See, generally we take turns.
Each home has their own system. In the Fulp home there are more kids, higher aquity, and 5 of us who rotate taking some of the kids to church while the rest of us stay back with the kids who would not do so well. We have limited adults who can push chairs each week, so the girls who benefit the most go each week, and those who have some awareness or enjoyment take turns.
Sometimes kids are simply too fragile to travel since we walk the mile to church when the sun is strong. Some have autism or other struggles that make church iteslf overwhelming and stressful. Some have complex feeding schedules, naps, or simply need too much attention. We hope to take some kids each week, while allowing for the adults who go to be able to hear the message.
Yesterday we took them all.
SUNDAY AM
The morning starts like many other, but we all knew this would be an eventful occasion. We begin by mentally preparing for the most probable outcomes.
Today we are anticipating:
a few bouts of vomit,
a few more of diarrhea,
about 6 outfit changes,
4 meltdowns,
3lost socks,
4 lost shoes,
redoing about 3 kids hair,
2 breakfast related incidents,
running 10-15 minutes behind,
3 alarms from an O2 generator, and
7 out of 10 adults involved with the walk/ride to church asking what in the world were we thinking?
Church starts at 10am, so naturally the first of us start at 6am. And yes, we run a little late a lot of the time!
6:02- We begin working on meds, preparing lunch for later, and dressing the early crew.
6:15- the first wave emerge one by one. Kevin and David are pretty chill, but threaten prematurely wet daipers. Mimi is sharing a beautiful smile, and Jenny is a touch psychotic with sprinkles of sweet thrown in.
6:22- Some stirring from the bedrooms. We try to ignore it and hope it goes away.
7:05- The first of the littles are all ready to go! Cute outfits and hair complete with socks on feet and bows in hair! Let's see if they stay ready as the first round of feedings begin.
Down to 2 helpers now for the next hour. Our night nanny escapes from the house as fast as possible. She'll be back.
7:08- Jenny's bow is toast. New record: 3 minutes.
7:30- Judging by the noises from the bedrooms, we could need an exorcism. I'm sure it's fine.
7:49- It's almost time to get the rest of the kiddos up. David is still eating painfully slow. I mean, does he really have to eat every day? Seems a bit excessive.
7:59- Our 2 incredible weekend nannies arrive and we silently release a sigh or relief that they came. What would we do without them? Cry or scream. Probably cry.
8:10- Excitement builds as the kids start coming out! The kids are loving their dress cloths as much as our team love dressing them in something special!
Humberto is looking a bit sketchy as tube feeds work their way around the room.
8:13- So far no one has vomited, what a win!
8:16- Just kidding, Humberto displays an impressive ability to spew copious amounts of formula faster and farther than Fuego shoots lava. This was anticipated. Only mild damage is down to his clothing due to teamwork and impressive bib placement, so soon we are all smiles again. He really likes his special shirt!
8:20- woah, and surprise out of the left field, here comes Ruavis, hurling his very own concoction. Volume wise, Humberto is still in the lead, but Ruavis has added some unique touches in the consistency. His cloths are still safe. He promptly falls asleep for the rest of the day.
8:28- things are getting hazy and time is beginning to blur. We know the plan.
In the insanity that follows:
Somewhere in their 5 kids have been tube fed, 4 kids have more or less fed themselves at the table, 3 kids have been fed by spoon, and 1 reluctantly by bottle. I'm missing one, but I'm sure they ate too.
NO! we have fallen behind on percussions! We rocked the nebulizers though!
Medication administration progresses with pills, liquids, drops, inhalers, and I'm sure someone brushed the teeth because no tiny hands are tugging on my shirt and signing "brush teeth". with insane desperation. No fevers this morning; nice job small humans!
The walkers are finding shoes. Sorry ladies, no rain boots, crocks, or ripped up sandals today! Somebody thought it would be funny to put shoes on Santi-- those won't last 10 minutes! Humberto's shoes light up, and he is sufficiently impressed- as are we all.
Hair happened. No bow for Jenny in round 2, good call! Our awesome nannies are brave enough to braid hair on spastic little heads!
There are 1,000 trips to the bathroom, a dozen replacements of fallen socks a dozen, goopy hands and faces to be cleaned, and more than a few reminders to Oly not to hit teacher in children's church.
Prepping the diaper bag for 14 kids is a little like trying to predict the path of a storm at sea. Only you have never sailed, you are blind, and your boat is sinking. Accept that you are woefully unprepared for what is about to come. Mostly, you just throw in some diapers, cheerios, and books, and hope for a miracle.
Last minute diaper checks and GOOD GRAVY!! What has Kevin been fed?
No human can naturally create what is seeping out of his diaper now!! Another wardrobe change and an incinerator should take care of the smell. He seems to think it's funny.
I think he had this planned.
It's time to load up as we are finishing with some last minute, frenzied preparations. David's socks are long gone. That's fine.
Our extra adults arrive for the commute. Now we are only a little outnumbered!
7 of 10 adults are good to push chairs that far, and we have 14 kids- only 4 can walk. That means we have to use the truck for the fragile ones and the troublemakers. 4 adults will push Rafa, Ester, Humberto, and Ruavis while B walks with them for the mile to church. The other 9 plus 6 adults will fit in the truck.
In the bed, two os us hold David and Kevin, ditching their chairs. For some extra fun, Oly, Alison, and Cesar will join us. Nothing could go wrong there. David finds the shaking of the truck hilarious while Oly waves at passers by shouting at them from time to time. Cesar is not sure if he is moving forward, or if the earth is moving backward. Either way, he likes the ride.
In the cab are the remaining littles. Daisy and Mimi are held in laps while Santi and Jenny are in the seat between adults. I can only imagine the pandemonium of this Santi and Jenny combo. We can only pray that the adults survive the journey.
We all make it to church! And so do Santi's shoes!
Once at church yesterday, things settled down-- or maybe I had just glazed over by that point. Either way, I feel like the chaos once there was way less than we anticipated.
Our church rocks and has a carpet in the back specifically for the special needs kids who come! This way they can get out of their chairs as needed. They have a marvelously sturdy changing table in the bathroom made just to accommodate these kids who may outweigh standard bathroom changing tables. And some fantastic ladies sat on a hard floor for over an hour just to hold our precious kids!
Ok, having all 14 there is pretty distracting. Except for Ruavis that is, who continued to sleep soundly. Sorry pastor Richard, I'm afraid he didn't find your sermon very interesting! The rest of us did-- that is, I think the rest of us heard 50-60% of it.
Our wild cards did pretty solid which is incredible with autism and schedule changes plus crowds.
Only two seizures during service and no O2 alarms.
Also, no full autistic meltdowns!!!
No meltdown meltdowns either!!
Santi lost his shoes a few minutes in, but unlike David, he kept his socks on for the entire adventure.
You could say that Church knocked David's socks off?? Ok, Sorry, that was bad.
I won't go into loading up, heading home, late tube and spoon feedings, or allowing for time adjustments and missed schedules. Naps were a little nuts, but our super nannies handled it with grace!
It is so very much work, and a solid bit of stress to do something like this.
But no adults cried, and we didn't lose any kids.
Truly, it is so incredible to get to have all the kids at church together with us!
I would be up for it again. Though, maybe a long time form now!!
Thank you for bringing us in!
Love your writing style too!