one step forward, two steps back

It’s amazing what a difference a few days makes. Just a few days ago, I was on my parent’s lanai stomping ocean sand off my Teva sandals. This morning I’m having trouble sleeping because I have so much to do, and so much on my mind.

The laundry to be folded has taken over our house. The dishwasher has to be unloaded and there are dirty dishes on the counter waiting patiently. I have to submit an ad to the newspaper in Wisconsin by 5:30 PM tonight to advertise the open house we are having Sunday. ( I found a good friend to host it for us. We’re going to try and sell it on our own for a month or so before relinquishing to a realtor. Beth and Dave have been WONDERFUL and donated time and web space to our cause.)

The reason that Chris and I get so behind with things is because we have decided that our kids and sleep are more important than cleaning. It has been a hard decision to come to. We HATE disorder and dirt. Who doesn’t? But working full time is brutal on the amount of quality time we spend with our kids. Each evening we struggle to balance all that life throws at us. Sorting through the mail can become a monumental task when you have to prepare dinner, find the washable paints you promised Harrison he could use, help Ella find the hair elastics you just bought her the other day so she can sort and organize them (yes, she’s already showing signs of obsession AND compulsion), let alone do the dishes from breakfast, or vacuum a room. Throw in Harrison’s new twice-a-week soccer league and you can imagine how that affects us.

We want to figure out a better way. We wish we could do it all. Neither of us are night owls. By the time the kids are down for the night, we usually retreat to the living room to relax a bit. Rarely can either of us make it past 10 PM before we fall into bed to start over. I guess that’s probably because we are early risers. Chris had to go into work this morning (left here at 4:06 AM) to get caught up. I never fell asleep after he got up and left. So the day begins. I’m behind already because I’m doing this, but it makes me happy to record our life right now. Oh well, the kids will never know that we lived in chaos and disorder – it’s never been any other way! Hopefully they’ll know that to keep our sanity we just did the best we could. Sanity is good!