Routine

I wasn’t meant to be domestic, I think. I’m not a tidy person by nature, and I’m lazy. But I firmly believe that with effort, people can change . . . which is why I’m trying very hard right now to implement a cleaning routine. I love it when my house is clean – but it seldom is. At this point, I’ll be satisfied with the expected mess that comes with little kids, rather than the overwhelming mess generated by laziness and a lack of order.

I get discouraged really easily, so I often try to tackle an entire at once, end up staying up late to finish, and get burned out, which means I especially don’t want to clean anything ever again. With that in mind, I started this past week by clearing out my storage cupboard and sorting through all of the kids’ toys. I could sit down while I went through toys, and the kids were so happy to see the things I’d stashed in my closet for the past few months that they were only minimally disruptive. Today I cleaned my bathroom, throwing out lotions and expired medicines, moving the not-kid-friendly things up to a top shelf, and reorganizing the cabinets so we can actually get to the things we use most. Then, of course, there was a lot of wiping down and cleaning and taking out trash. And then I tackled my bedroom.

I’d actually made a deal with Jarom at Christmastime that he’d help me get the bedroom completely clean and keep it tidy for 3 weeks. We’ve worked on it a little at a time on the weekends, but today I got it to the point where there’s a box of stuff to donate, costumes that need a storage box, a few things to go in the shed or cellar, and Jarom’s stuff that I didn’t know what to do with. I even cleaned off the pencil marks from where June scribbled on the door shortly after we moved in. Now if I can get these last few things cleared out, I’ll just need to do quick pick-up every night and then make the bedroom/bathroom a once-a-week deep cleaning.

This is a great theory, of course . . . we’ll see how it goes in practice.

Third

I had a second ultrasound this morning to confirm that yes, there is a tiny parasitic human being squirming around in there. Not surprisingly, given what my other kids are like, this one flipped over at least 3 times in 5 minutes.

I know that I was very vocal about wanting to stop at two kids. But what it came down to, for both Jarom and me, was that Evan and June are just so much fun – we wanted one more. We put a lot of thought into it; aside from the cost of adding another baby, having three kids is a lot different from having two. Jarom and I will be outnumbered. We’ll eventually have to get a (slightly) bigger car, though we’re going to cram three car seats in the back of our little car somehow. As a kid, Jarom worried that he – the third child – would be left behind if his family won a “family of 4” sweepstakes. And, given how close Evan and June are in age, this new addition will be a little bit of an outsider.

But, in the end, we decided that we’ve had good luck getting great kids so far, and we’re willing to push that luck. Just a little.

I anticipate a high air conditioning bill next summer, since I’m due at the beginning of August.

P.S. This blog was around when I announced my first and second pregnancies, too.

Apology

Dear parenting experts,

I’m sorry for letting my kids watch so much tv today. Here’s the deal: June woke up 3 or 4 times last night, and at 5:30 this morning she was done sleeping. I was definitely not done sleeping, and 5:30am is one of those grey areas – I’m in charge of the kids during the night, while Jarom gets up with them in the morning – where I didn’t think it would be nice to make Jarom wake up, even though in summer it would be starting to get light already. So I bundled June up on the couch with blankets and pillows, a bowl of dry cereal, and her cup of milk. I let her pick something on Netflix and I went back to bed.

Every time I’d woken up to help June in the middle of the night, my throat was scratchy and burning. There’s been a nasty inversion here for a few weeks, and I think I caught a bug from Evan; I meant to get the humidifier out last night, but I forgot. This morning – when it was really morning, not 5:30 – I felt miserable. I’ve more or less been hanging out in bed all day. Lack of energy + not enough sleep + poor sleep + sick = I’m just going to leave the tv on for a while.

And I won’t feel (very) bad about it. So I guess I’m not really sorry, after all.

Sincerely,

Tired Mom