Whoa, it's been a long while since I last posted and L is growing like crazy. The big kids caught different versions of the puking, diarrhea, coughing, fever illness that has swept Southeast Michigan in the past two weeks, but luckily the baby escaped contamination.

Today was my first day back at work and it went fine. I still don't know how people do this with full time jobs, or with more than three kids, or without a partner. I find my self frequently thinking back to clients I had while doing foster care case management and a lightbulb goes off about how clueless I was back then to the depths of their chaos. For instance the crack addicted single parent, unemployed with mental illness with 13 kids. I'm not making any excuses for her, nor would I give her any parenting award, but I am immensely impressed that all of them are still alive. No wonder the kids were dirty at school and the house was full of roaches and the little ones watched TV in car seats all day.

So, here are the new ways that I am multitasking since the baby's arrival:

1) Peeing in the shower. Cuts down on time wasted sitting on the toilet, saves toilet paper, keeps toilet clean longer and eliminates need for separate act of hand washing.

2) Singing and playing peek a boo with the baby from the shower with shower curtain wide open while baby sits in car seat watching.

3) Eating or drinking with double breast pump flanges arranged in innovative "hands free" mode - tight sports bra wrapped around the edges of the plastic flange.

4) Skipping unnecessary folding and "putting away" steps of laundry chore by dressing members of the family directly from laundry baskets located in living room.

5) Sending school aged children to school with empty lunchboxes resulting in call from the office informing me that we will be billed for emergency hot lunch provided. Bonus: Ecstatic reactions from older children who had been previously told that they would probably NEVER be allowed to eat hot lunch, resulting in more harmonious family after school atmosphere.

6) Burping baby and blogging or it's close cousin, bouncing baby and blogging