First, I suggest you delegate no chores to the 6 week old   Second, I also have 6 and it sounds like you are doing an amazing job getting teenagers to help clean the house on a weekly basis on a Saturday at that!  Give yourself a thousand pats on the back.  If nothing else, you have given me the renewal of strength to delegate tasks to my unruly brood.

I hear you! I have two little ones a year apart, and I can never seem to get my weekly cleaning done in one day…was driving myself crazy trying to do it and then I re organized my week to include one cleaning job per day. I vacuum and mop on Mondays, clean all the mirrors and doors on tuesdays, dust on Wednesdays, etc. It works out fantastic..each job only takes about 15-20 min a day and by Friday I have a nice clean house!! Sure it isn’t all done on one day, but it still gets done and that’s the important part

I have an aunt who had nine children and she timed all her tasks, i.e. 20 minutes to clean the bathroom, 15 minutes to pick up, dust and vacuum the family room, etc. So, during the course of her day, she would know she had 15 minutes before she had to pick up a child or before someone awoke from a nap and do a “15 minute job” or a “10 minute job.” This is what worked for her. She’s 73 and I think she still cleans like this. I suppose if “it ain’t broke…..”

I relate to the “cleaning all the time” existence and frustration.  I was helped a bit by the book “Sink Reflections” which I think I mentioned in a similar previous post.  Also by delegating—-all my kids make their own beds starting at age 4 (may not be perfect but pull up the covers and “flip” your pillows) and putting away their own clothes which I fold and stack in piles.  At middle school, you start handling your own laundry.  We also started morning and evening routines…...everyone tidies their own room for 10 minutes, sets out tomorrows clothes, packs bookbags, and handles personal hygeine before reading & prayers.  Morning routines…...make beds, dress to your shoes (which are not lost and requiring a search because they were set out before bed!), personal hygeine again! and then one feeds cats/dog/or walks dog according to age, etc.  I have my own pm/am routines too!  Its made life run a whole lot smoother.  Other Flylady tips from the book or her website…...do daily swish & swipes of bathrooms when you are in them which cuts down on major timely bathroom cleaning (especially when you have multiple boys in the home!).....and my favorite tips of using 15 minute timed sessions to “just do something now”......routines really helped me and I’m an “anti-routine” “free spirit” by nature and have now found that those dreaded “routines” have given me…..freedom!  Good luck!  I also learned to clear clutter and cut down on “extras” (clothes/dishes/knick knacks/toys) so that there is less to clean and its easier to keep up with the house now.  Sometimes less is more!  I’ll pray for you (all of us house mommies) and remember its always tougher when there is a baby in the house and we’re tired.

Prayers I can do! And if I were anywhere near you, I’d do my best to help you get to Mass, no matter what it will take…pray a spiritual communion instead, ok? And your daughter’s name is beautiful—will be easy for me to remember.

Momof6. . .May the love of Jesus Christ & His Blessed Mother enfold you in their love & may the peace of Christ be with you. While pregnant and for a long time afterwards, I watched Mass on EWTN & the parish priest would send a homebound eucharistic minister to our home, so I could received our Lord in the Eucharist. Ask yourhusband to speak to the priest to see if a EM is available to you today.

Katherine Mary-Claire know the love & peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May your sufferings be blended with His to bring about the Glory of His Kingdom.

You dd (and the rest of you will be in my prayers tonight).  We had some hospitalizations for kids but nothing like you describe - and it was so stressful for everyone!  Just someone to throw your way…my ds used to get croup very frequently, well beyond the age it should have ended, and whenever someone got sick he would definitely catch it and be so much sicker than the others.  We found out a few years ago he had a dairy allergy.  Since removing dairy he is so much healthier and rarely gets sick (and when he does it’s no worse than anyone else).  Allergies can weaken the immune system.  My prayers are with you.  *my word is cold61* - ironic?