Thursday, January 7, 2010

Smockity Talks

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It's time to answer more questions from my readers. I still have quite a few questions left, so I will continue this series and call it "Smockity Talks" from here on out.

The first two questions today come from my real life friend, Jerri. (Hi, Jerri!)
With all of your children how do you find the opportunity to have some togetherness time with your hubby?

We now have a built in babysitter because our oldest is almost 15, so we can and do occasionally go out for some time together. There was a period of time, though, when we either had to hire a babysitter or make do with family time. Even though I enjoy alone time with my husband I believe it is possible to have a loving, close relationship with him while going months, or even years, at a time without "dates".

When we had only young children and couldn't afford a babysitter, we took our alone time where and when we could get it. We have let the kids watch a dvd while we talked at the kitchen table, or waited until their bedtime (which has always been 8:30) so we could enjoy a movie alone together.  We definitely had to be creative!

Also, How do you complete your knitting projects with kids around?

I keep my knitting, smocking, or other handwork in a bag that stays in the van. Whenever I find myself waiting at a doctor appointment or a homeschool gym day, I pull it out and work on it a little bit at a time.

Next, from Cheryl at Adventures of a Somewhat Crunchy Mama:
What's the biggest change to your body after almost 8 kids? 

I'm not sure if the changes in my body are due to having seven children so much as they are because of being 43, but there is some, shall we say "sagging", which from what I see on magazines headlines in the grocery store checkout line is rather common.  I will say that I am often told I look much younger than 43. I am in good health and always manage to lose my pregnancy weight, although it usually takes a full year to slim back down to my normal size.

How often do you forget/mix up your kids' names?

It depends. I hardly ever call my son by any other name than his. With the six girls? All bets are off. And for a few months after I've had a new baby, whenever someone asks me the baby's name, I may have to pause and  mentally count to seven.

When/Why did you start blogging? I tell the entire riveting story in "How It All Began".

From Milehimama at Mama Says:
I have a question from one big family to another: toothbrushes. The bane of my existence.  IF I can actually get 7 different toothbrushes so that they don't get mixed up... someone is always missing one or forgetting or dropping it on the bathroom floor and then it's stepped on...
Seriously, I've resorted to buying a bushel of extras at the dollar store.

How do you keep your toothbrushes in line (not talking about storage - the USAGE is where it falls apart, LOL!)


This is the part where I get all cranky and tell y'all the only thing I hate worse than toothbrushes is SOCKS! I won't go off on socks today, though. I will keep my angst confined to toothbrushes for this post.

I really don't have any good answer for this one because we deal with the exact same things you mentioned in your question!  I tell at least one child per week, "Just go use mine!"

If anyone has a solution for this one, please jump in!

This concludes this edition of Smockity Talks. Please, tune in again for more questions and answers.

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12 comments:

Nicki said...

Toothbrushes: I have a friend with 6 kids and I saw what she did. There is a row of 6 cupholders fastened to the wall under the bathroom mirror. Each cup has a child's name on it, and inside is the child's toothbrush AND their own tube of toothpaste. This way big brother doesn't have to share the same messy tube of paste as little sis. Looks like a good idea. I need a new system myself.

I'm looking forward to the sock thing.

Keowdie said...

First of all, I really did think you were in your mid 30's.. Although with a 15 year old, your real age makes more sense!
Second, I only have two kids, and the sock thing drives ME insane! I can't imagine it with more kids!
As for the toothbrush situation, since I have 2 kids, this is no problem in our house. But, I will say that if a toothbrush is dropped or left where it shouldn't be, I run it through the dishwasher. I might be terribly wrong about this, but if the dishwasher gets hot enough to sterilize baby bottles, shouldn't it get hot enough to sterilize toothbrushes?

Brenda said...

My old babysitter used to run all the toothbrushes through the dishwasher at her house too. Combs and brushes too. Not at the same time.

Anyway, never even thought about toothbrush problems before.

But socks??? I need help here.

Anonymous said...

I saw a post on WFMW one time about toothbrushes and have implemented it at my house. It works! Each of my kids has a school box container that keeps his/her toothbrush and toothpaste. It keeps everyone's toothbrush contained, and they all use different toothpaste anyhow because of the 10 year age range. When the containers get pasty/dirty just throw them in the dishwasher.

Lora Lynn @ Vitafamiliae said...

Ah, socks. Hate 'em. Gave up. Decided I didn't care. The boys have a sock bin. If they don't put their socks up when they do laundry, they can go sockless. I've decided not to care when their socks don't match, they're inside out, or on backwards. My life and mental capacity are too short. I still twitch a little when I look down in church and see the disaster that is their feet, but so be it.

And yet I still find random socks every time I turn a corner.

Lisa in Jax said...

I buy 472 of them. Each child gets their own color and on a good day, we can find at least one for each child. On a bad day, I reach into my stash of never used toothbrushes and give them another one.LOL

I buy toothpaste in bulk also. Saves my sanity.

The cups sound nice, just not sure if they'd get put back each time.

Blessings,

Lisa in Jax

Tami said...

Toothbrushes: I have only 4 kids, so it's not that big a deal for them to figure out which is their's, besides, they are in two diff bathrooms. However, we seem to run a kid B&B around here, and no one ever brings HIS toothbrush when HE spends the night (doesn't seem to be so much of an issue with girls, somehow). So I buy the 10 pack generic toothbrushes at the $1 store and write the visitor's name on the handle with a sharpie. Then I keep them under my boys' sink in a big cup. They don't bring contact cases either, so I keep extras of those, too.
I also run toothbrushes thru the dishwasher when people have been sick around here (or else we get new ones). But just because it got dropped on the floor? Seriously, do you really think the floor is half as germy as their mouths in the morning? Anyway, children need some exposure to germs to develop a healthy immune system.
Socks: When your son gets bigger he will learn that socks are uncool and so that will not be an issue. My girls' socks are much easier since they have little butterflies and stuff on them. Also they are picky and will sort them themselves to make sure they get the "right" ones.

Brenda on the S OR Coast said...

We have a basket on the kids' bathroom counter, filled with aquarium gravel. The kids stand their toothbrushes up in it by sticking the handle down into the gravel. It works reasonably well.

I also require my five year old to wipe down the bathroom counter and sink EVERY DAY to keep the toothpaste globs from piling up too high... =)

Cheryl Pitt said...

Thanks for answering my questions :) I love your new header BTW! As for the toothbrushes...it's very un-earth-friendly, but Fox's orthodontist has single use toothbrushes with toothpaste powder on them. You just open them, brush and toss ;P

suburbangranola said...

I have 5 kids...the older ones have the Sonicare kids toothbrushes (we have 2 handles) on the heads I put a label with their initials on their own head. On each charger there is a place to store 2 heads, they just put them back when they get done. So two children share 1 brush handle. The toddler has her own princess spin brush...We have also used the cup with names and their own toothpaste in it and it worked great too.

Anonymous said...

maybe if you can't find enough different colors of toothbrushes you could try to wrap it with some type of wine glass charm thing

Heather and Teri said...

I only have three children but my boys both insist on blue toothbrushes. Sooo I write their names on the handle in permanant marker. And I buy them on clearance.

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