playing vs clean home

Being a parent is tough. I always knew it would be but I never realized I would be a "neat freak" when it comes to our home. I honestly stress a LOT about dishes in the sink, clothes in the laundry room, bed not made, and toys everywhere. I feel the NEED to have things clean and organized at all times and I feel like it's my responsibility to have it done. So when a toddler and a baby come into the picture I struggle finding a good balance between playing and cleaning. I am recently finding that Cooper's tantrums and whining moments ease with a little bit more one on one time with him. This made me think about how much time I was actually putting into playing vs. cleaning. So this week I have put cleaning off for nap time and after bedtime and Cooper's been so much happier! I may feel a bit more overwhelmed and stressed but I am working on the whole "don't worry about it" part of cleaning.


I came across this quote on someone else's blog. I thought it was perfect for my week...


“Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach. T. Berry Brazelton. Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with ‘Goodnight Moon’ and ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.” Then she goes on and talks about some of the mistakes she made while raising her babies. “…the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make…I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of [my children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”

--Anna Quindlen