Never Get Behind...when it comes to cleaning anyways

I am fortunate enough to not be a working mother, but some challenges come with being a stay at home mom, and well that is, staying at home. When your a working mother, your kids are at daycare all day, and well the house stays cleaned and as is when your gone. Staying at home means constantly having an upkeep of sorts because your always using your house. There are some challenges involved with maintaining a clean, not perfect, house. The biggest thing that I cannot stress enough, is not letting yourself get behind! Playing catch up is 3x as much work, as just doing it the first time, on time. Make yourself a schedule, so you do not become overwhelmed. Daily chores are picking up toys, dishes, laundry, and sweeping and/or vacuuming. All these things don't take very long to do.
TOYS---I don't spend all day picking up toys because that's just exhausting. The method I found was, just before I lay Kenna down for a nap, she and I pick up toys, and then we will pick up the toys together again, before she goes to bed for the night. I tried cleaning up toys every hour, but it was wasteful and exhausting.

DISHES---Doing dishes after every meal, or at least rinsing them off and loading them in the dishwasher after every meal prevents an end of the day build up.

LAUNDRY---Laundry, is sometimes daily, but not always, so I just make sure once I get a full load, it goes in the washer. Laundry build up is annoying, and I just hate taking care of 5 or 6 loads of laundry in a day, when I can do one a day or one every other day.

FLOORS---Sweeping and vacuuming is really important, and most of the time I save that for the end of the day, unless a mess is made, then I get it cleaned up right away, so it isn't spread throughout the entirety of the house. I mop when necessary, usually every other day, but sometimes, especially in the kitchen, where the dining table is, I have to mop that room daily.

NONE DAILY CHORES:

BATHROOMS---I usually scrub the bathroom once a week, but the sink usually gets a daily wipe down because my wonderful husband empties his electric razor in the sink and doesn't rinse it down. Our washer and dryer are in our bathroom so I have to wipe up the floor just in front of the dryer because the lint mixed with moisture leaves a little linty residue, on the floor a couple inches in front of the dryer. But that's just an easy 2 second job. I just grab some toilet paper, and wipe it up.

KITTIES BATHROOM---We have a half bathroom, but it doesn't get used, so we put the cats food, water, and kitty litter in there. The cat likes to make a mess of the liter, so that needs to be swept up all the time, but his liter gets scooped or changed every 2-3 days. He has a food and water dispenser, so they just get refilled when I do the liter.

DUSTING and WINDOWS---Dusting gets done once a week, and windows every 2 weeks. One window that I can't seem to keep clean is the glass door leading out to the balcony. Makenna just loves to put her little fingers all over it, so there's always fingerprints.

MOPPING---Mopping gets done about every other day, more so if necessary, but usually every other day. I like to mop with arm and hammer floor cleaner, and a few TBSP of vinegar(an amazing organic disinfectant) but about once a month I go around mopping with a bleach and water mixture, to ensure nasty cold germs or whatever gets tracked in on our shoes is clean. I have to be careful since Makenna and I have bad reactions to straight bleach on our skin.

Prioritize what you need to do, and keep up with your schedule. Don't allow yourself to get lazy because catch up takes so much energy and usually a lot longer than just doing it from the start. Doing a little each and every day also prevents you from having to do a TON at one time. Just keep at it, even if you feel too busy, too tired, or too sick and you'll never get behind or overwhelmed.

After the Appointment

So yesterday I wrote about going to see the special OBGYN to do some tests. Well the tests came back clear and both the babies aren't showing any sign of having any chromosomal defects. They have like 1 in 12,000 chances to have down syndrome or something like that. So, nothing to worry about! YEAH!!! We had a little trouble with one baby because he or she didn't want to move and was under the other baby, but he or she was just being lazy, nothing to worry about. The top baby is a very proud little boy! His name is Reese! I even was so excited to find out we were expecting a boy that I did a little shopping! I got him a few things!

Now I need to buy a storage tub for the new babies things because Makenna wants to put Reese's baby clothes in her closet. I guess she knows that little clothes go in her closet. I have another appointment in 2 weeks and maybe baby #2 will be in a better position so they can see what he or she is. 

Before....

Well, today I am off to Nurnberg to go to see a special OBGYN! I am a bit nervous. I think it is the same one I had to see when I was pregnant with Makenna (had an enlarged placenta), but I am not sure. I guess I'll find out later. I am really nervous because they send you to see a specialist to check for fetal malformation. My regular OBGYN says as far as he can see on a regular 2-D/3-D ultrasound, the babies are normal, and growing right on schedule, but I guess it's just a precaution. Apparently it's standard testing carrying multiples, he just doesn't have the equipment at his office to do it, so off to Nurnberg we go. We were suppose to go yesterday, but they had to reschedule for today. I have to take Makenna, which I wish I didn't, but we have no choice. I do not have a sitter, and there is no daycare available! I just hope she can behave so we can get there, get things done, and go home without any issues. I'm sure she will be fine, she usually is.

