A Typical Summer Day with 6 Kids

There are 8 of us. On any given summer day at home, there are 6 of us at the house, and I work from home.

The older three, Henry 13, Emily 10, Timothy 8 are fairly used to being home while I work. They've done this after school before and on school holidays. Not that they are not distracting, but they are mostly self-sufficient.

Alexander, starting Kindergarten in the fall, is not used to being here while I work. He's interrupted telecons, screamed in the background, and tried to unlocked doors that are locked soley to keep him out. He spent time sentenced to my husband's computer chair without anything to play with or anything to do because while he was supposed to be napping, he was instead trying to break a baby swing that has survived six kids.

William is the only one in full time daycare right now. We took Alexander out for the summer to try to save some money while I was home on maternity leave, though that money disappeared as quickly as we recouped it, spent during our road trip or on fixing the cat's leg that he broke.

Danielle, five months old now, obviously doesn't care what my schedule is. My schedule is her schedule, as expected. She's home this summer, while I work, because she's waitlisted until next month for daycare.

So here is a typical summer day with 5 at-home kiddos and a working Mom:

7:30AM: Haul crippled kitty upstairs to put in his playpen for the day, (he sleeps in a dog kennel right now, but it's way too small for him all day), put on breast pumps, log into work while hubby is still home. Work computer still doesn't work right and the company denied my request for a new one, so login takes me over 15 minutes. Hubby texts asking for help because he can't find socks for William. Suprise, neither could I when I looked over the weekend. There are some dirty socks under his crib though - someone put him to bed in socks at some point and he threw them overboard - so I route the hubby there and take a -1 demerit to being a good mom for the day.

Hal assigns the kids an unusual chore. For Christmas we got the four oldest kids Roku remotes of their own, all different colors, protected by silicone cases. It's August and we can't find any of them. We expect foul play. Hal tells the kids that they can't watch TV or play switch until all Roku remotes are found and Emily's switch controller is found, (they also have their own controllers because they can't seem to respect our controllers). This sets off a house-wide search for remotes, in which one is found almost instantly by our oldest on top of a cabinet that only our oldest can reach, foul play confirmed.

7:45AM: Alexander, 5 years old, busts into my bedroom while Henry is getting out of the shower, to ask where mom is. This wakes up Danielle, 5mo, who generally will sleep until 10AM. I'm still pumping so I can't get her right this second and hope that she will go back to sleep.

8:00AM: A few minutes ago I gave up pumping and got Danielle, who will now be with me for two additional hours while I work - thanks, kids - and I log into our weekly tag-up meeting. Thankfully, I've been using one note to document everything after returning back to work in a role where I know absolutely nothing about the products I'm working on, so I sound somewhat coherent in the meeting. I breastfeed Danielle while not on mute so it doesn't sound like I have a baby around. Thankfully, my kids are polite and mostly stay away, except for my daughter dumping a ton of broken glass in a trash bag while I'm explaining to my boss that he needs to review a report for me, ok, so that wasn't so bad.

9:00AM: I put Danielle in her bouncer toy and start the second meeting of the morning. I'm talking with people who don't mind the occasional kids song in the background. I hear my five year old howling in tears in the other room. I'm not sure what is going on, but I can't stop to figure it out. I know he's ok though. These are tears of not getting his way, not "I'm hurt" tears. I'm leading this meeting and taking notes on screen, Danielle is now on my lap because she's tired of her toy so I'm making all kinds of typos. The howling kid gets closer, being chased by one of the other kids who knows not to disrupt me during a meeting, (that took a LOT of training), but, alas, a screaming kid ends up right next to me anyway.

10:00AM: I'm off of telecons. The kids come in to play with Caesar, the crippled cat. They make him happy with toys, and it's a cute momentary distraction to my otherwise busy day. I send some actions from the meeting I was just in and copy my boss so he knows that I'm working on a bizarre mini-job that he assigned me.

While the kids are in the room, I get an outbrief on the status of their Roku remotes. There are still two missing, but they've found an assortment of other mangled remotes that we've "lost" over the years.

11:00AM: I get frustrated with Alexander for trying to destroy the house and send him to nap. The other boys send Emily up with a broken Roku remote to lie about it being hers. Thankfully, she plays for both teams and tells me before she delivers the lie. My oldest comes up to see the status, to which I reply that if we can't find the cover for it, how would I ever know if it was actually her remote? They need to keep looking.

I work some more, send a few emails, and next thing I know I have two kids in here. I'm not sure how we get on the subject, but they start asking me about how much money we make and why we have to budget. To an 8 year old, $1,000 a month seems like a jackpot. I tell him we make more than that but that we have bills to pay also, and he keeps probing me with more questions. He asked if he sold everything in his room if he would make $1,000,000. I tell him maybe $500. I try to break off the conversation, we're fine, we just are budgeting to help make up for the cat's $6,000 leg and inflation. So, we won't be eating out as much and they should turn off their lights when they leave the room, conserve water, etc.

I take a quick break while Emily is in here and can watch the baby and the crippled cat who managed to somehow escape his playpen over the weekend. I run downstairs, go to the bathroom, get dressed and preheat the oven for lunch. My shower is unfortunately going to have to wait. I come back up to find Alexander standing on top of a small, overturned trash can swatting at his ceiling fan with a broom trying to knock down the fan pull. I get on to him and then go back to work.

