What is your most vital piece of household equipment?
I agree with washing machine. The poor thing is constantly in use.
How do you each dedicate one on one time with each child?
It just works out. I get more one on one time with each children than you'd think. After working at home for a while I've given up work all together to be with the kids. DH is very hands on so we share the load.
Aren't you ever tired?
I've been tried for years and years.
how many siblings do you have?
I am one of six.
what do you get from having 8 children that you wouldn't get from having 4?*
Chaos. Which we love. A big family. More love to go around. Everything is more fun.
How much time do they older kids spend looking after the younger kids?
Barely any. They do help out from time to time but we make sure that we don't put that responsibility on them. They are our children and our responsibility.
How early did you start?
I was 21 when our first was born and DH was 25.
Do you/ did you ever consider the environmental impact of so many children?
Yes, I do. And I feel bad. I wasn't aware until relatively recently about how large the impact of having so many children has. It's something that we do feel guilty about.
How big is the washing pile in your house? Do you need to keep the machine going constantly? How are you managing the laundry turnover in the winter, when line drying is a distant memory and most clothes shrink in the dryer? What contingencies do you have in place for when you and your husband are sick to stop your house becoming one big laundry pile?
The washing pile is huge. Huge. It's going most of the time. We hang clothes on rails indoors and use eye rubble dryer. We have family around and sometimes we do just have to let the pile grow. It will get washed at some point and the kids never run out of clean clothes.
How the hell do you manage laundry when d&v bugs are doing the rounds?
DH and I are very rarely sick at the same time, but when we are we just try our best. The pile does tend to mount up a lot.