Raising Children is Hard Work

I was right, last week was tough.  Several medical appointments and lots of running around, which meant that when I was home I was trying to catch up with housework and school and all that jazz.

My thyroid ultrasound was encouraging. I do have a couple of nodules but apparently they aren't big enough to worry about.

I took Joseph in for his well teen appointment on Tuesday morning. The doctor hemmed and hawed over his spine and finally said he thought an x-ray was in order. The result is that he has mild scoliosis, a 13 degree curve.  They don't do anything, apparently, before 15 degrees.  If Joseph is nearly done growing probably he is Ok.  Is he?  We don't know. He is 5 ft. 10 inches and has leaped 3 or 4 inches in height in the last year, so maybe?  He will be retested in 6 months but if he grows like crazy in the next few months I will ask them to check him in 3 months or so.

Naomi has been working for 3 or 4 weeks at the local Goodwill.  It is a new store with insufficient employees so she has been working a lot of hours.

Lydia started her second year of community college.  So far it has been fairly mellow but it is merely the calm before the storm. She has a practicum where she works at a child care center but the powers that be are still getting it organized. Once that starts, she'll be gone a lot from home.

The younger kids are doing homeschooling as well.

This week I felt exhausted mentally.  It is really not easy for me to parent 9 kids easily.  Truly, parenting is challenging.  For some it is easier than others.  I know I'm an intellectual and tend toward anxiety (though Lexapro helps) and while I'm a good mom, I'm not sure it comes naturally.  I THINK a lot.

Of course, 9 children constitutes a large family. But I don't care if someone has one child or 3 or 9 or 15.  Children are hard work. 

I think there is a cultural expectation that adults should be able to parent well AND...

And have a high powered successful job.

And serve the church.

And serve the disadvantaged.

And enjoy many hobbies.

And write the next great novel.

And so on. 

I'm sure some people can do all these things. But some people, like me, need most of their energy and time to be a good spouse and parent.  I truly don't have much left at the end of the day.

Our kids will grow older and they will spread their wings and fly and there will be a less vigorous season in our future.

But right now, raising children is hard work.

(I should add, glorious, wonderful, God given work. I love it.  I just refuse to be ashamed that it takes most of me to do it well.)