12:00PM: The kids are walking down the hall lugging a gigantic baby swing. Apparently, Alexander was trying to break it. This swing has survived six kids, but looks a bit mangled now. I'll have to look at it. I get frustrated with Alexander and tell him he has to come sit in my husband's chair and do absolutely nothing since he refuses to nap. The other kids run off downstairs. I breastfeed Danielle and manage to get her to sleep in her brother's crib (her crib is downstairs) and get back to work.

12:15PM: Alexander tells me he has to go to the bathroom and comes back hiding a toy. I make him put it on Daddy's desk. There is now a Harry Potter audiobook on in one of the kids rooms, but no other kids upstairs to listen to it. Three of the four kids lights are on, but they're nowhere to be seen. There is alot of giggling downstairs. Alexander keeps bugging me about when we go to the doctor because he's so bored in Hal's chair. Literally, I'm being asked once per minute. I hope Henry remembered to put lunch in, I'm hungry.

12:30PM: Henry did make lunch, Thankfully. I had to leave for an in-person meeting with someone who knew I would have to bring Danielle and Alexander. Alexander takes a car and a book to play with and spent nearly the entire meeting interrupting us. On the way home, he takes a five minute nap in the car, which is enough to last him the rest of the day.

2:00PM: I get back home to the three oldest kids playing Magic cards instead of doing their chores. So much for the lack of electronics getting to them. One of the chores is done, the rest are not. I choose not to address it right now though, they are playing together, not fighting, and not being disruptive. Meanwhile, Alexander is yelling "Mom" from downstairs, apparently he wants a tomato, after which he comes into the office and plays on the rocking horse we have while asking me various questions while I'm trying to work.

3:00PM: I interrupt an otherwise unproductive day to take the kids to the doctor. They're not sick, but apparently the medical board has changed the rules for cyber visits with ADHD kids and the kids must be present. This means all of our med reviews, every 3 months, will need all four kids in attendance. I assume this will be after school, or, I'll have to start scheduling these virtual appointments on their days off. I'm excited for the diagnosis though. I've suspected Alexander of being ADHD for a while and was willing to wait until he was the appropriate age to be diagnosed, but when he threw the cat down the stairs and broke its leg, I decided I was done. Safety is a factor now.

So I haul five kids to the doctor. Four of them have appointments, Danielle is just there for the ride. Sure enough, Alexander is ADHD both inattentive and hyperactive. During the doctor's visit he and Timothy were terribly rowdy, hitting eachother with shoes, rolling around on the table, and not staying put when I tried to split them up. If I'd not known our doctor for so long, I'd be embarrassed. Even so, they got a lecture, lost privileges and are getting extra chores for their behavior.

4:00PM: I make a quick stop by dollar tree to run in and grab one thing. For whatever reason, Alexander thinks it is necessary to play in the trunk (minivan) instead of do what I say. He's apparently hungry and therefore cannot follow instructions, so his punishment is no snacks when he gets home. He can eat leftover lunch.

5:00PM: I'm back home working, Danielle is playing in her bouncer. The boys have been assigned to sort laundry. Laundry is something that is never done at our house. The washing machine is on the fritz again though so we'll have a pile of dirty soon and no clean. I call the washing machine warranty company. The representative agrees with me - it might be a dud. This is time 5 for them to come out for the same issue. Maybe we will get a replacement.

5:30PM: I take the baby down and strap her into her car seat. Alexander is sorting laundry and throwing clothes into piles all over the living room. He throws laundry at his little sister and receives another lecture from me. I get her all covered up and my phone rings. Hal is calling to tell me he'll get William - I don't have to go. Thank God for that man, I can go back up and try to make up time at work. Emily bugs me about dinner, which is leftovers, but she wanted Mac N Cheese. I tell her sausage and mac is on the menu for tomorrow and she jumps up and down and squeals in celebration. I take Danielle up and put her back in her bouncer, but she very loudly exclaims that she doesn't want to be there, so I go for plan B. Tummy time. I find an empty water bottle and several baby toys to put around her space. She thinks the water bottle is the best and plays quietly for about two minutes. I call the pharmacy to see if the prescriptions are ready, but none have even been sent.

6:00PM: I abandon the idea of extra work. There is just too much going on. I go downstairs, put the baby down, and dish out leftovers to heat in the microwave. Then all hell breaks loose. Kids are running around my kitchen, Alexander is griping about being hungry, over and over and over again, yes, this kid is ADHD. I begin to get overwhelmed and start yelling at the kids for running around crazy. The baby is screaming at the top of her lungs, and I'm receiving emails about getting Henry completely enrolled in football before camp starts.

By the time my husband gets home I'm a mess. Physically, because I haven't showered, mentally because I've been trying to work and be a mom all day long, and emotionally because the other two things have become too much on top of the kids current behavior, and having to search through this football form to see what one field I missed while managing the other 5 kids is making me crazy. I'm looking for the one field that is making it so I can't submit. Sometimes I can't imagine why this man wants to come home to all of this.

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Kristian is a mom of six, Program Manager by day, active Professional Photographer by trade, and a big believer in finding beauty in the everyday chaos.

Life in our house is loud, messy and full of literally everything. Love, noise, laundry, laughter, and definitely could use a bit more grace. I'm happily married to my best friend, grounded in my Catholic faith, and fueled by five to six hours of sleep per night and adrenaline.

I try to find joy in the everyday — even when it's wild, because without the little bit of joy, this life would be unbearable. This space is for the moms in the middle of it all: the ones juggling family, faith, work, and wonder. The ones that need someone else's messy life to make their own seem better or somewhat normal. You're not alone, and you're doing better than you think.

Welcome to Six Sweet Smiles — where we celebrate the mess, the miracles, and everything in between.