It's the Weekend | Number Ten

The days are flying by.  I cannot believe how quickly time is moving. I am officially 32 weeks pregnant. I managed to injure my right foot somehow and I've been limping around for a week and a half. I'm still not totally sure what I did but I'm ready to not be big and pregnant and also limping around everywhere. Seriously. Come on, foot! 

I still need to blog about our trip to Estes. I need to actually work on getting the little babe's room all ready to go. We still have some house projects to complete. I'd really like to get our garden going. There's a lot to be done and I just don't have the energy lately to do it. Welcome to the 3rd trimester everyone! 

But, it's the weekend. Hallelujah! Here are a few things I've been reading this week, along with a Mother's Day wish list, and some great books for moms that I've been devouring. Enjoy. 

Why are our kids so miserable? 

Secrets of people who are always full of energy. 

It's nice to have less stuff. 

Sugar is in everything these days. Here's 30 days of meals you can eat during a sugar detox. 

If you need help with a cleaning schedule. I love stuff like this. Also,  here are some lazy people cleaning hacks. 

I am planning on making this for dinner sometime this week. 

Mother's Day will be here before we know it. Here is what's on my current wish list: Wish #1, Wish #2, Wish #3 (Charcoal) , Wish #4. 

If you're looking for some books for moms, I highly recommend: Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline, The Magic of Motherhood: The Good Stuff, the Hard Stuff, and Everything In Between, The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother.

Have a great weekend!

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A Busy, Working Mom's Cleaning Schedule

I feel the need to add a bit of disclaimer to this post....I am a new mom. I don't know what I'm doing. I am also a bit OCD by nature and like a good list. They keep me line. They help me know what the end goal is. I don't want to portray that I am perfect, especially as a mom. I mess up. A lot. I also don't want to portray that my house is perfect at all times of the day, no matter what. There's spit up in places I don't care to think about. There's a couch that probably has a small colony living underneath it by now. Our laundry piles might eventually be the death of me or our cat, Geoff. Most of my time is occupied by a newborn that sleeps, eats, and poops. This will all change at some point, as it should. 

There will be plenty of times that I don't complete this list every week. There will be times where I will choose to hang out with my family instead of scrubbing my kitchen. There are times where I know I will fall short. These are just guidelines. I work better when I have a list. I might go a week and only get my living room cleaned because we had some spare time on Monday. I am fine with that. I like knowing how other people manage their busy lives, this is just a peek at mine. It will bend and sway and change over and over again. 

I am not naive. I am not perfect. I mess up lots. I'm learning as I go in this thing called parenthood and I have only just begun.

Those are just my thoughts....Now continue on to the cleaning schedule...

I am a bit of a neat freak. Parenting has forced me to back off of that title a bit, but I still take some pride in having a nice, organized, clean house. When my house is messy, my brain lives in chaos. When I wake up to a semi-clean home, I feel like I have a better grasp on my sanity. 

We lead busy lives. With a newborn, I can't devout 3 hours on a Saturday to deep cleaning my house anymore. At this point in our lives, that just doesn't work for us. 

When I was pregnant, I created these two lists. I was too exhausted then to take a day to clean, so I split it up into daily tasks that were still obtainable. I have been using this system now that I'm on maternity leave as well. Once I go back to work, I think I can keep this up, but it might need to be altered here and there. One room only takes me about 20 minutes if I have been keeping up with my cleaning schedule. That is doable. I can do that. 

I have normal daily tasks that I already do. When I wake up or before I go to bed (or both), I just do a quick pick up and sweep of the house. This makes getting up the next day easier and my cleaning task for that day doesn't seem too cumbersome. 

I also have a deep cleaning list. On Sundays, I try to do one of these items. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Sometimes my husband actually has a Sunday off and I won't clean then. That's family time. Sometimes it's good to rest and my oven can wait to be deep cleaned one more week. It's ok to rest, people. Remember that. 

There you have it. The secret to my sanity. I have also started using these cleaning products. Any glass cleaner that smells like mint works for me. (I am not getting paid to say that, I just love the product. But, hey, if they want to give me free goods, I wouldn't say no.) 

Happy Cleaning.