Here I find myself waiting again for the "big" day to come.  I go next Wednesday for my last round of the intensive chemotherapy.  I have a pretty positive outlook that it will go much better than last time.  I have a plan that Dr. B came up with that should combat the horrible bone pain and nausea.  I hope it works as we are going to attempt to go up island for a couple of days during spring break.

I always say school breaks are a catch"22."   On the one hand I get to sleep in everyday as there is no hustle and bustle of getting four kids out the door to school.  On the other they are all home and I have to find something to entertain them or they start to drive me batty. 
Being the mother of four I often get asked that question "How do you do it?"  My response is always, you just do it.  We don't know any other way, so it doesn't seem like a lot because we don't know what it would be like to have it any different. I guess one of the biggest reasons it is not so crazy is Phil and I have always believed that we want our kids to be independent, so we have set expectations that do not have them relying on us for everything. We have always forced independence on them in various ways. 
In doing so, I think, we have made our lives a lot less chaotic.  One way we have eliminated stress is to NOT DRIVE the kids everywhere.  I never signed up to become a taxi driver or "the Vidal transport system" when we started building our family.  Every opportunity we have had to have the kids get themselves to and from a place we take advantage of it.  ie. they can walk or take the bus!
We live extremely close to their elementary school and the kids have always walked to and from school.  They don't even have to cross a street, so why would I drive them.  Let me tell you, my kids have never complained, the biggest battles I have fought about them walking is with other parents!!  I had several cell phone calls on rainy/snowy days asking if I was going to come and pick them up because of the weather.  Now that our two oldest girls are going to other schools they have to catch the city bus to get there.  When I was a teenager I caught the city bus absolutely everywhere.  It was the only way I got around.  I was never driven or even considered asking for a ride( probably because I never wanted my mom to know what I was doing LOL!)
The three oldest kids have all been doing their own laundry for years.  I am also not a laundromat.  I think I started having them do it at around age 9.  I showed them how to do it properly and really it's not rocket science. Do they really you ask?  Yes, because when they run out of clean underwear and socks or can't put a whole outfit together, it's a fairly good motivator.  I don't care if they never fold and put it away, it's not my problem, I provide dressers for them, if they choose not to use them and wear wrinkled clothes that's their choice.  It may be that they are girls, I don't think so though, because tween/teen years self image is the be all and end all of their worlds so they usually opt not to leave the house without looking "just so."  I live by the same principles of keeping their rooms clean.  I don't have to live in there so why should I clean it up?  I do however enforce keeping the shared living space in the house clean, this is everywhere but their rooms. 
When I got diagnosed and knew I wasn't going to be able to run at full speed, I created a chore chart.  It works wonders.  There is no allowance or rewards for doing their chores (jeezuz they get everything they need and then some, within reason of course.)   Each kid has two (age appropriate) chores a day and that "helps" take care of the general maintenance of the house.  Don't get me wrong, there is still a tonne of stuff that doesn't get done and let's face it they are kids so I can't expect perfection!
I'm no expert I just do what's right for me and my family.  This is what works for us.  I have learned from others and only hope when I share, it is insightful for someone else.  The kids independence has proven to be essential during this hard time that we are going through.  I can stress just that "little bit less" because I know they are going to be ok. 
x0x