Mom of 7 Under 9 Goes Viral for Sharing Morning Routine Weeks After Welcoming Twins (Exclusive)
The family of nine has a system that works for them, so well that Mom can handle a solo day weeks after welcoming twin boys
Alexa Smith is a mom of seven under the age of 9, including newborn twins
The mom of seven shared what her solo morning looks like after her husband, a police officer, was called into work
Alexa tells PEOPLE what the support for her big family and their lives has meant to her
A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.
That's the opinion of Alexa Smith, @alexamsmith7 on TikTok, who has gone viral for sharing scenes from her life as a mom of seven little ones under the age of 9.
Alexa tells PEOPLE she first started sharing her mom life on social media last year, when the family of seven learned they'd be welcoming twins.
"We had four daughters and a son and thought, 'Oh, this will be great. Maybe our son will get a brother and if not, we love having baby girls.' It was a win-win for us. Then I had the ultrasound and found out it would be twins," Alexa tells PEOPLE.
"That shook everything up for us because we were going from five to seven. Even six kids is a lot, but it was just trying to fathom having two newborns instead of one. I noticed that there just wasn't a huge presence on social media of parents with seven kids," she continues.
"I thought maybe I could be that person for somebody else. This is a whole new experience for me. I try to figure it out as I go and show other people that it's daunting, but it's not as daunting as it may seem. It's actually a lot of fun."
Alexa and her husband, a police officer, are parents to four girls, two who are turning 3 and 5, as well as a 6½-year-old and 8-year-old. They have three sons: an almost 2-year-old and 8-week-old twins.
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In her now-viral video, Alexa can be seen starting her day early in order to get out the door by 8:40 a.m for soccer practice. Starting at 6:40, she gets up and gets herself and her twins together before waking up the older kids. The mom notes that tidying up as she goes "really helps keep my mental health in check."
Next, the video shows Alexa getting snacks together for the outing. She feeds the twins again before loading everyone into their 15-passenger van.
"We're still trying to figure out what car seat configuration is best, which is a challenge with so many kids in different types of car seats, but we'll figure it out eventually," she says.
"Doing all of this really made me miss my husband because I realized how big of a help he is when we do stuff like this together."
Thankfully, it all went smoothly, with the family getting to the soccer field on time.
Alexa tells PEOPLE that a lot of planning goes into making her mornings move smoothly.
"When I know that my husband's going to be working — he goes in at 6:00 a.m., so he would have to wake up super early in order to help me out in the morning — I know the night before, we just get as much prep as we can done. Whether that's school lunches and water bottles, signing papers that need to be signed, anything that can be done ahead of time," she explains.
"We've done our best to teach our daughters, at least our oldest three, how to do their own routines so they know what to do at night to get themselves ready for the morning. They've learned that on the days when we did not prepare, it is just a frazzled mess," the mom continues.
"If I tell myself, 'I'll just wake up early and do it in the morning,' that never gets done. I will always snooze the alarm," she admits with a laugh.
"The planning is the most important part and then I plan to plan. It's a constant cycle of writing things down or figuring out where I need to be. We have a Google Calendar and we use every single color on the Google Calendar — every kid has a color, we have a color, everything has a color. It's a lot of planning, which sounds very tedious and kind of can be."
Alexa acknowledges that none of this is easy, especially now that all her children are so young.
"The most challenging thing is definitely their ages. Even my 8-year-old, she still has a lot to learn about the world. People don't realize, even with seven kids, I'll always be a first-time mom where she's concerned," she shares.
"Trying to manage all of their emotions, which can be all over the place because they're so young, and trying to weave that into our everyday life can be a challenge," Alexa continues.
"We just do our best to go with the flow. The most rewarding thing is definitely that, truthfully, all of my kids are the best of friends," the proud mom shares. "They love to play together. They don't know any different. My oldest has just gradually been given a new best friend every couple of years, and it goes down to the younger ones."
She also notes, "It's not just my number one and my number two, or my number two and my number three. It's how number one loves number five or how number two loves number six. There's so much love. It's just an overabundance of love, if there is such a thing."
As the family has grown, especially with the addition of the twins, Alexa is proud her big kids "took it in stride." She's also proud she and her husband have found a way to make things work for them in this busy season of life.
"We have strict bedtime schedule. Number five is in bed by 7:30, and then the two little girls are in bed by 8 and then the big girls are in bed by 8:30. We stagger them to give everyone some time with us. They go to bed early enough where we have time to feed the babies and put them to bed," she says.
"Then we have a couple of hours to watch a TV show or chat. That has been something that we both have been able to keep a high priority."
While the mom of seven admits she has a "hard time finding time" for herself, she keeps perspective on what her life is like at the moment.
"It looks different for everybody and people will tell me what I should do or how I should do it. I just remind myself that it's not going to be like this forever. One day, it'll be my turn to go do stuff. But for now, I'm busy trying to keep my seven kids alive and fed and happy. And I'm okay with that."
Alexa was relieved to see that her community on TikTok has been supportive, acknowledging that's not everyone's experience.
"More often than not, people are just marveling at the fact that I'm doing what I'm doing with seven kids. Everybody has just been really supportive and telling me to keep going, keep sharing. It's been a welcome change because motherhood can be so lonely," Alexa says.
"To find other women who are experiencing some of the same things that I'm going through, or if nothing else, finding other women who are actually rooting for me and other moms on TikTok. That's just not something you find every day in the real world."
She candidly continues, "I hope that people who see other moms on TikTok trying to put themselves out there and be vulnerable and share their lives — whether it's to make money or to be relatable — just give them a chance. It takes nothing to throw a mom a 'Good job!' or tell them that they're rooting for them."
"I don't think people realize how much it means to us when we are getting validation for what we do. Sometimes you're questioning everything — we all have those intrusive mom thoughts. Anytime I feel any sort of support, it just diminishes that doubt little by little."
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