I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about tonight, until I saw that Stacy commented on my New Year’s Resolutions post asking where I find the time to clean so much. I’m not sure if she meant the big stuff, like de-cluttering and cleaning the bedroom, bathroom, hallway, dinging room, etc in one day, or the continual stuff like wiping down the table and high chairs, washing the bibs and placemats and sweeping the floor after each meal.
On the big stuff, usually either Skip will hang out with the kids and I will go off and clean, or I will clean while the boys nap and Calista and Skip hang out. Calista is really good about letting us clean — she played outside while Skip cleaned out the garage this weekend.
As for the daily stuff… I know that if I do the little things right away, they won’t pile into big things that take a lot longer. Today, for example: I laid out Calista’s school clothes last night. This morning, I got up at 7 am and went to wake Calista. I brought her and her clothes to our bedroom. The boys woke up, so Skip and Calista were getting dressed while I nursed the boys. Skip took the boys downstairs and I had Calista brush her teeth and then I did her hair.
When Calista and I got downstairs, the boys were in their high chairs having a morning snack while Skip made his and Calista’s lunches. I made Calista and the boys breakfast and they all ate together.
When Calista was done eating, I sent her to put her shoes on and she watched some TV. Skip left for work at about 7:40 am and I cleaned the boys’ faces and hands and got them out of their high chairs. They ran around and played while I wiped down the table, then the high chairs. I washed the bibs and placemats and then swept the floor under the table with a hand broom. I put the placemats and bibs back out for the next meal, change the boys’ diapers, and then Calista’s ride to school arrived. That was 7:50 am.
I got her out the door and then had a bowl of cereal and checked my email at the same time while the boys fought/played some more. When I was done, I put my dishes in the dishwasher and played with the boys for about an hour. They were then ready for a snack, so I gave them a snack while they watched Super Why! at 9:00 am (I don’t know what it is about that show, but they love it). I had some computer time for about 20 minutes and when Super Why! was over, I took the boys upstairs for nap time.
They played a little bit upstairs as I stripped the sheets off of Calista’s bed and put a load of laundry in the washer and then they went down for nap time at about 9:45 am. I jumped in the tub and got a bath (I alternate shower/bath days, today was a bath day!) and read one chapter of the book I am reading while I soaked. I shaved, got washed and got out.
I brushed my teeth, got dressed, put on some makeup and did my hair (the makeup and hair is a fairly new routine for me as well). By then it was about 10:20 am, so I headed downstairs to have a little “me” time, which was spent checking email and then packing up various Barbie dolls that Calista has sold via my web site, ConnectedMoms.com.
At about 10:50 am, Nate was starting to wake, but I knew our nanny, K, would be over soon, so I let him play in his bed while I finished wrapping up the Barbies.
K arrived at about 11:15 am and got Nate who was still happily playing in his crib and then I made myself a sandwich, grabbed a Pepsi and headed up to my bedroom to work. I would work in my office, but I haven’t cleaned it up yet, so I went upstairs. I rather liked working up there and may continue doing so.
K stayed until 2:45 pm, and during that time she fed the boys lunch, cleaned up after them, played with them, changed them and gave them snacks. At 2:45, K and I loaded them into the car and we left to pick up Calista from school at 3:15 pm.
We dropped off the girl we car-pool with and got home at 4:00 pm. The boys nursed, then the kids played while I paid some bills. I started supper at 5:00 pm, played with the kids until 5:30 pm when Skip got home, and then dished up supper while Skip changed the boys’ diapers.
We ate and cleaned up after supper (same routine as cleaning up after breakfast), which I finished at about 6:30 pm. I spent some time with Calista working on a scrapbook of pictures of the Barbies she sold (a keepsake — ha ha!) and at 7:00 pm, we all headed upstairs to get the kids ready for bed.
Somewhere during the day I had put the laundry from the washer into the dryer, so when we got back upstairs, I folded and put away the dry laundry while Skip and the kids played. The kids all got changed into pajamas, and Calista did her reading homework with Skip while I nursed the boys.
I put the boys to bed at about 7:45 pm, went into Calista’s room and we read her a couple of stories and she was to bed by 8:15 pm.
Skip and I came downstairs, he put away the last of the dishes from supper and then made some brownies (yum!) and I hopped online to check my favorite web sites and play a little Webkinz (hee hee).
It’s now 9:41 pm and there is laundry in the wash, the dishwasher is running, there are fresh-baked brownies cooling on the stove and Skip is playing Nintendo Wii (Madden ’09) while I write this post.
I’ll play a little more Webkinz, play a little Nintendo Wii with Skip (probably Boom Blox) and then put the wash into the dryer, put the diapers into the washer, and go to bed at about 11:30 pm.
Man, I tired myself out writing all of that! It’s busy, but it feels good to know how much I got done and to have a somewhat clean house (I have more rooms to de-clutter, but it’s getting there!!).
I was talking about the decluttering. It took me weeks to declutter our back “junk room” that is going to be turned into guest/hangout room. We may eventually put a gaming system in there and a tv in a couple years. I only have one child who is 7 years old and can pretty much take care of the basics himself (when he wants to!). Last night I was trying to watch the evening news which is a ritual for me and was interrupted by my son and husband 6 times and that was with instructions to not say anything to me until the news was over. It’s only 30 minutes! Luckily I have DVR and can stop it so I don’t miss anything. But it is difficult to get 15 minutes untinterupted at anytime except when they are not here (like now!). I just put Logan on the bus and my husband is at work. I will leave for work in an hour. That morning time is the only time I get to do anything without hearing “Mama!”