Cleaning with children

Cleaning. I have never really enjoyed cleaning, but now the thought of a nice Saturday morning spent deep cleaning my house all ALONE sounds pretty nice. You know that popular meme about cleaning your house with kids???

So so true. I'm living with two toddlers and a newborn, so I'm looking around my house wondering if it will ever be clean again. I've cleaned the house as a Mom of babies, and I've cleaned the house as the Mom of toddlers- each of those are sort of challenging, but cleaning as the Mom of a baby AND toddlers is pretty much impossible. My only cleaning goals in the last few weeks have been doing dishes, vacuuming, and wiping down the bathrooms. That's it. Last week I spent 2 days trying to vacuum and mop the teeny tiny main floor of our house. My first attempt was never finished, and my second attempt took most of the day. Here's what my morning looked like:

9:00am- The toddlers have just finished breakfast and the house is already a mess, so I begin telling them to put away all of their toys so that we can vacuum while the baby is awake.

9:30am- remind them to stop playing with the toys and actually put them away while I nurse the baby

10:00am- "pleeeeeeaaaaase stop dancing and put those blankets back in your room while I burp the baby."

10:20am- I hurry and get the vacuum out while the floor is clear for the next 45 seconds

10:30am- the kitchen is vacuumed, but the baby needs her poopy diaper changed IMMEDIATELY

10:40am- resume vacuuming

11:00am- dining room is vacuumed, but now the toddlers want to do a craft since I'm forbidding them from taking out a single toy until I finish vacuuming. "No, you may not use playdoh because I just vacuumed there! Yes, I will get the crayons out for you."

11:10am- resume vacuuming

11:20am- stop vacuuming to help the recently potty-trained 2-year-old use the bathroom. AT LEAST she didn't pee on the floor- that really would have slowed down my vacuuming. 

11:30am- resume vacuuming

11:35am- stop vacuuming to pick up the crap... I mean toys... I found under the couch 

11:40- resume vacuuming. so close to being done.

11:50- stop vacuuming to make lunch for the toddlers.

12:00- use the hose to vacuum along the floor boards, under cabinets, in the corners.... it needs to be done, because I skipped it last time.

12:10- give crying baby a pacifier and beg her to just wait 2 more minutes and then I will feed her.

12:15- done with vacuuming! just in time to nurse the baby while the girls eat pb&j

12:45- Baby is fed, burped, and content, but now the toddlers are done eating lunch and I need to vacuum under the table again (and wipe jelly off of everything that was within reach of the 2-year-old)

1:00- downstairs is vacuumed, and I guess I will spend their naptime mopping (or I'll probably collapse on the couch and mop another day when my kids are adults). Nobody will eat food or wear shoes ever again in this house! 

Just in case this post was making anyone think they didn't want (more) children.  They are definitely worth a messy house.

It only took me 4 hours to vacuum three tiny rooms.... good thing I have a small house. At what age can my children start vacuuming?? 

A little perspective

Yesterday was the Feast of the Assumption, and like a good practicing Catholic, I completely forgot about it when I woke up in the morning. After one of my sisters reminded me, I got on my laptop and in under 5 minutes had found the Mass times for 4 different Churches in my area. You know, I needed to find the perfect time to go to Mass that wouldn't interfere with dinner or bedtime. Definitely can't mess with bedtime. Then I fed the baby and successfully got two toddlers to go potty before heading out the door. Everyone who could walk was wearing reasonably clean clothes and matching shoes. The Officer was going to Mass at work, so I was flying solo with the girls- scary stuff at Mass.  We climbed in our minivan to drive 5 miles down the road to attend noon Mass in a Church with air conditioning and nice padded kneelers. We were early. Not just on time.... early. We sat through the entire Mass with perfect behavior from all 3 of the usual troublemakers (well maybe only 2 of them are troublemakers so far).  I didn't have to give any of my usual threats about timeouts or losing your donut. After Mass everyone who eats solid food was rewarded with a chocolate chip cookie (that includes Mommy), and I was feeling like I had just accomplished some remarkable feat!

It's a tough life I have

I had successfully kept my obligation (you know there are 6 entire Holy Days of Obligation that I have to attend) and nobody shed a single tear (including me!). Then I got on the computer and saw the following headline: People are dying for Christ- Go to Mass on Friday, and I got slapped in the face with a huge dose of perspective. It is 2014 and still Christians are dying for their faith every single day. The biggest sacrifices I have to make are battling a whiny child during the Homily or having a toddler put the pew down on my toes. Meanwhile there are people who are making real sacrifices for their faith. Sacrificing their lives for this wonderful faith. Oh I have so much to learn. Please Lord, never let me forget how fortunate I am to be able to practice my faith. Please Lord, protect these incredible people suffering for their faith.

Birth Story part 2

Yesterday I posted part 1 of Third baby's birth story, and now I get to write about the exciting part where I finally meet the little lady. Warning: this is the birthing details that I want to remember, but if you don't like that sort of thing then just stop reading now. So, I was at the hospital laboring, and the Officer had gone into his awesome support coach mode (this time he didn't need to tell me to find another gear ;). I had done Bug's delivery with no epidural, and I was hoping to do that again, because I thought the physical recovery was so much easier than Belle's. When we first got to the hospital the pain still wasn't too bad, and having the Officer just massage my back during contractions was enough to get me through them. There were still little breaks between the pain where I could watch some of the World Cup (fortunately it was only the 3rd place match) and talk to my MIL and SIL who had met us at the hospital. At that point I was just trying to offer up each contraction for others who are suffering, which helped me, but after an hour or so things got really painful, and I remember thinking "this is exactly what purgatory will be like". I got in the shower and the Officer used the shower head to spray my back, which helped the pain. Then things suddenly got intense, and I was doing the embarrassing screaming/moaning thing that the Officer later lovingly referred to as my "Hulk Smash" yell.

