Remember When-sday- Our House

Here's to a time when everything had a place and was always in that place. I dusted and vacuumed weekly and thoroughly. I had nice, breakable things and they were displayed for everyone to see. I knew where everything was at any given moment. It was quiet and organized at all times.

Here's to a time before the girls were mobile. They and all their stuff remained within a few feet of where they were left. Everything still had a place and always was in that place. There was a bit more stuff but for the most part it was manageable. The average time to pick-up the house for the day was less than 5 mins. I dusted and vacuumed once a week if not more. Heaven forbid the children lay on a dirty floor! I still had nice, breakable things and displayed them. Though the house was a bit more cramped with stuff, I still had a general idea of what was where. There were moments of chaos and moments of peace and quiet. There was a healthy balance.

Here's to today when my living room belongs to my children. All of their toys, books, puzzles, games and stuffed animals have a place...on my bookcases. The house starts the day in order and ends the day like a tornado blew through. I dust when I can't see which button is which on the DVD player and vacuum when I'm finally fed up with crumbs and crackers sticking to my feet. My nice, breakable things were broken  long ago. We display Teddy Ruxspin, Mr. Potato Head and the play kitchen proudly. Clean up time can be up to 15 minutes when we're not just dumping everything in the mini shopping cart and instead actually putting things in their place. When I can't find something I ask the girls. Usually one or the other of them can lead me in the right direction. There are toy tea cups in my Tupperware cupboard and kitchen towels piled in with their books. My things are where ever the girls left them last. There is constant chatter, fussing, crying, laughing and noise. Quiet moments are few and far between.

They are still in their pajamas. This was within 2 hours of waking up and it gets MUCH worse.

My how we've evolved! Here's to enjoying what life brings in this moment- the spills, crumbs, meltdowns and messes. We wouldn't have it any other way.