I recently heard someone say, “The busiest mom in the world is the mother of one,” and I instantly thought of my friend Andi. She is a mother of seven.

I love when she tells me, “I’m getting so much done today. I only have 3 kids home today.” Meanwhile, I only have three children total and I struggle to stay sane, so my hat goes off to mothers who have many kids.

Here’s a peak into this wonderful mother’s life and how she does it all.

Q. How many children do you have? What are their ages?

A. 7 children – 3 girls and 4 boys (ages 13, 12, 10, 8, 5, 4, 3)

Q. How many years have you been married? Of those years how many do you think you were either pregnant or nursing a baby?

A. 14 years of marriage and almost 10 years spent nursing or pregnant. (61 months of pregnancy = 5.1 years; 56 months of nursing = 4.6 years)

Q. Did you always imagine yourself with a large family?

A. No. I’m an only child and I knew I wanted to have more than one. 

Q. What is the best part of having 7 children?

A. Entertainment for sure. My kids are very entertaining. If it’s not one kid it’s another saying or doing something funny. There’s always someone to play with. There’s always someone there to play a game or do whatever we are doing.

Q. What do you do to keep your sanity?

Exercise is my new-found sanity keeper. I go to the gym and I go alone. I take some time for me. That’s how I start the day. I go early and I start the day on myself and not on anyone else. Then I feel good about doing all of the things I need for everyone else the rest of the day. If I don’t exercise, then I read and immerse myself in a book if I need to step out of life.

Q. What is your daily routine?

5:30 Get up; go to the gym; shower; make breakfast for the family; get kids ready for day

8:30 Leave for school; drive carpool; pre-school drop off

9:20 Check email and blogs; pay bills; chores

11:05 Start pre-school pick up; carpool

12:00 Lunch; activity for kids (toys or craft); laundry or dishes or other chores on the side

2:20 Older children come home from school; begin homework

3:30 Elementary-school kids come home, homework, snacks and chores.

5:00 Begin making dinner; finish chores with kids

6ish Eat dinner; run out the door for sports or church activities

8:30 Bedtime for kids

9:00 Watch TV or a movie; fold laundry or pick up house

11:00 Bedtime for me

Q. How many loads of laundry do you do in a week?

A. At least 12. That’s two loads a day, six days a week, plus two more for towels and bedding. Probably 15 per week. I’ve never really counted.

Q. How much is your weekly grocery bill?

A. $150 per week. (That doesn’t count going out to eat.)

Q. What do you do to save money?

• I take advantage of anything free, like when the pool has free days.
• I don’t buy pre-made meals very often (even frozen pizza).
• I’ve started using coupons but I’m not good at it yet; that’s something new I’m going to try.  
• I go to the discount bread store and stock up on bread and treats there.
• I shop sales and buy generic instead of brand names.
• I use those discount cards for buy one get one or other deals.
• We have canned our own fruit and made jelly from fruit that friends have given us.
• We eat leftovers.

Q. What do you do to make meal time easier?

A. I tend to only do easy recipes –nothing complicated or time consuming –unless I have my husband there to help. I also enlist the help of the kids to get ingredients, stir, flip, or chop.

Q. How do you divide up the chores?

A. We have a set group of chores and we rotate everyday. It rotates all month long so one kid doesn’t get stuck with the same chore every week. If there are extra chores I put their names in a hat and that’s the extra chore they have to do.

Q. How many gallons of milk does your family use in a week? Loaves of bread?

A. 1 gallon a day at least and 1 loaf of bread per day

Q. What do you drive?

A. 12-passenger van

 

Question: What amazing moms do you know? What makes them amazing?