Worth every second of pain

After a few of these extremely painful contractions I told the Officer that I felt like I needed to poop, which during labor would be code for "I need to push". So the Officer told me we should go back to the hospital bed. The Doctor said that I was complete and ready to push anytime, but I informed her that "I didn't want to" (who actually "wants" to do anything involved with giving birth?!?!). I thought the hospital bed looked like a form of torture (I never want to sit at all when in labor), and the idea of sitting in the bed and pushing made me want to cry. I told the nurse I didn't want to get in the bed (I imagine I sounded like a bratty 13-year-old girl with all of my "I don't wannas"). She was so amazing and said it was okay if I didn't get in the bed and made it seem like no big deal at all (she must not have realized that I was about to start pushing whether anyone was ready or not). Then I very loudly informed everyone that I needed to poop (again, code for I'm about to push), and everyone realized I was about to push the baby out in the middle of the floor. The nurse threw down some blankets, the Officer helped hold me, and the Doctor caught the baby, as I just squatted down and delivered the baby. Well, there were a few more "Hulk Smash" screams involved and three incredibly painful pushes, and I think I yelled something like "Just get the baby out!!!!!!!!!", but then there in the middle of the floor my beautiful baby arrived at 6:18pm. The Officer got to announce that we were blessed with yet another little girl, and I was surprised. not. at. all.

I love finally holding a new baby

I got to snuggle my sweet little baby (now I was completely fine with chilling in the hospital bed). Then as they took her away to clean her up, I was shocked to see little rolls on her arms. The nurse said "wow that's a big looking baby", which surprised me since she does this for a living, and then she announced that our daughter was 9 lbs 12 oz. What?!?! Belle was only 7 lbs 11 oz after being 10 days late and Bug was 6 lbs 15 oz, so I thought I only had nice little reasonably-sized babies. She barely fit in newborn diapers, but that girl was absolutely perfect. I just sat there holding her for an hour telling her over and over again how much I love her.

the big baby girl =)

My sweet Third baby came out very late and very big, but her labor and delivery went smoothly and for that I'm grateful. So far she has been an easy baby, who loves to eat, sleep, and smile at her big sisters. Just like every sweet soul that God has entrusted me with so far, I can't imagine my life without her.

With my three beautiful girls

The birth that finally started....

I'm finally typing the birth story for my Third little baby girl. I guess procrastination runs in the Mikfamily, because baby girl took her sweet old time deciding to arrive (little lady was 10 days late). On Friday July 11 the Officer and I went out on a date for the first time in months. It was wonderful, but halfway through I definitely thought I was going into labor. I started to get very uncomfortable and have some random pain and shortness of breath (one might consider these contractions, but I never like to say that I'm actually having contractions until a baby is about to appear). We got to dinner and I was in a lot of pain, and the Officer and I both began to think that maybe baby would come that night! Then halfway through dinner all of my pain, discomfort, and shortness of breath ended completely, and it was obvious the baby would not be coming yet.

Saturday morning the Officer was gone at his prayer group, and I woke up with a sudden uncharacteristic surge of energy. I knew that one way or another this baby would be coming very soon, so I frantically cleaned the house. I was trying very hard to be patient while I waited for baby to arrive, and most days I did okay, but I also tried everything I possibly could to induce labor. That morning, as my final attempt to encourage this baby to arrive before my Sunday night induction, I made myself a "Midwife cocktail" (thank you Miesha for the recipe!). Of course about 15 minutes after I started drinking it the Officer came home and informed me that my in-laws would be coming over that afternoon for a cookout. Awesome. There is nothing like the idea of being in labor in front of a house full of people. Oh well.

The girls were enjoying some pool time with their cousins, while I was inside being "crampy"

Either I was already about to go into labor or that "Midwife cocktail" is a miracle worker, because 2 hours after I drank it the contractions began. Of course, I don't like to say I'm having contractions until I'm 100% sure, so instead I just told the Officer that I was feeling "crampy".... at 41 weeks "crampy" would be code for "I'm in labor, but too dumb to admit it". My sweet SIL Mantha stayed with me and a few times kindly informed me that, "Those are definitely contractions", but I just kept going with the idea of "crampy". Around 2:00 it was time to put all the children down for naps, and I finally admitted that I was having regular contractions. I was reading Belle a book before her nap, and I had to stop and stand up twice in the middle of it to breath through contractions, but again for some reason, I figured it was still early labor, because it just wasn't that painful yet.  My wonderful SIL was still keeping a close eye on me and my contractions, and around 3:00 started urging me to go to the hospital. The Officer was not sleeping this time, but was watching Golf with his family :)

Gonna meet this baby soon....

I hadn't been timing any contractions, but Mantha was paying attention and knew they were only a few minutes apart. She just kindly kept urging me to go to the hospital and making sure I had everything I needed. The Officer and I got to the hospital around 4:00, and it was the perfect time to get there. When I got all checked in my contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart and I was 6cm dilated. After my delivery with Bug, I was thinking things might go pretty quickly at this point, and I was right.

Part 2 coming tomorrow.....