I babysat for a friend this morning, so I had the toddler and an eleven-month old. The toddler was so excited when she came over, exclaiming, “Can we keep her?” By lunch he changed his tune. “I don’t like her.” Nice. And I don’t like you, buddy. (I’m kidding. Sort of. Don’t send me hate mail.)
Holy cow, I’m tired.
A few days ago, my friend, Em, asked a question on facebook. When do you clean? Or something like that. We all chimed in with our schedules and routines, but this woman has an almost three-year old and a six month old. Honestly. I wonder now, was she really asking us, how the hell do you ever do anything?
Because that’s how I felt today. Like I couldn’t even pee, let alone sweep the floor.
Things got really interesting when I tried to put the baby down for her morning nap. I was rocking her and just as she dozed off, the Toddler ran up the stairs and yelled, “Can I get myself a drink?”
“Sure.”
The baby’s eyes popped open.
A few minutes later, the same thing happened.
“Can I have a snack?”
“Yes. You can have a snack.”
The baby was wide awake. I finally gave up on the whole nap thing and we came back downstairs. And found this.
That would be a leftover baked potato. What a great snack, don’t you think? I mean, why go for the apples on the counter or the actual snack box in the pantry when you can have a cold, leftover baked potato?
And the drink? Don’t take the sippy cup of milk in the side door of the fridge. Go ahead and pour blue kool-aid all over the floor.
Perfect.
So, Em? I’m officially changing my answer to your question in light of the day I had today. When I had two very small children in my house, as I did today, I didn’t get much cleaning done. I just did the best I could every day, and that was that.
When the baby’s mom came to pick her up this afternoon, I breathed a sigh of relief. She’s still alive and in one piece and on her way home. And then I remembered my own motto, or shall we say goal, when the twins were small:
Everyone alive at the end of the day.
Sometimes that’s good enough.
5 comments:
haha! Yeah it is more like how do you get anything done? Like why do people have clean houses with little children? Do they tie them up? Ava has ditched nap time all together so I don't get a break from the destruction. I said once that I can't leave her alone for a second or she will try to burn the house down. She hasn't actually tried, but she definitely destroys things just by trying to be independant.
I showered at the gym last week, just to do it alone and in silence.
I felt like I got a lot done today because I folded up two loads of laundry and picked up the play room. Today was a good day.
Stay-at-home moms are way too hard on themselves sometimes. It's not cleanliness that's next to godliness--it's love. Kids are right now. Cleaning can wait. All the kids in your care are blessed, Llama Momma!
Thanks. As a woman with a 3 year old and a 7 month old (and a husband who complains about the house a whole lot more than is good for him), I appreciate hearing this today. It's not just me.
Since my house is almost always wrecked, I have been asking this same question: WHEN DO MOMS CLEAN? At playgroup, the consensus was: we do it instead of sleeping the night before the playgroup comes over.
I need to host playgroup soon. My house is waaaay out of control.
Wow. Some days I'm thankful to have only one! Haha! I clean when he is occupied. I don't know how I'd clean with another one underfoot, though. My kudos to moms of 2 or more!
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