On this episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8

For the last 3 days I've done very little. Over the long weekend I read three whole books, something I never seem to make the time to do anymore. (Impressive, yes, but two of the three I had read half of and needed to finish.) I actually took an hour nap on one day, which I haven't done since I don't know when, and the only place that we drove to was the grocery store for a few staples that we had run out of like Lunchables.

Because I had been doing so much reading throughout the weekend, I was ready to watch a little television yesterday afternoon. Not much was on worth watching, but I persited. I landed on TLC, a channel that I used to watch all the time while I was pregnant (Baby Story anyone?) but haven't watched much of since. Except for one show--Jon and Kate Plus 8.


Whenever the Golfer sees me watching it, he'll usually say something like "Why do you watch that crap?"


"It's not crap. It's real life," I'll reply.


The Golfer doesn't understand why I would want to watch a show about parenting when that's what I do (and complain about) all day. But what he doesn't understand is that this isn't regular parenting. This show is about parenting 8 kids--six of which are all three-years-old.


Yesterday there was a Jon and Kate Plus 8 marathon and I watched just about the whole thing (the Golfer is out-of-town.) The more I watched, the more I fell for this family. It's refreshing to see other parents losing their temper, rolling their eyes, and getting fed up in general.


I've finally figured out why I'm so drawned to watching this show--these people are real. They aren't perfect parents and they'll tell you as much. And the mere fact that they are raising 8 kids amazes me. I struggle with only having two.


Sure, the mom, Kate, gets on my nerves some times. She's a little too anal retentive and controlling. But you know what? I have a feeling that if cameras came into my house and started recording all of my parenting moves, I would probably get on peoples' nerves too.


These people are doing their best and I appreciate that. Even though they have 8 kids, they seem to know each one of them so well. They recognize their kids differences and celebrate each kid for who they are. It made me wonder whether or not I do that with my two.


The Cheese stopped running around in his Storm Trooper costume long enough to ask me, "Why do they have 8 kids?"


"Because that's how many God blessed them with."

"Why don't we have 8 kids?"

"Because God knows better," I told him.