exactly what I was doing. Ezra was an easy baby and the kind of mom that he needed was the kind of mom that I was naturally. Then Makai came along and showed me I had no clue what I was doing. Deklan confirmed this fear to the extreme and I've just been winging it ever since. Being a mom is by far the hardest thing I have done. It is a legit 24/7 job. And yet, I love it. They call me mom, and I am blessed.