Having a Clean Home

When I was growing up, my bedroom often became messy.  I would just throw my clothes wherever once I had worn them.  My room wasn't so much dirty as cluttered.

In college, my room was in a similar state.  I don't think it was ever really super dirty, but it would occasionally be cluttered.  I liked to have my things out where I could get to them easily and quickly.  It didn't bother me that things were occasionally on the floor.

The first year that Grig and I were married, we had a beautiful apartment.  It was small, but not too small.  It was just the right size for two college kids just starting out.  When Kevin came, it became a bit of a tighter squeeze, and it was pretty much constantly cluttered because there just wasn't room for all of our things.  It didn't really bother me unless we had company, then I would quickly straighten the place up because I wanted it to look as nice as it could.

When we moved to this new apartment, we suddenly had room for all of our things.  A gradual change then began occurring within me that I hadn't been aware was happening.  When we didn't have room to put things away, it didn't bother me if they were cluttering counters and desks.  However, now that there is a place for everything, I like it in its place.

Suddenly, I can't stand it anymore if the house is messy.  The other day, I was straightening things up, and Havelock came home.  He seemed confused and he asked me, "What are you doing? Is something happening tonight?"

I told him no, I just wanted the house to be clean.  He said, "Ah.  I guess you don't only have to clean when we have company." I thought it was a funny thing to say.

I've started realizing that I kind of get stressed out when my dishes aren't done or my floor is messy.  Yesterday I went on a crazy cleaning streak through the house.  I finally got my bathroom clean (which isn't easy with a 1-year-old).  My mother suggested Kevin have a bath while I cleaned the bathroom and that worked perfectly.  He happily played in the tub while I scrubbed the mirror, the sink, and the toilet.  After his bath, he fell asleep and I finished scrubbing the tub. 

I had already finished the dishes early that morning, and so I finished straightening the house quickly while he slept.  Then I wrote for a while, but having a clean house felt wonderful.

Kevin enjoys helping me clean.  When I am putting things in his bedroom, he is bringing them back out. While I put the books back on the bookshelf, he likes to pull them back out. We're working on him helping me in a more helpful way.

It turns out having a clean house feels nice and I rather like it.  I never thought that a messy house was going to bother me.  Go figure.  However, it's not a bad change and certainly makes things easier in the long run if I clean a little bit every day.  It's also more conducive to the Spirit to have clean house.

What are things that bother you?  Let me know in the comments.

Finding Balance

Over the past few weeks, I've been learning to be a stay-at-home mom.  For the most part, I love it!  However, it has been a new experience, and at times a very difficult one.  I've found that the most difficult part is not staying busy.  The most difficult part is finding the balance between caring for Kevin and getting chores done.

Some days, I'll be busy all day and I'll accomplish a ton!  I'll do the dishes, make meals, clean the whole house, organize boxes, made desert, serve others, do my scripture study, work on video editing, and feel really good about how I spent my time! However, I have a very grumpy baby because he didn't get the time and attention he needed.  He'll have spent the day crawling after me and seeking my attention, which I give him in short spurts, but evidently not sufficient.

Other days, I feel like I get nothing done.  Those days, I'll spend too long working on videos, reading, or Kevin and I will be watching Arturo Trejo on youtube together.  Those days I don't feel very good about how I spent my time, and I look at my house at the end of the day and wish I had done more around the house.

Then, other days, I'll spend nearly the entire day just spending time with Kevin.  We'll play with toys in his room, go outside and sit on the grass, and take two hour naps together.  On those days, I don't feel bad about how I spent my time, but I still look at my house and wish it was cleaner.

I am working on finding the balance between doing my stuff, doing homemaker/wife stuff, and taking care of Kevin.  After thinking about this difficulty for a while, I came to the conclusion that the most important thing that I can do with my time is to spend time with Kevin.  As he gets older, he can 'help' me with the household chores, and while he is taking naps now, I can get a lot done.  However, I only have a short amount of time to spend with Kevin before he grows up and leaves our home.  I want him to know that he is more important than anything else.

As I've been working on showing him that, I find that I still have time to get things done.  Kevin is unusual.  Most eight month baby are still learning to crawl.  I've even seen a few who are still working on rolling over.  However, Kevin is working on walking.  He'll now just stand in one place with nothing supporting him for a couple minutes or more.  He is very quick and can get into everything, but he also does quite well at entertaining himself.  When he is in his bedroom playing with toys, I can get a lot done, and when he wants me, he just comes crawling down the hall saying, "Aaa?  Aaa?"  That means he wants attention.  Then, we spend time together.

Grig right now is working at very early hours in the morning, and so I can get a lot of video editing, scripture reading, and blogging done before Kevin wakes up.  After that, our time together is precious.  I need to make the most of it and do my best to be a first class mom.