Morning Routine: One Baby Away From Disaster...

So I just had a baby.  A baby who needs just as much attention as any other baby, but who happens to have five older siblings.  As you can imagine (or maybe you already know), this makes for a sometimes-crazy juggling act during the two hours before school and the two hours after.  Actually, truth be told, it was the afternoons that I had been kind of worried about.  I mean, it's a time of day commonly referred to as "the witching hour" because of it's universally difficult combination of:

1 After-school activities for any number of kids, always all in different places
2 Homework
3 Chores
4. Mom needs to make dinner
5. Maybe throw a grumpy toddler or two in there as well, or in my case a 5 week old

But to my surprise, the afternoons have been kind of a piece of cake (knock on wood!).  Oh sure, there was that day three days after my baby was born that I had three parent-teacher conferences at two different schools.  That wasn't so cake-like.  Or maybe it was at least like that gross cake you made that one time when you forgot to put the eggs in so it didn't rise, and your mixer wouldn't work right so it was lumpy, and then you burned it anyway...yeah, some days are that kind of cake.

But on the whole, afternoons are ok.  Probably because I can plan ahead, to some degree, and try to make sure that the baby is fed and maybe even asleep when the kids get home.  And because I have a couple of kids who are old enough that I can leave everyone home (even baby if he's sleeping) when I have to run one kid to basketball practice and pick another one up from floor hockey.  And because I've lowered my standards sufficiently that bean-and-cheese quesadillas or PBJ's and canned soup count as dinner.

Mornings, though?  They're kinda hard.  And by "kinda hard" I mean "really, really, very, super hard." Here's how it's supposed to go:

6:00 13 year old's alarm goes off, she gets up first so she gets the bathroom first (smart girl!).
6:15 My alarm goes off, I wake 12 year old ( who doesn't use an alarm clock because it would wake his two younger brothers who share a room with him).
6:20 I start making five school lunches.
- Two older kids get ready with minimal reminders from me, and are ready to walk out the door by 7:00 when I wake 10 year old, 8 year old, and 5 year old (if they're not up already) and we have family prayer and the two Middle Schoolers leave to catch their bus.
7:05-7:30 Three younger kids get ready with a few reminders called out from me as I sit peacefully feeding Baby.
7:35-7:45 I take 5 and 8 year olds to bus, leaving full and happy baby with 10 year old since it's freezing outside and I don't want to wrap baby up just to take him out for five minutes. (10 year old gets to play xbox, but don't tell anyone else that!)
8:10 10 year old leaves for bus, leaving me alone with baby.  Sometimes we might even take a nap together now.

Here's how it actually went this morning:

 6:00 13 year old's alarm goes off... oh wait, no it didn't.  The batteries died.
6:15 My alarm goes off.  Last night was a pretty bad one: Baby seems to be getting a cold so he's all stuffy and couldn't sleep and wouldn't eat.  I lie there for two or three minutes and then force myself out of bed.  I try to sneak out of my room without waking Baby Boy, and go wake 12 year old.  Luckily, I discover right away that 13 year old is missing, and wake her up only about 20 minutes later than she would usually be up.  This is a small miracle.
6:20 I start making lunches.
6:23 Baby boy wakes up, I try to convince him to be happy with a pacifier. (Repeated 5 or 6 times since he really doesn't like his pacifier very much.)
6:25 8 year old comes down and begins listing all real and imagined symptoms that might elicit some sympathy from me, and possibly even earn her a day home from school.  This doesn't work, so she gets in the shower.
6:30 Upon hearing arguing in the hallway, I investigate and discover that my oldest two kids are engaged in their decade-old argument of "you're not doing what you're supposed to" vs "I don't have to do what you say".  I tell the first she needs to mind her own business and the other that he really does need to go eat breakfast.
6:31 Baby boy wakes up for real this time, and I discover that he's completely soaked through in addition to being hungry.  However, I have to finish making lunches, so I ask 13 year old to change his clothes and diaper in the hopes that this will help him be happy for a minute. (It doesn't.)
6:45 I finish making lunches, and think that I have time to feed Baby boy, when I realize that today 10 year old has early morning band practice, so not only he but also my husband need to be ready to leave in around 20 minutes!  I wake 10 year old and tell my husband to hurry up with his shower because he's leaving early today.
6:55 10 year old remembers that his winter coat is still in the washer from when "someone" got maple syrup all over it yesterday at breakfast, so I have to run madly sort through the box of winter coats in the hopes that I can find another one for him.  Another small miracle happens, and I find him a coat.
7:00 Family prayer time: we have to say it in the bathroom doorway since 8 year old is still in the shower.  Also, 5 year old is missing, but in the bustle of getting 10 year old and Husband out the door, I don't even notice.
7:05 I sit down to finally feed Baby boy.
7:08 12 and 13 year olds sprint out the door, hoping they haven't missed the bus.
7:15 It occurs to me that not only is 8 year old still in the shower, (which I can't do anything about since I am still feeding Baby boy) but I haven't even seen 5 year old yet, which probably means I never woke him up and he's still in bed.
Yep.
7:20-7:35 8 and 5 year olds get ready twice as quickly as usual, while I finish feeding Baby boy.
7:35 Nobody is left at home to watch Baby boy, so I have to take him with us, even though it's a frigid 19 degrees outside, plus some wicked kind of wind chill.
7:45 The kids are finally all gone, and I am alone with Baby boy.  I take a deep breath for the first time in two hours.  *sigh*  I think I'll take a nap now.

Kate