Several other blogs that I have been reading lately have posted about their everyday routine. So, I thought that I would follow in their footsteps. Here, there really, truly is no typical day for me...but I'll do my best to describe a day in my life, ha!
Lately, my days have been starting based on the time that the puppy has to go out in the morning. So, it may vary between 5:30 AM and 7 AM. Depending on how well I slept the night before and how early he wakes me up, I may or may not go back to bed after taking him out to potty.
For the most part in the morning, Dorothy and I just help the nannies out as needed around the house. By 6:30, the house is ALIVE. Most of the kids are waking up and making a ruckus downstairs, nannies are bustling about, the day shift nannies are rotating with our night shift nannies, kids are being dressed for school, lunches being packed, breakfast getting started, and diaper bags and snacks are being packed for the kids with HIV or TB clinic appointments.
By 7:15 AM, some kids are out the door and into the truck with our chauffeur to head to school and/or the hospital. Four of our other children are in their school uniforms and quickly eating breakfast as nannies mess with their hair and adjust their clothing. During this time, I help out if needed or I retreat to my room to spend time with God, check e-mail, and take a little time to wake up and mentally prep for the day ahead.
We have eight different children enrolled in three different schools. All three schools have different hours....it is crazy, yes. Richardson is our only child that goes to TLC Barefoot school. Because he is only in kindergarten, he does not start school until 11 AM. So, I usually spend a good chunk of my morning spending one-on-one time playing with him.
Because we have paid nannies that do all the essential childcare (for the most part) my schedule for each day is pretty flexible. It kind of has to be that way so that Dorothy and I are available should any type of emergencies come up that need attention. So, what I do each day varies depending on what needs done. Things that I may be doing at any given time include: playing with children (the most likely option), organizing children's clothing/diapers/toys/medical supplies/etc, painting, cleaning, helping with laundry, helping wash dishes, grocery shopping, taking children to doctor's appointments, helping/bonding with the nannies, planning, "training" the nannies, entertaining guests/giving tours to visitors, changing diapers, feeding babies, holding kids, doing crafts, driving kids around, running errands, taking care of sick children, and the list goes on.
By lunchtime, the older kids are getting home from school (at varying times). After they have eaten, its play time! Basically from 1PM until 4PM I am completely occupied by entertaining our "older kids" between the ages of 3 and 14. The group of children may range from 5 to 10 children depending on who comes upstairs to play. Around 3:30 PM is it bath time and I gladly pass the children off to the nannies to go downstairs for their bathes. While they are bathing, I take a short breather until they come back to play some more. At 5PM it is dinner time. All the children eat outside. Our kids eat at world record speeds so they usually get back inside for more playing by 5:15 or 5:20. At this point, I try to get them to start winding down for the night. I usually entice them to put on a movie (for the past two weeks their choice has been Prince Caspian EVERY night). If it is Friday night, we eat popcorn, too. Around 6:15PM I bring them all back to my bedroom to read a Bible story and pray. Afterward, they go downstairs for praise/worship songs and devotions with the younger kids and nannies.
Then, when the kitchen is finally free of nannies and children, Dorothy and I muster up the energy to make something simple for dinner. After dinner, it is MY time! The house is finally quite, and I am finally able to unwind and not worry about children or nannies needing me (usually).
Our house is always crazy and I've done pretty much anything that any parent has done (including being peed on, pooped on, and puked on). However, it is different here because we have nannies. So unlike a parent, I can leave the house to run errands or take some alone time in my room. I try to spend as much time as I can with the kids and helping the nannies, but if I am not around, the kids are still in good hands and being taken care of. Having Haitian staff means that there needs to be a lot of supervision.
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