MOM OF 8 KIDS DAY IN THE LIFE | STAY AT HOME MOM | TWIN TODDLERS + NEWBORN

Hey friends, welcome back to my channel. So I thought today I would share with you guys a day in the life and kind of what it looks like for me now that we have a newborn and we're homeschooling. I've had so many questions about homeschooling with a newborn, homeschooling with toddlers, so I thought I would give you guys just a peek into what that looks like. And I'd actually already done our full morning routine and gotten myself dressed for the morning. I did film a morning routine and I will link that down below, but that was before Benjamin joined our family. So give this video a thumbs up or leave me a comment and let me know if you guys want to see an updated morning routine with eight kids. I would be happy to do that. So that kind of part of my day is already done and we're just really getting into getting everybody kind of finished up dressed. The twins hair is kind of the last thing. As you can see, it's kind of like trying to do a cat's hair. They just don't like really love it, so they run away and squirm and it's a whole thing. So I saved that for last. So right now, basically that is what I'm doing. I'm just getting both Ivy and Amelia's hair done for the day. And I bet you can guess which child is sort of the class clown of the family. I've actually got a couple of class clowns, but Amelia is definitely the youngest of the silly ones. So anyways, now I'm just going to wrap up Ivy's hair. She did not want to hold still today. So y'all, these pigtails are not winning any awards, but it doesn't matter. It keeps them out of her hair. And little Benjamin is awake and waiting for me to feed him. He did not sleep great last night, so it was definitely a rough night and I am kind of running on fumes this morning. And I think for me, that's like the hard part of homeschooling with a newborn is just homeschooling when you're sleep deprived. Usually, now let's see how he does today, but usually he sleeps for most of the morning. He takes a really long morning nap and that's when we're able to get school done. But right now, what it kind of looks like is after we've done our full morning routine and breakfast and all that kind of stuff, I come and feed him and try to get him settled and happy. So the kids and I all just hang out in here. Sometimes we'll watch a show. Sometimes I'll do a read aloud with them. It just really depends on where we're at with things that day. And yeah, that's what I'm trying to do now is just get him fully fed and settled so that we can jump into our school day with a happy sleepy baby. Okay, so let's chat a little bit about logistics of how I kind of schedule things. Basically what I like to do is do most of our group subjects first. Honestly, I really like to get them all done on this particular day. We did not, and you'll see that later, but I like to get most of the group subjects done. And oftentimes my older two girls who are almost 13 and 11, they do a lot of stuff on their own. So they will get started on their independent work. In fact, I would say like 90% of their schoolwork is independent. So they'll get started on their stuff while I do like Bible with the younger kids. And we always just like with the toddlers, I will give them a crayon and paper, let them come sit with us and join us if they want to, or they can be off playing. But a lot of times they just kind of like to be where we are. So that's kind of how I handle them right now. It is not always easy and it's not always seamless. And sometimes I do have to just like turn on a TV show for them for a little bit. But as you can see, Benjamin is not feeling like sleeping today as I hoped that he would. So as most moms understand, a lot of times you just have to pick up the baby and hold them and rock them and multitask. So that's what I'm doing right now is just working on some of our group subjects with the kiddos while keeping Benjamin as happy as I possibly can. And then my kids also alternate who's doing their computer work. So all five of my kids that are in school right now have lessons online as well. And I'm just showing you me walking around with Benjamin trying to keep him happy, which seems to be working. I finally got him asleep and then I thought, okay, great. I'm going to go try to lay him down in his basket. He kind of likes to lay on his side. He has silent reflux and some other thrush and some other little issues going on right now. So he gets a little bit agitated sometimes, but he likes to kind of be on his side in this basket. And I thought, okay, great. I'll just tuck him in and then I can get back to work with the kids. But as you're about to see, he was not feeling the basket either. So I tried, you know, to kind of swaddle him down really tight and see if that would help. And then did the old basket swing, you know, like you do with the car seat. I figured let's try it with the basket. It's a good workout too while I was at it, but that was unsuccessful. So had to scoop him back up and try again to get him settled down. Okay. So