Just a few random, unorganized and crazy thoughts from this frazzled mama......
I seem to be in a bit of a nesting mode here lately. It almost began as quickly as my pregnancy did. I began to tell Hubbie- over and over again- about our need for order, structure, organization and overall HELP! This pregnancy, like I've said, scares me more than any other. Well, maybe not more than Bubbie's, because I didn't know what to expect, but this one.... boy! I feel like I'm out in left field with my hands up in the air to God saying "Ok, Lord. Here I am. Help!" and to be honest, I'm probably EXACTLY where God wants me. On my hands and knees daily (sometime multiple times a day) begging Him for answered prayers, wisdom and provisions.
So, in an effort to keep my mind occupied, I have begun to try to simplify life. I tend purge a lot throughout the year when I get tired of tripping over things or picking toys up OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Our house is small, we have our fair share of furniture and very little storage, so we gotta make this home work. I started before December. With two little boy's birthdays AND Christmas, its a lot of stuff in a short amount of time, which isn't really fair to the kids, I suppose, but oh well, tis life, so I gave Bubbie a choice of train sets. We had purchased a space wooden train set off craigslist for him for a Christmas present and we already had a huge trunk of wooden trains, 2 big tubs of take-along-trains AND track master trains. He had wanted a new track master set of trains for his birthday, so came to the decision that take alongs needed to go, so that was 2 tubs out of his closet. Then we moved on to Hotwheels. My child LOVES Hotwheels and I just wish I did too. None of the sets are easy for kids. There are a million different pieces and its just a burden to try to store in our tiny closets. We went through his basket of them and purged the majority of them. I hated doing it and it was really the only thing that he protested a tiny bit..... He LOVES them.... but we had already purchased a new car set off craigslist that he LOVES to look at when we go in a specialty toy store nearby, so we knew he'd have SOMETHING to play with.
Next up came the playroom. The playroom is something Hubbie and I debate on a monthly basis. Do we keep it? Are we giving the kids too much? We end up cleaning it, so why let them have such a privilege? Neither one of us had a playroom and we survived with toys in our rooms, etc. We could use that room for quite a few other things, but it always comes down to space and keeping the toys out of the living area, so we cave and keep the room as is. So, the next best solution was to downsize the room. In came tubs! I saw on a blog on Monday that Lowes had 18 gallon tubs discounted to $2.50 a piece and you could pick them up at the store and save on shipping! Score! I ordered 7 in hopes that only 4 would be used for the playroom. I got busy on Tuesday morning, dividing all the puzzles, games and books. I tried to keep out all the new things that the kids had just gotten and put things that they hadn't really touched in a while in the tubs. I eliminated a whole shelf system that had been used for toy storage. YAY! We have an oversized chair in the room with an ottoman that I think, if we replaced with something a little smaller, would definitely with space, but for now, the fact that we COULD fit a swing or saucer in the playroom is making this Mama feel very good!
Last week I went through the boys winter storage and purged anything that I didn't LOVE. I keep because I think "Oh my gosh! I have 3 boys(perhaps 4) that will need to wear winter clothing and if I got this as a hand-me-down, I need to keep it, etc.) but I'm learning that God will always provide our needs and to keep things that I don't like or love is silly, because its wasted on us.....I won't put it on the kids and it'll sit in the drawers until the kids pull it as their last clean item. So, I went through and gathered those items and went through the Christmas stuff. Anything that I don't LOVE and didn't come out this year, is going in the yard sale!
