Now that Esther and I have been home for nearly two months, I'm guessing that most people think things have gone back to "normal." I think I would assume that, too, if I were on the outside looking in, like I used to be with pediatric cancer. Now that I'm in the trenches, I must admit that my assumptions were quite wrong.
Esther has appointments 3-4 days per week, and averages a special event for her personally, or for other children/families like hers/ours, once a week (usually on a Saturday). She attends physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy twice per week, and the chiropractor once per week (trying this out at she was going twice per week - yay for "graduating" to half of that!). Esther's port also needs to be flushed (like an IV) once per month, which is a children's hospital appointment.
When we are home, I am spending a great deal of time in the kitchen and preparing for the next day's schedules. Since Esther's diet now consists of 99% organic, whole foods, we prepare all her food at home, and pack it to take with us whenever we are out and about (this makes follow up visits in DC and Memphis more challenging but Esther is worth it). I also spend a lot of time organizing, sorting, and transitioning to a toxic-free home (as much as possible in this synthetic day of age), especially in the kitchen. I look forward to the day we own our own home large enough to have a green house (even the small zipper-kind with shelves and trays) so we can have our own herbs, berries, flowers, and vegetables year around. A yard large enough for our own vegetable and flower gardens (there are so many medicinal properties in dandelions, lavender, etc.) would also be an amazing way to take care of my family.
With a large family (8 kids), most people seem to jump to the conclusion that the older kids are around the house enough to help with just about everything. But the reality is that the older kids become, the more independent they also become, and the less they are around the house to help Mom. We do have high expectations for them to do as much as they can when they are home to keep earning those older kid privileges, but sometimes we’re all just scraping the bottom of the “spare time” barrel and we crawl to the finish line at the end of the day or the end of the week. James and Elizabeth are both old enough to have regular jobs, which they both do, as well as volunteer with the kids’ ministry at church every other Sunday morning. James works part-time at Scooter’s Coffee and Elizabeth works full-time at New Heart Christian School (doing the same job I did last year until Esther’s diagnosis), as well as part-time babysitting, pet sitting, church child care, and other random jobs. Sometimes we just need an entire day (praise the Lord for snow days!) to catch up on things around the house and on the computer. Sometimes a snow day isn’t as restful or productive as you might expect (or as much as Mom hopes for!), however, because the kids are usually as busy and energetic as ever (praise the Lord for Esther’s high energy levels that are keeping up with her brothers and sisters, too!), so we “try our best.” 😄
For a general insight to our current daily and weekly schedules and routines, here you go…
Our day usually looks something like this...
5:00am - wake up and get myself ready for the day
6:00am - get kids up for the day, make breakfast
7:00am - eat breakfast
7:25am - clean up, get bags in the car, get coats and shoes on, get kids buckled up
7:40am - leave for appointments (others are leaving for school and work)
8:15am - appointments for Esther and Jordan (he receive speech therapy twice a week, too)
11:00am - back home, put bags away, start lunch
11:30am - eat lunch
12:30pm - naps (I do housework and office work if I can stay awake)
3:00pm - snack
4:00pm - start dinner
5:15pm - eat dinner
6:00pm - baths, chores
7:00pm - get Josiah ready for bed
7:30pm - get Jordan ready for bed
8:00pm - get Esther ready for bed
8:45pm - listen to Joshua read bedtime stories
9:00pm - get myself ready for bed
9:45pm - office work (If I can stay awake)
12:00am - go to bed
And our week usually looks something like this...
Monday - griddle breakfast, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and/or speech therapy, dance class, crockpot dinner, order groceries for pickup on Tuesdays from 3 grocery stores
Tuesday - toaster breakfast, pool physical therapy, pool occupational therapy, pickup groceries from 3 stores, seafood dinner, James’ gym night, New Heart Christian School office work, Esther’s Miracle office wok
Wednesday - skillet breakfast hash, random appointments, random errands, maybe YMCA pool, crockpot dinner, Evelyn’s AWANA night, Emma Grace’s HETRA volunteer night, James’ youth group night, Esther’s Miracle blog
Thursday - griddle breakfast, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and/or speech therapy, chiropractor, stovetop-cooked dinner, James’s gym night, Evelyn’s gym night, New Heart Christian School office work, Esther’s Miracle office work
Friday - baked breakfast (muffins, pastry, etc.), no appointments, random errands, maybe YMCA pool, laundry, menu planning for meals and grocery shopping list, New Heart Christian School office work, Esther’s Miracle office work, James’ drop-in gym night, kids’ movie night
Saturday - special events, random errands, laundry, housework and projects that need to be done for the next week to be successful, make hand soap and hand sanitizer as needed, random dinner, get kids’ church bags and outfits ready, make breakfast casserole to cook overnight, try for a full night’s sleep (at least seven hours)
Sunday - crockpot breakfast casserole, church (if we weren’t out too late with special events on Saturday), nap, craft, grilled dinner, go to bed early (to at least by 9:30pm)
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