Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Stay At Home Chaos

It's official. I really stink at this stay-at-home-mom thing. Helen is into her fifth week of life so, in my opinion, a routine should be in place, or at least a general routine. So, for the last few days, this has been my to do list:
  1. Buy new humidifier for Helen's room (she has the sniffles)
  2. Buy storage caps for Dr. Brown's bottles in prep for work in a few weeks.
  3. Get china out of storage at parent's house
  4. Find place to store china in our house
  5. Change sheets on all beds
  6. Bleach and scrub bathroom tub and tile
  7. Mop kitchen floor and bathroom floor
  8. Finish laundry
  9. Lose 20 pounds.
  10. Shop for groceries
  11. Vacuum

Let's see, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 are complete. However, I'd like to note that 6 was a necessity, since Little Philip added "new toys" to his bubble bath tonight rather than ask to get out and sit on the potty. The china is in all those cute little storage containers all over our dining room table as I've not found the time or space to move it yet. I've had to redo a load of laundry as it sat in the washer so long it soured. Dishes are piled high either in the sink or on counters. The floors were mopped Sunday but are already nasty again, making me wonder how I ever let Little Philip down there when he was first crawling. Toys are in every room all over the floors, and clothes no longer are separated into dirty or clean on beds and dressers. I just grabbed them all and put them in the dirty clothes, which only made the laundry situation worse. I'm sick as a dog from the dust and pollen this year, and poor little Helen has the same problem being a spring baby. This is why I bought a new humidifier for her room. Whenever I'm sick like this, I get a bit obsessive about cleaning and I can't get it done!

The house is a complete wreck and I can't seem to find the time to keep the house clean! How the heck to other people do this? I've been to friends homes over the past few weeks, friends that are willing to be themselves for play dates so I know they aren't frantically cleaning on account of my coming over. Their homes are orderly and clean. Philip and I were talking over dinner tonight and he thinks it is because our house is so small, exactly 1400 square feet. If we had a bigger house to spread out, we'd probably have the same amount of furniture but have more storage and places to "live" vs. keep clean. He may have a point but moving up in house is out of the question. Besides, this house was built in the 1940s and back then, families with two or more children grew up in this house. We should live within our means and be able to do it as well. Still, I long for a basement activity room with a hidden stairwell where I would be able to hide the mess and let the children play.

I'm up for suggestions and definitely up for any how-to books anyone can recommend for my sanity!

3 comments:

Eric and Sarah said...

When you find out how to do it, let me know! We have 1200 sq. feet and today when I was almost sent to glory by a lego left on the hardwoods, I had visions of carpet in my future...

Emory's favorite Sunday morning toys when she was crawling were, um, should we say the crinkly paper of certain products one only needs once a month. I lived in fear of Eric inviting someone over for dinner without checking with me and arriving to see tampons strewn all over.

"Max Whale" said...

Ok,Ok, I'm sorry my house wasn't more of a disaster for you! :-) I will say that the bigger it is, the more stuff you do put in it--really you do... However, I have gotten rid of stuff, most recently before the new carpet. Check out the blog for photos of my chaos with the carpet.... Helen is brand new....come and check out my place say, Mid September, and let's see how we're doing :-) You'll get the hang of it--I promise or I'll have to share my sick obsession of loving to organize things come help you!

Robin Stevens said...

Of course it's messy at your house...three people are there all day everyday and as soon as one mess gets cleaned up, another one gets made! My suggestion is to relax and enjoy this time at home with your kids and just concentrate on doing the next thing, not a whole list of things. Five weeks is still really young and you're supposed to be resting, young lady! It'll all get done, I promise! Are you employing little Philip to help you clean up? He is perfectly capable you know!
--Robin Stevens