When are you going to have kids?

After getting married and moving in together, the most common question I get now is 'and when are you guys going to have kids?' to which I normally answer 'not for a good long time...I already have 13!'  Granted, the 13 kids I have 40 hours a week aren't technically MINE but I think that have 13 kids for 5 long days a week pretty much constitutes as them being partially mine right?

While not exactly the job a Marketing major saw herself doing, the kids, I will admit, are pretty adorable (when they aren't pooping, picking boogers and/or screaming).  Since I have started, I haven't written a blog to show you about the kiddos, so I thought one was in order.

From the moment I walk in the door to the moment I escape, I am positive I hear my name more times than a rockstar.  Here, the word for mom is 'ama' and grandma is 'amona', so 'Amanda' isn't much of a stretch for these babies!  From Amana to Mana or Manda, almost every child can say my name at all volume levels.  At the beginning of the course when all the kids were shouting my name for my attention, Begoña, my workmate, got a bit sad because no one was screeching her name.  The Ñ is quite hard for little tykes to say, and now she realizes she was kind of lucky.  Instead of hearing her name a million times a day, I am the 'fortunate' one.

Since the kids can't really talk, we have to rely on body language a lot to figure out what the kids are feeling/want.  It is with this body language that I can see that the kids, although they cannot say it, like Miss Amanda.  From hand-holding to cuddling to big running hugs, the kids know how to turn on the charm.  Some of thier smiles just melt your heart and make you want to squeeze thier cheeks like an old aunt.

However gratifying it is to have a little one grab your hand or run to you when they have pupa (owey in Spanish), I also think they are amazing birth control.  I always take a big breath of relief when I leave the school and have a few hours without top volume baby chatter.  But, each morning when I return a chorus of hellos and holas greet me along with a few hugs.  My most common hug fan is this little one, Daniela, who every morning like clockwork gives me a shy smile and then slowly comes towards me with her arms open for a hug.  Too cute!  Her twin brother, does the same.

So, caring for 13 kids at the same time is enough baby time for me right about now.  Wish I could write that on a sandwich board and wear it around so I stop getting asked the same question!

Muxu!
Amanda