Something exciting about this appointment is, that we may be able to find out the genders of the babies. It is kind of early, but possible. We found out at 17 weeks with Makenna, so hopefully we are far enough along, and the twins are in good enough positions so he can tell me! I want to go shopping, I want to give them names, and do things that you just can't do when you don't know the genders. Right now I just look at stuff for both, and call them Itsey and Bitsey. It's 10:35 and I am anxious. We have to leave here in about an hour and 10 minutes, so time needs to fly! I want to get there already! LOL!

Moody

So I am not even sure why, and I would hate to blame it on the pregnancy, but I am so moody and grumpy for no reason!! I was in such a good mood yesterday and had plenty of energy and I got so much accomplished, but I woke up this morning, the total opposite!

IT all started last night. I was SOOOO tired that I attempted to lay down and could not fall asleep to save my life. Then I got to the stage where I was almost was completely asleep but kept waking every 2 seconds! Then I finally got to sleep and was awake every 30 minutes throughout the entire night! It was like someone turned my alarm clock on, in my head! It was so, not a good night! I was so tired that I thought I would sleep well, and it didn't happen!!

Then when I had to get up in the morning, Makenna, who has been sleeping in til at least 8, decided that 7 was a much better time to get up. So we got up. Then I was a zombie all morning until nap time, then when it was nap time, I layed down and what felt like 2 seconds, it was time to get up! Makenna took a short nap today too! She usually sleeps 2-2.5 hours and she slept just over an hour! It was not the day to get up early and take a short nap, but it of course happened!

Then all afternoon was a blur and a quick dinner of frozen pizza, because I could hardly muster up enough energy to stand! (yeah, it's that bad today!) So now it's quarter til 9, Makenna's been in bed for 45 minutes, and in a minute I will be joining her (in my own bed).

Potty Training

^^^The potty we have for Makenna!^^^

So, we have been trying to potty train our now 20 month old baby girl, and she really hasn't shown much interest. We get her to sit on her potty, but it is only for a couple of minutes and then she's done. She hadn't actually gone potty in it until this morning. Our morning was normal, Brandon went back to work, so Makenna woke up, I pulled her hair out of her face, and got her a drink of milk. Then we came into the living room and I made her sit on her potty, and about a minute later, she went pee in her potty! I am so proud! Then I decided she could run around in her panties. Now I know that peeing in it once doesn't make her potty trained, but it's a start. She did this at about 5 minutes to 9am, so at 930 and 1000 I made her sit on her potty again, and nothing. Then she went into her room around 1015-1020ish and I followed behind her, only a minute or less behind her, and she had an accident. I ran and grabbed the potty, but we were too late. So I put a pull-up on her, and I'll try again in an hour, and keep trying every couple of minutes after that hour until it happens again. I have to stay consistent with her about it. I am nervous about days we are on the go, or when she goes to daycare, but the only thing I can do for her is to do my best to stay consistent and teach her what she needs to do. I plan on giving her small rewards when she goes potty. Some people are against bribing, but heck, I'm not! LOL! Whatever works!

So our potty training journey has begun, and I am so happy to see Makenna hit yet another milestone in her life. She is growing up way to fast, but there is nothing I can do about it, but enjoy every moment of her journey with her because sometime in the future, she isn't going to want to have me around all the time.


I am learning myself, how to teach her to use the big girl potty, so I do not have any tips, but just to wait until they are ready and stay consistent. I will give advice and share my story once our potty training journey is no longer in the "starter" faze, but for now, I am learning on my own, and I hope I can do for her, exactly what she needs.

Hum...Bug...

My last post was about having two girls, but it doesn't mean that's what I want. Here's what I want. I want two happy and healthy little angels. I don't care what their genders are. I have just been perusing boys and girls stuff and found a set that I like a lot for girls, for boys, I found so many I like, I can't choose one! I'm just very excited to be pregnant, and getting excited about actually feeling like I'm expecting again, and not just puking my brains out all the time. Two girls, two boys, or one of each, I really don't care, they'll be perfect no matter what.

I've gained nothing yet, but I haven't lost weight in two weeks, so I think that's great. I got medicine from my Doctor that will help with the nausea and throwing up! It doesn't take it completely away, but a good 75% is amazing! My belly is getting bigger as well as my breast, even though their is no weight gain. I am over 12 weeks now, so the babies are each 2 inches long, and weight about a half an ounce each. They are each in a sack about the size of a grapefruit, so since I have 2, I'm getting bigger faster. It's pretty normal, but I should have put on at least 4 pounds in my first trimester, but instead, I lost 15. But the Dr said they were healthy and good, at our last appointment last Tuesday. I am going to go see a specialist in about 10 days. They'll use fancier equipment just to make sure the twins are growing as well as they show on the regular 2-D and 4-D ultrasounds. It's really just a precaution because twins can have added complications. (But doesn't mean they will) I'll be 14 weeks, so hopefully I will be able to find out the gender. You can find out as little as 12 weeks. I'm pretty excited about it, so I can make a registry and start shopping!! YEAH!!!

But the babies are good, Makenna is great, and the husband is still on vacation for another week, then it's back to the daily grind for him! Still no exact date on when we are moving, but in a few weeks, I should have some answers.