Having a bad day? Your three young children are running circles around you; the dirty laundry pile is taller than your husband; you can’t answer the phone because it has been sucked into the vortex of toys that slammed into the playroom; oh, and lunch should have been made and served two hours ago… sound familiar? If you thought your day was challenging imagine the same scenario times three.
That’s right, three times the amount of children, three times the amount of laundry, and three times the amount of stress. It’s all in a day’s work for Ohio parents John and Jamie Schmiesing. But, for the Schmiesing’s, it’s not just that they are dealing with nine children—they are seeing double—not because of fatigue, but because they just welcomed their third set of twins into the world. That’s three sets of twins plus three other children under the same roof–nine children all under the age of seven. Whoa! I’m exhausted just thinking about what mealtime must be like for the eleven of them.
Now, I’m sure you know many families blessed with a lot of children. Our former neighbors have 12 children (one set of twins), but there is a two-year age difference between each child. What’s more, whenever I marveled at my neighbor’s ability to manage such a large brood, she would always remark that the older children were incredibly helpful in taking care of the younger ones. But, if you are the Schmiesing’s I doubt you have that luxury.
John and Jamie Schmiesing are dealing with newborn twins, two other sets of twins, and three additional children. Multiple joys, multiple challenges, multiple EVERYTHING! The couple recently told local newspaper reporters they always wanted a large family, but the chances of having three sets of twins in the same family is slim to none. Some call it miraculous, others call it crazy, but for Jamie Schmiesing, the busy mom who may trump us all when it comes to laundry, dishes and diapers well, she’s taking her situation in stride. She told local reporters that she is hoping Oprah will come to her rescue—and offer her a day out and a makeover.