Am I Asking Too Much?? - Littleton,CO

With us, growing up it was like we always had to be clean. my dad was the fun one and my mom is still really anal about everything. with me and my siblings (I am 23, sis 22, bro 16 and lil bro 71/2) she still expects miracles. she now has three grandchildren, my son is clean at grandmas and semi clean at home. my daughter... same but at her dads she hates to clean, she cleans up her messes at my house and at grandmas she is like an alien child, totally mess free. she started in on the babies in infancy.

i like things uncluttered, i like things put away, but if no one is screaming, fighting, bleeding or causing a general rucous i am a very happy mom. dishes can wait til the morning if the kids wanted three bedtime stories andi was just too tired. the vacuuming can go two days if it was not anyone's fault and i cant tell from the front door. growing up with the mother of all clean freaks (she has ocd) i have learned to pick my battles. my kids like their beds made and the hands and face clean, and my daughter always has to match. thats enough for me right now. when the are older the expectations will change with the times.
find something positive about each day revolving around your kids, and your house. (they didnt break a window today, the baby learned a new word, my husband called just to say hi) then dwell on that instead of the 12 loads of laundry and the pile of dishes and fingerprints on every surface of your home.

hope that helped.
Merry Christmas!

I can understand (to a certain extent) how you are feeling. I have a 14-month-old son, and I enjoy having a clean, well kept house. If you could let it go for a whole weekend, you probably would have already, not to mention that afterwards you just have to play catch up. I feel like I am always picking up after and cleaning for him and my husband all the time. Added to that, I am eight months pregnant, and I feel like I can barely move! Now toss in a pinch of brand new (un-house trained) puppy and you have a recipe for disaster and a very crazy, emotional, and overwhelmed pregnant woman on your hands! I have found that my husband is usually willing to help more if I make him a list. Very detailed and explaining everything I want from him. Especially if I put that list next to mine for the day, which is always five times longer! Also, make sure the step children have chores for themselves, even if they don't like it! When they are over for the weekend, they are expected to (fill in the blank). I know that this doesn't illeviate the pressure or really make LESS work for you, but at least they are helping. I hope some of this is useful!

Hi there. I have a beautiful two year old daughter. She's taught me so much about relaxing a little. I used to be really anal about keeping things orderly and clean, but now I just make a few pick up rounds a day. I don't bother sweeping all the time, because I'd be vacuuming all the time. A little bit of a mess won't hurt anyone if you can learn to just let it go. You'd be amazed at how your blood pressure will go down. I'm sorry to hear that your dinner table chairs are stained, but unfortunately, it's inevitable with kids. I'd just hold off on recovering them or purchasing any new items. Maybe look for things that can be easily cleaned or are more childproof going forward. My husband wants to replace the carpet, but I told him absolutely not until our child is old enough to be better about not spilling. Trust me, I'd love to get rid of our hideous carpet, but I realize it's not worth getting new carpet to have all kinds of stuff spilled all over it. Now that would be stressful. Hope this is somewhat helpful. Best of luck.

Iw as always getting frustrated that my house doesn't look like it used to and always embarrassed when my friend without kids (whose house is spotless) would come over. But then another good friend of mine (who was always a clean-freak whose house was immaculate) who now has three kids under age 3 (two are twins about a year old) gave me her words of wisdom that helped me relax. She said you can either have a perfectly clean house all the time, or you can have a hapy family and enjoy the time with them and have a semi-clean house some of the time. You can spend your time harping on the kids to "clean up" to "not spill" "don't make a mess" "watch what you are doing" etc. and making both them and you (and probably your husband, too) frustrated and unhappy all the time or you can live with a little mess, let them be kids and clean up when they are gone. Enjoy your time with them. If they are doing the basics--taking plates to the sink, generally keeping things neat, putting toys away when they are done playing with them with what's in line for their age, then you are doing well. Kids are messy. I bet you'll be a lot happier if you just relax a little when they are there and keep things the way you like them when they are gone. (Plus I'll bet in about a year you will be facing the same--or worse--issues cleaning up after a toddler. Trust me!)

Hi,
I am the same way,it seems like cleaning is ALL I do somedays. I have learned that "the mess doesn't travel" If I am just plain tired or I just simply want to relax. I leave the mess until tomorrow and give myself time to enjoy my family. do you like getting your hair,nails and feet done? I take a day every month or 2 and plan a day for myself and pamper my self. it realy helps. About the work at home thought....I recently found out about a company called Alpine Access.it's customer service from home.....I know it is a legit job because I have heard many good things about it and It was on the news a while back.just go to alpineaccess.com I hope my information helps you out. Take care.