Your Questions, ANSWERED!! (Part One!)

Alright, here is the first round of answers to your most pressing questions! (Or, the best you could come up with. I'm going to go with most pressing, 'cuz it sounds better.)

I will leave these open till Monday, so feel free to go HERE and leave a comment to ask a question of your own!

Vintage Dutch Girl said...

OK, my go-to question I love to ask:

Do you wear flip flops?

Ah, the thought so summer footwear make me crave the days of sunshine and warmth! Are you wanting summer to come faster, too?

In the spring and summer, I do wear flip flops on occasion, but I prefer to be barefoot whenever possible. Our yard doesn't get much sun because we are surrounded by trees, so we have more moss than grass. Which really isn't a bad thing, it stays green all year, it's super-soft, and it doesn't need as much mowing. Really, it's perfect barefoot grass. When I go places, I tend to throw on sandals or flip flops, but I haven't yet found the perfect pair of flip flops, but I do have the perfect pair of sandals. The sandals get more wear then anything else, but I would like to rectify that this year. We will see if I can get a kid or two out of diapers before summer to free up some budget flexibility.

DJan said...

How many diapers do you think you will have changed (and will continue to change) until all that is behind you? Until grandparent-hood, that is. I'm thinking it must be an astronomical number.

OK, I'm running the numbers here. Each child goes through about ten to twelve diapers a day from birth to about six weeks (we will say eleven to make it easy), then about eight a day till four months. So that means... I have to go get a calculator. I'll be back. Please enjoy the music until my return.

Laaaa laaaalaaaaa, dooo be do be doooo... Laaaaaaaa!

OK, I'm back. Apparently, when you have four kids, fun things like calculators disappear. I know, it's shocking.

OK, first six weeks, eleven a day, totals 462. Then till about four months, around eight a day. That's 560. From four months till around one year, I'd say about six a day. That's 1,512 diapers. Then it ends up to be about five or six a day, give or take, till they are potty trained. We'll say five and a half. So from age one till age two, it's 2002. So we are at 4,536 till age two. Emma was potty trained at two years nine months, so that adds another 1,501.5 so her total was 6,037.5. I am hoping Grant and Ben will be potty trained in the coming months, but we will say three years and three months for both of them. That adds 2,502.5 for a total of 7,038.5 for each of them. Just to make things easy, we will say that Drew will have the same amount at 7,038.5.

That makes for a total of 27,153 diapers. Holy freaking canolies.

OK, just for fun (or to depress me) diapers cost an average of 19 cents each. That's $5,159.07 ($5597.59 after tax.) And that does not include wipes, garbage bags, air fresheners, or the astronomical amount of groceries needed to fill twenty-seven thousand diapers. Whew.

CulyQFun said...

Did you tell how you & marty met? I am too lazy to go back and check.

How do you keep up with all the kids & still have time for you?

What do you do during naptime?

I have told how Marty and I met, I'll have to go find it. I'll be back. No music this, time, I got tomatoes thrown at me last time because I'm tone-deaf. OK, it's right HERE.

As far as how I still have time for me, I try to schedule things to keep myself from going crazy. I have a fabulous group of girlfriends that all get together to play poker once a month, and they are fabulous. These are also known as the Girl's Weekend girls, the Birch Bay girls, the Girls who I fear will break into my house and turn everything upside-down. Yup, those girls. I love them!

I also have started joining another group of fabulous girls for Bunco one a month. I don't know them all well yet, but I can see myself having some great friendships with them as time goes on. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better and having a great time.

Other than that, I try to take the time to shower daily (yes, that qualifies for alone time!) and have a bit of time for myself after the kids go to bed. It's hard, I don't have time for real hobbies and we can't afford weekly sitters, but I know things will get easier as the kids get older.

OK, naptime is interesting lately. I put the twins down at 1:30, and they usually goof off and jump around for a while, meaning I go back in their room several times and beat them have a little chat about staying in their beds. During this time, I eat lunch and check Facebook and e-mails while Drew plays with all the toys by himself. He loves getting whatever he wants without having to fight his siblings for them! Then I take some one-on-one time with Drew, we play and read books. He gets a cup of milk and goes down at 2:30. Lately, this is just about the time that the twins are starting to settle, and the introduction of Drew gets them riled up again and the giggle and goof off even more. I work for the next half-hour or so to quiet them all down and they tend to fall asleep about 3:15, which is when I should be getting them up. I usually hop in the shower because there has been no opportunity to do so yet, then I rotate laundry and pick up a bit, all the while knowing I should not let them sleep this late because it will mess with everything else. I decide to not fight them for just one more day and let them sleep till four thirty or five, because I am so frustrated by the fact that they have been screwing around for two hours and I need the break. Because they sleep late, they go to bed late, and the same thing happens the next day. I know how pathetic that sounds, and I need to break the routine, even if they just miss naps for a few days to get them back on track. But deep inside I am fearful that they have reached the age that they no longer need naps, and I have not yet reached the stage where I no longer need the break.

Probably not the answer you were looking for, huh? ;)

Tracie said...

Are you back into thongs yet??? ;-)

This is what I get by saying you can ask me anything, right? Tracie is one of the Girlfriends, and she's still bitter about the pool party and the toilet on her porch. 'Nuff said.

OK, Tracie, considering the fact that my parents and entire family read this blog, I am going to assume that by thongs, you mean flip flops. So yes, I love my flip-flops, They are super-comfy and the make my feet look great. I know that post pregnancy, it is hard to wear flip flops because of the, umm, balance issues, but once you reach about six to eight weeks after, your balance returns to normal and you can commence the flip-flop wearing. MKay?

Well, that's all the time I have for today, since my kids are wanting attention and it is beautiful outside. I'll finish the rest on Monday or Tuesday!