How do I do it?

I get this question a lot now a days. May be because I have 5 kids to take care of in the house (none of them is V by the way). All the kids(namely mom,dad,amma,appa and Prabu)demand my attention and do throw tantrums. There are days when I want to give them all a time-out and there are days when I want to give myself a time-out from it all. I have seriously considered pulling a Britney Spears too.

Before even I(Prabu was not part of my thinking process at that time so no "we") had the thought of getting pregnant, I shot an email to few of my cousins,friends and co-workers who already had a baby. I asked them how they did/do it? I had perspectives from different moms. And then we (here is when Prabu joined the scene)sat together and talked about how we would manage. Since my parents lived in the country, we knew we would have help through out. We learned from our nephews, nieces and kids of our friends.

Raising a kid yourself is different from raising a kid with grandparents. The generation gap(yes it does exist), the changes in technology and medications, the cultural differences.. I can go on. It's like a battlefield at times in the house:). Prabu and I decided early on the battles we would fight and the things we would let go for now.

Warning:Modesty stops here. I do give credit to myself for doing things that I do. When I feel exhausted, I look at mothers who have 8 kids and tell myself to suck it up. When I am really really ticked off at things, I start cooking and cleaning:)(weird, I know). Most of all, this is what keeps me going: