I‘ve heard it 100 times – “You should write a book.”  Really?  You think I should write a book? The one who refused to take AP English and had settle for B+’s and A-’s on every “non-AP” English paper I ever wrote in high school?  No thanks, I’ll pass on that.  Plus, writing a book isn’t on my bucket list.  Perhaps when I’m a bit older, wiser and even more exhausted than I already am now, I’ll do it.  But for now, I’ll see how blogging goes.

Questions that must be answered: Who the heck am I and what is “5 under 5.com”?

I’m a low 30′s-something parent with 5 kids.  Just a short 19 months ago, I had two daughters, ages 4.5 and 1.5, when my set of triplet sons arrived.  For awhile, I had 5 kids under 5 years of age.  I can remember nearly every NICU nurse we encountered would say “Oh my goodness, 5 under 5, how will you do it?” or “Hey Nurse [insert Kathy/Nancy/Sue/Jen], this couple has 5 kids under 5 years old!”.  If I met anyone new while I was travling with a friend, I was always introduced as the mother with 5 kids under 5 years old.  Queue the looks of sympathy and “thank goodness I’m not you!”.   I’m still standing, happily married with 5 kids.  They aren’t perfect, nor am I, but I think we’re doing alright.  Plus, now I just have 5 kids under age 7, which is way easier than 5 under 5, especially given that 3 of them are toddler boys with boundless energy and an insatiable thirst for daring adventures in climbing and destruction (insert sarcastic tone). 

There are thousands of parenting blogs out there, but my goal is to talk about the business of parenting on 5 under 5.  I’m a CPA that specializes (or I should say, used to specialize) in risk management and internal controls.  Isn’t that what parenting is about? Managing risk, evaluating and implementing controls, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best? That was my old life for close to 10 years.  I still do some consulting here and there, but not as much as I used to, or would like to.  Some days the lack of intense mental stimulation drives me up a wall and other days, I look myself in the mirror and just feel thankful that I don’t have to put on a business suit and do my hair and make-up to drive 3 hours in the car for a 25 minute client meeting.

Having 5 under 5 doesn’t make me an expert in anything except how to function on no sleep and how to perfect the art of deep breathing.  So let’s talk kids, business, how they relate, and what makes sense in this world and what doesn’t.  What do you want to talk about? admin@5under5.com