David here. Please indulge me for this post :).
With our children getting a little older, our lives are changing for the better, and I love being a Dad. For example, I can now throw the football and the kids can catch it (without getting a bloody nose), or they are old enough to go do "adult" things with me, like hiking or biking, and I don't have to carry them the last 3 miles. Along with this blessing comes the responsibility of explaining the "birds and the bees" to them, which we have been very open about. As I ponder my role as father, I am beginning to wonder if I need another "birds and bees" discussion because every night I seem to ask myself how it is we ended up with 7 children.
Case-in-point (and this is all exacerbated now by the fact that the kids are out on summer break, they are all sleeping in the same room for fun, and it is still light when we put them to bed):
1. We put our children to bed at 8:00 - 8:30. This bedime is so that Marilyn and I can have some alone time, read scriptures, check e-mail, church stuff, or anything that is "us-related" and not "kid-related" (no offense to the children). However, at 10 o'clock when I am getting in bed, I have already been in their rooms 4 times threatening them because they have been building forts, arranging rooms, laughing, reading, talking, or playing Nintendo DS under the covers (as if I can't tell...the glow through the covers gives it away). I usually give them the guilt trip about how we need to trust them to do what we ask, and that finally calms them down.
2. Each of the children, even the oldest, like me to "snuggle" them, so after each has gotten their 3 minute allotment, it is 20 minutes later.
3. I usually get one or two kids coming into our room complaining about how life isn't fair and how so-and-so was mean to them. A hug and a kiss with a reassurance that they are indeed a "victim" and that they should just try to get along is all that's needed to send them back to bed.
4. Marilyn is nursing, so by the time she is finished nursing, she is incoherent and already 80% asleep.
5. I put the baby in his crib after he has been successfully burped. Then I quietly tip-toe back into bed, and as my head hits the pillow, and my body slowly relaxes, the baby starts crying. One more burp and the house is usually quiet.
6. A last interruption is usually in the form of a phone call from someone wanting a phone number, or someone from another time zone that forgets we are 1-2 hours ahead of them.
At this point in time, Marilyn and I are so tired we grunt that we love each other and then go to sleep. I can go to sleep in less than 5 minutes, and the kids sleep through the night, so once I am asleep all is well. As I drift off to sleep, I realize all the "good intentions" that I missed, but I also realize I took care of my children and that they are happy.
Our lives are not too busy, and we usually get to bed on time, but it is the process that wears us out. Also, I really enjoy having 8 best friends, but I figured it can be therapeutic to write humerously about life's experiences.
So, back to the "birds and the bees." How is it that we have 7 children? I still don't have an answer, and I guess I am going to need Marilyn to explain this one to me. She seems to have these things figured out.