it's 1130 and we are about halfway done with our school day. Um, I'm starting to think about what I want to do for lunch. And I think I'm actually going to do leftovers. Um, we had some delicious tacos last night and there was a bunch of meat and shells and stuff left over. So I think I'm going to reheat those as well as there's some pasta from a couple of days ago. So I'm going to reheat some of that. Um, but yeah, we've all, the kids are all kind of split up right now, taking a little bit of a break. I'm going to make lunch and then we still have, I think like two more group subjects to do. And then, um, Jonah and Rosie still have some computer stuff to do and Kennedy and Shelby still have some individual subjects to do. So it's just kind of a big juggling thing and every single day doesn't look exactly the same. It's just kind of pushing. Yeah. Um, it's just kind of pushing everybody through what they need to do. And I do kind of carry around my student tracker sheet here, um, just to keep track of what the kids are doing as they do it. So I'm going to sit down and fill this in of what we've already done this morning. Um, and this is how I keep track of our school is by what we've done instead of like pre-planning for a whole week. Hold on, hold on. Instead of like pre-planning for a whole week, pre-planning for weeks or months or stuff like that, I just write down what we've done after we've done it. That way, um, we're not really ever like behind or missing stuff or whatever. We're just writing down what we've done, you know, we're going to be shy. You about ready for lunch? I got to help Kennedy with something real quick with her school. And Jonah's in there doing some of his computer work and Shelby is assisting him on the computer. He's not super proficient yet on the computer. Um, and so that is one thing we do with the older girls is they earn tokens. As you guys know, tokens are currency in our house. If you've seen me talk about that before, um, that's like the only currency in our house for the kids is tokens. And so anyways, the girls earn tokens for, I'm using air quotes here, um, for helping the younger kids on computer stuff. It's an easy way for them to earn tokens and they're being helpful to their younger siblings. So of course they don't earn a little something for that. You tired? Mommy's tired. Mommy's real tired. Sleep last night was not, not good. Not good. Also, I just want to add before anybody freaks out on me. Um, yes, he is sleeping on his stomach, fully supervised. He's doing that as per our doctor's instruction because of his, I call it LM. I'll write the word here cause I just always butcher it when I try to pronounce it. He has this issue going on. Um, I shortened it to LM. It's easier for him to breathe when he's sleeping on his stomach. So, um, when we're down here during the day, we use this like shorter, flatter basket for him to sleep on his tummy. I always try to put him on his back too, but he sleeps a lot better and he much prefers to be on his tummy. And our doctor said that was okay because of his, um, issue. It makes it actually easier for him to breathe that way. All right. So Kennedy and I are getting to work on some of her stuff. I've got to do a read aloud for her. And, um, then she needs my help with something else in her book. But Miss Ivy here, you just gave her a pad of paper and a pencil. Sometimes this works to distract toddlers for a few minutes. We shall see. All right, Ivy, can you draw us a picture while mommy reads? You want to listen to the story? Yay. We're coffee number three for the day, but this one I get to put some almond milk in because it's noon. So it's time to break my fast. So I get cream in this one instead of just black coffee. So, like I mentioned, I'm now going to whip up some leftovers for lunch today. We're going to do some leftover tacos, some pasta, whatever we really have in the fridge that's easy to be preheated. We have a few different go-to lunches during the week. I like to keep lunches very quick, but I do like to make them relatively filling. And a lot of times I'd like for the kids to eat something hot. I don't know why. I just feel like everybody stays fuller longer when they eat something hot for breakfast and lunch, but that's obviously not always possible. So I do plan on doing a video where I share with you guys some of my go-to lunch ideas for kiddos. So let me know if y'all want to see that. You can just leave me a comment and let me know that you want to see the lunch ideas video, and I will try to get that done quickly. We do have a few crowd pleasers, so I'm kind of bummed that today was a leftover day because I can't show you any of the good, quick lunch recipes that I have. Last year, our goal was always to finish our schoolwork pretty much before lunch, and we got that done a lot of times. But I feel like this year, with the toddlers being a lot more mobile and kind of into things and climbing and obviously the addition of a newborn baby, we definitely have not been finishing school before lunch. We are doing school