track is their hands-on dad. “Greg and I make a good team, and I couldn’t handle my day without him,” she says, just before acknowledging their secondary key to survival—organization. Five of the kids are involved in two after-school activities, in addition to
placed the child there. She moves on to do other things in the house and not only forgets the child, but also often forgets what the punishment was to begin with. “I’ll leave Greg home with the kids but forget to tell him that one is punished. I’m gone for a couple of
weekly religion classes, so Lisa keeps a master calendar that lists everyone’s activities. The kids are also used to a very fixed schedule at home. Weekday bedtime is 8 p.m. sharp, when the house “shuts down” to allow her quiet time with her husband (or with a pile of needed-to-be-folded laundry). “My friends say I’m too strict at times, but the kids always know what’s going on without too many surprises, which makes for happy kids.” She also says giving her kids independence is not only a necessity in their home, but an added help to the family as a whole. Lisa laughs when she admits that her four-year-old knows how to make microwave macaroni. “But with six kids, that’s all they know—to help themselves—or they would be sitting around waiting on us. We are very nurturing, but we don’t hold their hand for things they can truly do themselves.” Lisa learned to create a successful balance own mother, a pediatrician who left private practice to work in a more flexible hospital setting in order to spend more time with her family. “Having my own dental practice allows me to set my own schedule where I can pick the kids up from school four days a week and take them to all their activities,” she notes. “Family is so important, and I like spending every moment I can with them. My greatest hope is that when the kids are all grown they will want to come back home every Sunday for family dinner.” Of course, even though life sounds perfect in the Pellegrini household, there are times when Lisa admits being a busy mom takes its toll. Several such times have come when one of the kids needs to be disciplined. Lisa puts the child in “time out,” which is a designated room just off the living room that has no door. The child is placed on a chair in the room for an amount of time based on his or her age. The arrangement works great—until Lisa forgets that she
photo: ABBY SANDS MILLER www.abbyphoto.com
between motherhood and career by watching her
hours, and when I get home, the kid is still in there and has fallen asleep waiting for me to get them. Or sometimes, the other siblings have walked by the room and asked me why someone is in there and I play it off like I didn’t forget and giggle inside knowing that I did it again!”
Lisa Pellegrini.
An Educated Success Mandeville’s Sharon Leumas is a mom who’s lived the lives of the previous three women and is living to >> M AY- J U N E 2 0 1 1
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