Mother of five is an extra special mom

By DONNA JACOB

Staff Reporter

MONTZ – &#8220She does a little too much,” says Dylan Duhe about his mom, Maurie Duhe of Montz.

The mother of five children manages to work a full-time job, maintains the family home and also finds time to escort her children to all of their extra-curricular activities. This busy mom deserves a lot of gratitude this Mother’s Day.

Duhe is married to Scott Duhe and they have five children, Chandler, 11, Dylan, 10, Jordan, 8, Brendon, 7, and Bryce, 5. A native of Lutcher, she has a master’s degree in psychology and works for Hammond Developmental Center in Hammond. She works with people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

Her day begins very early and ends very late. She says the only way she can make her career and family life all work out is by doing a lot of planning, organizing and preparing most everything in advance. Duhe usually prepares meals to be heated up later and makes sure everything her family needs is laid out the day before.

Her oldest daughter, Chandler, often helps by heating up dinner in the oven before her mother gets home. Duhe says, &#8220She is like the second mom around here.”

Husband Scott gets home earlier than his wife and makes sure the children are getting their homework done and takes care of as much as he can. &#8220He helps out a great deal and I couldn’t do it without him,” says Duhe.

The couple maintains a hectic schedule from Monday through Saturday. Chandler and Bryce attend dance class and all the children attend religion class on Mondays and four of their five children attend baseball practice on Tuesdays through Saturdays. Baseball practice is often a challenge since two children have practice at the Eastbank park and the other two have practice on the Westbank. The family splits up, with mom taking half the children to one game and dad taking the other half to the children to the second game.

Though things normally go well, Duhe said that sometimes things still get a little crazy. Recently, the couple had one of their split up games to attend. The family all gathered together at the Eastbank ballpark where the first game was to be held. When it came time for the father to leave to go to the Westbank game, Duhe thought their middle child, Jordan, had left with his father.

Following practice, Duhe left with her two children to meet up with her husband at the Westbank park. To her surprise, she learned Jordan was not with his father and returned to the Eastbank park to search for her son. The independent child, who has the reputation of wandering off, was once again located.

Duhe says, &#8220That is what it is like when you have five kids. You are always having to take inventory of them to make sure they are all there.”

Another challenge the family has endured was when their youngest child, Bryce, was born. Duhe’s husband and their four children all stayed in her hospital room. They gathered sleeping bags, blankets and pillows and spread out all over the floor.

She recalls, &#8220I can still remember the nurses having to step over them on the floor during the night when they came to check in on me. But they all came to be a part of it and be there for me.”

Each of her children has their own special reason for loving her the way they do. &#8220She’s the best mom in the whole world,” says her oldest child Chandler, and continues by singing, &#8220She’s funny, she’s neat, she’s my mommy.”

Second in line is Dylan who says, &#8220She makes the best cakes.”

Jordan, the middle child, says, &#8220She takes really good care of all of us.”

Second to youngest, Brendon, says, &#8220Mom gives the best haircuts.”

And the youngest, Bryce, says, &#8220She plays dolls with me and even baby-sits them for me. She’s the sweetest mom ever.”

Husband, Scott, says, &#8220The greatest thing about my wife is that she is so patient with the kids. I would be lost without her.” He added, &#8220We have been together for so long and everything just works out because we work so well together. We both do our share. If we had more money we could have another five kids.”