Mother of 5 For a Day

Daycare is going pretty well these days. It's been satisfying this time around, much easier than the last time, when Gil was five, and Dani was two. I've matured as a mom in the last eight years, and the things toddlers do don't really bother me much anymore. Their issues mostly blow over in five minutes or less. Teenage/pre-teen drama gets on my nerves now. Daycare was so hard when I was younger, because I think I was still trying to hold on to my personal space, and I resented all these extra little people who needed me almost every minute of the day. I have a totally different mindset now. Daycare is my job, one I take satisfaction in doing well. It's my job to help them share toys, read books, change diapers, take them potty, serve food four times a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack), clean the kitchen four times a day, bleach-wipe the bathroom a lot, sweep, vacuum, and give out hugs and kisses, all while trying to have the patience of Job. And you know, I don't do half bad. I can't believe I'm pretty sane and happy doing this. I would not have believed that even one year ago. In fact, I find a lot of satisfaction in my home that I didn't find before. My house is way cleaner (not perfect, mind you) than it used to be, when it was just me & the kids who saw it everyday, and I could be a lot more of a slob without really caring. I had days this summer, when I had eleven kids in the house all day (that includes Gil, Dani, and Connor), and I think I did pretty well. And you know, the money is good, too. $125 a week per kid, if they're full-time, you do the math. I have four full-time children, two before/after school, and three part-time children.

I got to be the mother of five Thursday night, when I helped out one of my daycare moms by taking her babies overnight. One is a year-and-a-half baby girl, toddler really, and the other is a month-old newborn baby girl. The mom had to go back to work, when the baby was only two weeks old. This was mostly for financial reasons and because they're short-staffed at work. She intended to go in only part-time, but of course, they over-scheduled her. Now, not only is that emotional to be away from a newborn for 30+ hours a week, it's also hard trying to work 30+ hours a week, when you're only getting three or four hours of sleep a night, and you're lucky if those are consecutive hours. So, after four weeks of this, she hit a wall and kind of had a breakdown at work. When she picked up the kids Monday, she looked like a zombie. Poor lady. I really wanted to help her, so I told her I would take her kids overnight sometime this week, so she could get some quality time with her husband and get more caught up on sleep. I didn't fare very well in the sleep department Thursday night, just a few hours here and there, but I knew I could weather it pretty well, because I wasn't already exhausted. I will probably do it again next week, because her husband will be out of town hunting. Now, he really is a good guy, a great dad. He didn't want to leave them to hunt, but she told him to go ahead with this trip he'd been planning with his family for a long time.

Sorry, that was all very long-winded. I'm a babbler sometimes. But, what I really wanted to say, is that it's been kind of fun having the newborn here. A little like being the grandma, I suspect, because I get to snuggle and hold her, then send her home at the end of the day, when I get to relax and sleep the night through.

I know this all sounds like a big pat on the back for myself, but I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the growth I've had over the past year or so. Plus, I wanted to illustrate that perspectives change. Things you thought you couldn't handle can often be managable down the road.