July 3, 2007

About cleaning and such

My cleaning plan looks great and organized on paper. I appear to be very 'together' and organized on my Day in the Life of Me post as well. Well, I guess in my brain I'm fairly organized, and I do have certain places in my house that are clutter free and organized.

But, remember I do have three daughters age 4,3, and 1...and they LOVE to destroy! If I give them a paper napkin, instead of actually using it to wipe their mouths they shred it, automatically without thinking. If they get crayons to color with, they peel the paper off and shred that then start throwing the crayons. They just naturally have a destructive force within! Blows my mind.

They are learning, I am teaching them at every opportunity and, was pleasantly surprised when Alexa, my three year old, took it upon herself to fold all the baby washcloths and bibs that I just throw in the drawer. It does rub off!

About cleaning the bedrooms- generally each morning after breakfast and getting dressed I have the girls tidy up toys and clothes, and help with making their beds. Then on the days I vacuum, I do the whole house, and the days I dust we do the same, so all the bedrooms get cleaned. Sometimes I do set aside some time to just work on the bedrooms- maybe I need to get rid of some worn out clothes, or wipe the windows, or reorganize the closet etc. Just as needed and as I can get to it. I still have a lot of organizing to do since we moved here in late March and just about everything under the sun has happened to us since then and there has been no time to do these things!

My advice Heather, would be to really work on getting your kids to do as much as possible. I'm sure that they can learn to neatly fix their beds and pick up clothes and toys, and as long as you show your appreciation and approval of a job well done (whether it's up to your standards or not) will make them want to keep doing it and with a good attitude. And sometimes, when things aren't going well, I just make a point to keep the main areas tidied and not worry about the bedrooms. When I was preggo, basically all I did was laundry, dishes, make beds, cook, and sweep/vacuum as needed. I think I cleaned bathrooms maybe a few times in 5 months :) Probably not the best thing, but with two other children under the age of two, that's all I could manage :)


Anyways, at present this is what my house looks like. We have had such a busy weekend and my husband got some surprise days off, so everything gets of whack then. I've been staying up too late and been all tired and sluggish. So, I'm letting everyone see what I usually try to hide- that I am human and not superwoman :)

2 comments:

Thirdtimemomma said...

I had to comment on this post! Its a wonderful post Mama! We are all human and none of us has it "all together" all at the same time. And IMO you have it pretty together for have 3 all 4 and under. Way to go! Do what you can, when you can. :) I heard an older mama with older kids say that it gets easier with time, even when you add more littles. Its the training them in the now that helps the later be easier. At least that's what Im banking on. :)

gentlebreeze said...

oh phew.....I'm so glad I'm not the only one that's human!!!!!!!! Thankyou for sharing some reality pictures! I'm all for honesty:)