The next step is laundry! The more I talk to friends about the laundry struggle, the more I realize that I am not alone! Thank goodness for truthful friends! I step into people's homes and it all looks clean and everything is finished and tidy, but I'm finding out that that is what we WANT our friends to see! Ask to see the master bedroom and I will refuse! Its where everything goes when we don't have time to do it especially if company is coming over! Am I embarrased? Slightly.... but ya know what? I'm learning that if someone thinks ill of me because I have two laundry baskets FULL of laundry that has needed to be ironed and hung up for....hmmm.... a month..... then they can offer to come help me catch up! :o) I'm learning that I need to change my expectations of myself. When I just had Bubbie and Peanut, I could stay caught up on our chores and STILL have time for extra things, but that isn't my life. We have one more little one that destroys things faster than I could ever imagine one could and we are at home all day long. No day care. No mother's day out. No extra help! No time for me to be at home without any little ones up, awake and into things! (Yes, this is by choice, but still not exactly easy!)And with the addition of another little one, knowing that the majority of my time for the first 4 or 5 mos, will be spent feeding the babe, I need to change my expectations that life isn't going to be pretty or neat or tidy or clean.... BUT if I can make things more manageable NOW, then maybe we can cut down on the amount of stress that Hubbie and I feel with the load that we have now. So, what is your laundry solution? I've heard people say that since I am home all day, I should be able to keep up with laundry every day, all day long... well, frankly, I'm sad to inform THOSE that think that, but my two youngest ones keep me on my toes! If the second isn't asking for something to eat or drink every second of the day, then he is getting into something or screaming or needing a butt wipe. And if he is occupied for about 2 seconds, then the youngest one wants me to sing "E-I-E-I-O" for the upteenth time or read his Curious George book AGAIN! My only free moments are when Buggy is down for nap and most of the time, I'm still tending to the older ones EVEN WHEN I say "rest time!".... so free moments for me to do ANYTHING are few and far between which means laundry is left undone. Oh and the idea of doing laundry EVERY SINGLE DAY makes my skin crawl... so I gotta make this work. Maybe laundry 2 days out of the week. One day I do whites, socks and towels and the other dark, catch up, etc. Any ideas?! How do you stay on top of laundry?!
This whole experience of preparing for a fourth blessing is definitely like an out-of-body experience. I want things to happen a certain way and in a certain time and I'm learning AGAIN that I have no control. I must make do with what we've been given and in the time frame that we've been blessed with....... I have no control. Why is this so hard to learn?!
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5 thoughtful comments:
Girl we are so alike! I feel like I could have written this exact post (with the exception of girls and 1 less child). I'm very lucky that my 2 girls do go to MDO so I have about 9 hours a week to myself... although those days I usually spend running errands, lunch with a friend or granny, doctors appts or volunteering at church. But no complaints. :) Anyway, we too are organizing like no other! WIsh I had a solution for the laundry too... I typically do laundry every few days otherwise it gets too backed up. My house always looks picked up, but not necessarily clean. Just do what you can. One day when our kiddos are big we will wish they were little again... maybe :)
I'm probably no help at all with the laundry thing because I like to do laundry so it isn't a struggle for me. I do laundry every day because it our laundry room is small and doesn't have room for the laundry to build up. I do the laundry and fold it almost straight out of the drier, but the kids are responsible for putting it away. What they can't do, they put on my bed. Once it is on my bed, I make it a priority to not move the piles but to put it straight away or I'll forget or keep putting it off.
The thing is...this is how it works for me, but God has a way of surprising us. I was so worried about having a 5th and then she came along and is just the easiest, happy baby. Three kids was way harder than this! What you worry about how, God already has under control.
I was just talking with Tim last night about our laundry! I hate that I never have time to get them folded and if by chance I do manage to get them folded, then getting them put away never happens. Our Master bedroom is the hide away spot too. No one ever sees that room because usually my king size bed is covered in laundry....COVERED not just one or two loads, more like 13 loads! When company isn't coming over then my chaise is hidden under clothes!
And the playroom......again I was just thinking of doing away with it too. Why is it that my kids destroy the room and I am left to clean it up. Sure I can scold and punish my children for not cleaning up but it seems to do no good. Oh well the way I am learning to look at it is... this is such a short lived phase of life that I really do love, so I try to tell myself "when they are grown and I am alone in the house with Tim I will miss seeing evidence that my children were having fun playing". It helps for now, but not sure what to do when the teenage years come :)
I know you said that the thought of doing laundry every day makes your skin crawl, but that's how I stay on top of it. I do some form of laundry every day. Whether it's washing, hanging, putting away, etc, something is done each day. It takes just a little part of my day and I am, for the most part, able to stay on top of it. I find having only have one laundry basket keeps me from neglecting what needs to be folded and put away. Also, when the hampers in the rooms are full, I wash. I cannot stand ironing, therefore I iron when needed. Which is almost never. LOL The "Mandy Method of Ironing" is fabulous...wet your hands, pat on wrinkles, wa-lah. Pathetic, I know. :) Hope this helps.
I do some laundry everyday. Every 3 days, I take the hampers from the rooms and sort them into the laundry bins in the laundry room. I am way blessed to have a huge laundry space. They are labeled with what goes where so the hubby knows what to do to. Whenever a bin fills up we wash. I am bad about ironing, we iron on a need to wear basis- it works. Fluffing in the dryer with a damp towel works to if you fold it right after the dryer stops.
Congrats on #4!!
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