We have finally decided to hire a cleaning service. Helpful blog readers, would anyone mind sharing how much you pay for cleaning, how often you get the service, and how many square feet your house is?
A typical scene in our house – toys everywhere:
Today was a pretty typical, mildly harrowing day in my life as a SAHM. We got up at 8 am. J has been watching the L from 7 to 8 so I don’t expire from lack of sleep. B sometimes sleeps until 8, sometimes not. The days she decides to get up at 6 are the tough ones. Today was a good day. However, there were four wake-ups last night – two from L and two from B, so I wasn’t exactly bright and sparkly in the morning. I attempted to keep the girls at bay while I set up a visit with a local preschool. I discovered to my dismay that preschool applications for next September take place in January, if you can believe that. That’s a subject for another blog entry. Anyway, I took care of a couple more administrative details on my computer and it was off to breakfast. I take at least two of my daily meals with B in my lap. She perpetually has food in her hair, poor thing. Breakfast accomplished, it was time for a shower. B cried through most of it. I refuse to skip my shower no matter what, but it is not a pleasant experience when the baby is crying, and obviously, I rush through as fast as possible.
Our first activity of the day was story time at the library. Getting out of the house with two kids in the winter is no joke. I need Ergo and hat for B, jacket and hat for L, blankets for both of them for the car, and a jacket for me. For a trip to the park, add mittens for the all three of us and a hat for me. That’s three hats and six mittens to keep track of before we even start on coats. Anyway, we sorted the books out for our trip. It’s always a negotiation. L is allowed to take one new book out for every book she returns. I think by the time she’s 5, she’ll have read every book in the little kids’ section. The next hurdle is loading the car. If I load L first and leave B on the living room floor, B cries while I load L. If I load B first and then L, B cries in her car seat. Either way, I’m subject to another several minutes of crying / screaming while I attempt to finish loading the car. I think that is the hardest part of two kids – all the crying. It is just physically impossible to meet both of their needs all the time, and even five minutes of crying really gets to me.
Story time only lasts half an hour. I try really hard to make sure we get there on Mondays because I want to make sure L mixes with other kids. There are other story times we sometimes attend, but this is the most convenient. Obviously, we also see kids on the playground, but in the winter, the playgrounds can be pretty empty. L protested as she often does before we go anywhere. We got to the library, and she protested some more. She usually says afterwards that she enjoys story time, but she always gets shy / nervous before it starts. Then, during the 30 minute story time, she elected to take a 10 minute nap on the floor right in the middle. Another mom was giving her repeated concerned looks. Thank you for your concern! My daughter definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer, and knowing me, I’m sure my loyal readers can guess that I worry about it. A lot. Anyway, L perked up at the end and got excited when story time featured a book she knew, followed by bubbles, and then getting a stamp on her hand. She wanted me to hold her hand to get the stamp so she wouldn’t have to face the intimidating story time lady on her own.
We spend some more time at the library picking books. B slept through most of it. I had her in the Ergo and bounced her from time to time. This was great, and as per usual, but it also means to break for me in the form of her napping at home. Books in hand, we headed home for lunch – for L, plain yogurt, cantaloupe, smoked salmon and banana, I think. I got L down for her afternoon nap. She usually sleeps around 45 minutes. I’ve thought about eliminating it, but I’m kind of in favor of a daily nap at this age in principle. I toted B around and cleaned up lunch, feed B and did this and that until L woke up. A cleaning lady stopped by to give us a quote, which I find rather high. We read all of L’s new library books, and then it was off to the park.
We go to a local park on Lake Washington which is really pleasant and beautiful. The weather was rather nice today as well. I located all our various accouterments, and L elected to take her “big pink tricycle.” (Thanks to generous gifts, we are the proud owners of not one but two trikes.) Anyway, l threw a temper tantrum in the car because I didn’t cover her with a blanket properly. L was fabulous at the park and did a great job riding her pink trike. After a promising start, she really didn’t make much progress pedaling while I was pregnant. I couldn’t physically manage the trike in that state, and J didn’t really push it. L continues to lag in gross motor, so I really am trying to focus on things like tricycling, going to the playground, and so on. Anyway, I was very excited at how much self-propelled pedaling L did today, but B was crying on and off pretty much the whole time, bringing me to the end of my tether. We spent some time at the playground going down the slide, playing on the play-train and so on, then it was off home.
B finally fell asleep in the car and mercifully stayed that way long enough for me to cook an asparagus, mushroom and artichoke heart risotto (excellent if I do say so myself). I inhaled it, fed B, and J took over, and here I am blogging.
If you’ve read this far, I’m amazed. For some reason, I just felt compelled today to spit out the mundane details of my day. Maybe some day years from now, I’ll be interested to about it.