for a good chunk of the morning, then we take a little break, and then another little chunk in the afternoon. So so Oh How is it Yummy, how's yours buddy? Good How's yours eyes closed yes, that's how we know she loves it the eyes are closed How's your lunch I Wish that it works like this Easy peasy Alright, it's 117. I just fed Benji again And I'm trying to get him settled and calm So that I can continue on with the subjects that I need to help kiddos with Right now he just wants to be helped so the girls Shelby's doing math on the computer Kennedy's doing some other book and the boys are having some tablet time And Rosie is just kind of following me around Helping me with the baby. That's what she likes to do. I think what I'm gonna do is I have a few different like educational Shows like letter factory and number factory and stuff like that like phonics shows and stuff that I like for Jonah and Rosie to watch so I think that's what I'm gonna do is get them distracted with like a letter factory phonics show and That will get them something going on That's not just like mindless and then hopefully I will be able to get him down and laid down And I can continue on with the other kids. I'm reheating my coffee again because I still haven't finished it I'm super tired I'm just sleepy like that's just the hardest part. I think of having a newborn and homeschooling It's not so much the baby. Although today he's kind of Making a liar out of me because normally he's super chill and he just sleeps in his bassinet while we do school But today he's kind of making a liar out of me because he's not wanting to sleep but the hardest part for me about homeschooling with a newborn is The fact that I am sleep-deprived and tired and trying to homeschool Well, I am not mentally like all of it So, so usually I prefer to keep Benjamin downstairs with us where I can see him and keep an eye on him And I just prefer to keep him downstairs. But today I just could not get him settled and happy downstairs So I brought him upstairs to my room and put him in the snoo and it put him right to sleep This thing is amazing. Okay guys, I got Benjamin to sleep Amelia's asleep, but I cannot get this one asleep. She just does not want to take a nap Do you? No So that's my next mission. It's now into this. Sorry. I don't mind me scratching my nose. It's now into the afternoon Yeah, and hopefully I can get her to take a nap So I the big girls are having their they finish their schoolwork they finish their chores and now they're doing their Computer time for their they have a game they like to play on the computer So they earn a chunk of time to play that every day after they finish their schoolwork and after they finish their chores So they are playing that Benji is sleeping The twins are here with me Rosie's here with me and the boys are outside playing. So that's what we're doing right now We got to start thinking about what we're gonna have for dinner Not sure when Christopher's gonna be done with the project he's working on. So I don't know when we will Have him back and home. So I need to talk to him because that will help determine what we're gonna do for this I think I'm actually gonna wrap up the video here Christopher's done with his project. So we're gonna go grab some dinner We're actually just gonna do something quick and easy tonight We might go get like a pizza or something. I don't know something quick and easy. He's tired He's been working like manual labor all day. So he's tired. The afternoons are mostly just my time to get work done So this afternoon I just alternated between taking care of the kids and getting work done if you guys want to see If you guys want to see a work-at-home mom routine video I can share with you kind of how I get my work done throughout the day But we're just gonna do dinner and then bedtime So I also know that I need to do an updated bedtime routine video And I also wanted to do an updated well a bedtime routine video. I haven't done one in like two years But then an updated morning routine because the last time I shared that we had just seven kids and things have changed So give this video a thumbs up and let me know down below in the comments if you guys want to see The morning routine or the bedtime routine video and kind of how we get all that craziness handled, but dad's dad's back now We're just gonna have some dinner and get in bed and sorry the lighting is making me Yeah, we're just gonna load everybody up go grab some dinner. It's a Hail Mary dinner kind of night But I am working on our meal plan I'm planning on sharing some videos with that and we try to eat out once a week and then eat off of our meal plan The rest of the week, so I'm working on that as well as some crock-pot recipes for you guys So lots of fun content coming up. So be sure to subscribe if you guys have not already And that's it for today's video guys. I am tired I'm hoping that my sweet little Benjamin can get a little more sleep tonight than he did last night All right guys, so thank you so much for watching and I will see you again soon