The Cleaning Experience

Cleaning the house each week with the girls home can be more than a chore, it can be an experience, it can be troublesome, it can be stressful, it can take ALL day.

But for me, I LOVE the smell of a clean house, and I LOVE to get organized. I will use bleach just so I can smell the cleanliness. I will use more cleaner just so the house is more fragrant. I like to disinfect. I want to be able to eat off the floors.

Today was not unlike any other cleaning day. I started out at about 10:00am and didn't finish until about 4:00pm!

So, why does it take so long?

Someone needs to be fed, someone needs a drink, someone needs the channel on the tv changed, someone needs a snack again, Ashlyn needs to be changed (from the explosion that you read about below), and then Ashlyn needs an impromptu bath, someone needs help with something, I need to break up a fight, I need to intervene and remind the girls to share, Ashlyn needs a bottle, I have to make a phone call, someone needs a band-aid, someone is being cute so I need to take pictures, I feel the need to procrastinate and check facebook, someone needs a snack again, and on and on and on.

Here is a better example: today while I was trying to vacuum, Ashlyn was screaming, Mariah was standing on the cord just to be funny, and Ambria was hanging on my leg and sitting on my foot because she thought I was some sort of fun carnival ride. (After a brief moment of frustration, I had to laugh, and I don't have pictures of this sight because I had my hands full).

Cleaning day can bring all sorts of fun...or headaches.

(Side note: I have come to realize that a clean house is not the same as a messy house).

Poo Happens

I got pooped on today.

It was an explosion like I have never seen...down Ashlyn's legs, on her socks, onto my pants, on my shirt, and even on the couch pillows.

Huggies, you let me down.

On the Flip-Side

Having a three year old means a defiant, stubborn child one minute and a adorable, comical, sweetheart the next minute.

*Every day at naptime, as I close the bedroom door, Ambria shouts out, "I love you a million ka-pallion jajillion zazillion times!" (or whatever word she makes up to rhyme with million). Makes me smile every time.

*I gave her a glass of hot water after playing in the snow (she doesn't like hot chocolate, she likes cold chocolate) and as she drinks her hot water she says, "Mom, you are the best cooker ever!" Wow, if that is all I have to do to be a good cook, I'm in! I need to make my own recipe book!

*Ambria is also a little set in her ways and she likes only four chicken nuggets and when daddy gave her six chicken nuggets, she says under her breath in a polite quiet voice, "one, two, three, four, five, SIX...why do I have six chicken nuggets?" One day I put five nuggets on her plate and she refused the eat the fifth nugget (whether she was hungry for it or not). It is times like these, that I just chuckle at her individualism.

There are countless things that Ambria says and does every day that make me smile and I need to start writing them down.

After the Lights Go Out

I wonder what kids think their parents do after they are tucked into bed?

Growing up, I remember a few instances when I stumbled downstairs after I was put to bed and my parents were eating nachos and watching Dynasty or Love Boat or something like that. So, I thought as a child, my mother MUST do this ALL the time. Yeah right! I am sure for my mom to be able to sit down and watch tv at a specific time and watch a specific television show consisted of much planning.

The following is a list of events and activities that occur after the lights go out in the kids' bedrooms and on any given night any combination of the items can be seen in our home...

wash the dishes, dry the dishes, wash bottles, make coffee for the next morning, tuck the kids in bed again, mix baby formula for the next day, pack Mariah's bag for school the next day (read papers, sign papers, pack a snack, pack library books, pack daily reader book, pack homework) get out school clothes, tuck the kids in bed again, do laundry, fold laundry, iron, straighten up the house, AND if any time and energy allows...return emails, blog, facebook and/or collapse on the couch and watch tv (and thank goodness for the DVR!!).

THAT is what I do after Mariah, Ambria, and Ashlyn are in bed.

(Added note: the list probably goes on and on but I don't have any more energy to think about what I do. I'm tired).

Say Cheese

I tell ya, Ambria LOVES the camera!

Are you beginning to see a pattern?

I need a little patience to deal with Ambria on a daily basis. For the most part, this defiant three-year old is great and has a comical personality....until you want/ask her to do something.

The game asks you to draw squares...no, I want to draw circles.
Please clean up...no, I can't. I am too tired.
Please throw your trash away...no, I can't.
Ambria, please sit up and smile for the camera...

I am sure there will be plenty more examples to come (or rather how we attempt to parent a independent three year old without getting gray hair). Prayers please. :)

Just the Right Size

Often, with the first snow, comes a scramble to find all the winter gear: the coats, hats, gloves, boots, and snow pants. And then comes a rush to the store after you find out you are in need of some of those items because the kiddos have outgrown it all.

Well, we had the coats, hats, boots, and gloves covered, but the snow pants...well, not so much. As the first snow lightly covered the ground, the girls wanted to go out and play so I went and hauled out the snow pants from storage. Mariah's still fit. Ambria's, well, it was one of those, "oh, just put them on, they will fit" moments. I was thinking, 'they will be ok for this winter.'

After the girls came in from the cold, I looked at the size of Ambria's purple snow pants.....12 MONTHS!! Hahahaha.

"Just put them on, they look fine!"

Challenging Three Year Old

Ambria doesn't like the camera, or rather she is going through some odd 3 year old stage.
*She ONLY talks to our immediate family.
*She HAS to be FIRST at everything (ie: going to the bathroom, brushing her teeth, getting in bed, and on and on and on).
*She HAS to sit in the MIDDLE of me and Mariah or whoever on the couch.
*She won't eat food if we call it "breakfast," "lunch," or "dinner." It has to be called a SNACK (so unknowingly, she gets chicken nuggets at roughly 5:00pm as a 'snack').
*And as stated before, she will NOT acknowledge the camera.

I love ya, my little, rebellious, social introverted, three year old!