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My Favorite Things

  • Naptime
  • Caffeine in various forms
  • Italy
  • The Beach
  • Family camping trips
  • The gym
  • Storytime at the Library
  • Rachael Ray
  • Running

Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Mess


Did you ever see the episode of Friends where Ross dates Rebecca Romijn and she's a huge slob? That's my house. I realized the other day that my house is a friggin' pigsty. And since I am a stay at home mom, and therefore spend my whole day in squalor, something must be done. Right now, looking up from the computer, I see the following:
-coffee table covered in 1 stuffed Abby Cadabby, 1 container of trail mix which is spilling onto the floor, and handprints possibly made of yogurt,
-carpet that is stained with strawberries and also covered in aforementioned trail mix,
-Captain Destructo's play kitchen which contains about 15 million tiny pieces of plastic food, half of which are scattered on the floor.

The problem of the dirty house has several roots. First of all, whatever cleaning schedule I had got shot completely when New Baby came along. Now I feel all my cleaning energy is focused on necessary things like laundry and before you know it, a week goes by and I'm all "when's the last time I cleaned the toilets? Oh yeah, 2 WEEKS AGO." Secondly, I have a 2 year old tornado known as Captain Destructo. This is actually her nickname around our house as she has an ability to destroy the most indestructible of objects. Often I don't discover that she has destroyed them until days later when I trip over a 15 year old formerly glued together puzzle piece. Also, her new favorite game is "changing Elmo's stinky diaper" which apparently involves both taking every single wipe out of the container and throwing it onto the floor and smearing Desitin all over every exposed surface in her room. Finally, I let her eat snacks in the living room. I am a pushover.

So, I know the problem, but it is driving me nuts that I can't stay on top of it. When I sit on the couch and nurse New Baby, I watch Captain D. make a huge mess and I'm powerless to stop it. She's getting better about cleaning up after she plays but she and I have apparently vastly different standards of cleanliness.

So, help out there!! How do you keep your houses clean? Or am I doomed until they graduate high school?

Off to vacuum up some trail mix.

4 comments:

  1. I could have written this. My oldest will be 3 in July, and my new baby is 7 weeks old. I totally understand that feeling of powerlessness! I have found that if I just stare at the baby's face or my laptop screen, I don't notice the mess so much. :)

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  2. I say it is worth it to hire someone to come in and clean 2X a month. Like the toilets and such. Just until you are done nursing. If you can find someone cheap enough that is. Good luck and keep it up!

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  3. I think you're doing a great job, Kristin! I know it's totttallllly overwhelming, and I agree-- when my home is not in order (or at least some semblance of order), I feel like my brain is all wacky, too. I would just encourage you to show yourself some grace. You have a lot on your plate right now (strawberries?? trail mix??), and I think it's important to remember that you're staying at home for the purpose of being a mom to your sweet girls. Of course the other stuff goes hand-in-hand, but when we women make the choice to quit our jobs, it is for the purpose of nurturing young lives for Christ, not just being housekeepers. So if the toilet gets scrubbed, great. If not, you've still chosen the higher road. You're doing an awesome job.
    That said, I think one thing that has really helped me is to try to keep the toys to a minimum. Don't get me wrong-- we still have a lot of crap (and I am not implying that you have too much, just that many families do). I try to be purposeful about getting rid of stuff often, and even encouraging friends and families not to get the girls presents for birthdays/holidays (I know that sounds harsh, but if they aren't used to getting 654654354 toys for Christmas, they won't expect it...) and replacing it with an "experience"-- going out to ice cream, etc. Just a thought.
    Or else you could possibly train Molly to scrub toilets. :)

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  4. I have this exact same problem. I'm a stay at home mom to four kids aged 6, 4, 20 months and 3 months. Most days I feel like pulling my hair out because I just clean in circles. I clean and the litte ones follow behind messing up what I just tackled. Very frustrating. I feel like a failure most days but I know I should just cut myself some slack. I do my best and that's all I can do. Give yourself a break until they are older. I do like the suggestion of fewer toys, though. I just recently decluttered my girls' room and it is much easier to keep semi neat. Plus, without so many play things in there they get bored and go destroy another area of the house.

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