Parents of Four Boys

a lot of people ask me...how is it like taking care of 4, without the help of a maid. my answer? macam tu je lah. how parents take care of 1, that's how parents take care of 4. its actually easier with amir, asyraf, ariff & akmal, than it was with amir. why? for the life of me, i dont know, its just is.

maybe when one has only one child, the child is fully dependent on the parents for company, the child follows them everywhere. and when one has more than one child, the children play with each other, interact with each other, keep each other company that parents actually have more time to themselves.

we rely on this belief a lot to get through the day. when we reach home, hubby and i would be running around, getting our chores done. we leave the boys own their own for about half an hour, checking on them regularly. the half an hour is extremely precious to us as we would use every single second to ensure we finish all our tasks so that we can concentrate on the boys for the rest of the night.

our nightly routine is pretty fixed. basically once we walk in the front door, we know what each other is supposed to do. usually i go in first, bringing akmal with me. amir and asyraf would walk in after that. hubby comes in with the boys' bags, akmal's tub of sterilised bottles and the king of the house, ariff iqhwan.

my first stop is the kitchen. i quickly scrummage through the kitchen cabinets for snacks for the boys (that will keep them in the tv room for about 15 minutes) then i boil water to bring upstairs, put formula into container for asyraf and ariff, clear the drainer, wash the bottles used by ariff and akmal during the day and prepare new sterilised water for akmal's bottles (i cant wait to stop sterilising bottles!!)

then its a skip to the dining table to settle the boys' bags for school. i would take out used clothes and put in new ones. laundry is done every monday, wednesday and friday. i try not to delay laundry as i absolutely hate overflowing laundry basket. not to mention clothes being on the line for too long (which usually happens when there's just too many clothes hanged at one time) and unfolded clothes (which is why i make it a habit to fold as soon as i take them off the line). if there are clothes on the line, hubby would take them and put them in the laundry basket for me to fold.

once the boys' bags are done, i put them next to the stairs with akmal's tub of sterilised bottles and call out to hubby who will put them in the car (we're like a well-oiled production line, eh?) hubby usually takes about 10 minutes doing this because he'll be chimney-ing at the same time. while he does that, i quickly put the clothes in the machine and start it. a quick check to make sure everything's done in the kitchen then i switch off the lights. if the kitchen lights are switched on, it will invite little feet and hands into the kitchen and i'll be too tired to scream at them to get out. on tuesdays and thursdays, i'll spend 5 minutes folding clothes. yes...it really takes me 5 minutes (which is why i prefer to do laundry every other day as the load will not be too full)

so...all chores almost done, in under 30 minutes. usually i would bring akmal and ariff up with me, leaving asyraf and amir to watch tv in the play room. akmal and ariff keep me company while i bathe, perform maghrib and then isyak prayers while the elder 2 pray with hubby downstairs. the three of them then come up and i would lepak with them in their room, while hubby bathes. when he comes out, i would transfer akmal to him (as akmal is very clingy) and run downstairs to dry the clothes. by 9pm usually everything is done and we can finally have a breather.

so there...not very difficult kan? we're realistic. we take out what we cant do. for now that includes, giving the boys their nightly bath, making dinner and feeding them (thank God the school does this for them), cleaning the house, cooking. all that's been taken out of our 'to do' list. when akmal's slightly older, we'll change our daily routine. for now (probably til end of the year) this is how we end our day.

p/s this entry is specially dedicated to mama umar, uzair, aliya & baby no4. tak kuduku punnnnn...