Lots of Trouble

I remember a time when Shaun and I had been married for about a year. My house was immaculate. I cleaned all the time, and cleaned on top of the refrigerator and under the stove at least once a month. I had grand delusions that even though other mothers never kept a very clean house, I would do it, even with kids... and I did. Alex was a few months old and not moving and I still had a clean house. Then he started to move. He pulled movies down off the shelf and scattered his toys, but that was ok. Movies aren't that hard to pick up and either are huge baby toys. Even when Alex entered toddler hood, my house wasn't perfect anymore, but not that bad. Then Annie came along and grew up alittle bit. My house is no longer even kind of picked up. Once a week or so I'll throw all the kids toys in their room and vacuum and clean, and my living room will look so good. I normally call Shaun and ask him to come home from work to see it, because it'll never stay that clean long enough for him to get off work. With two kids they seem to be able to get out more toys then I can keep picked up. I started to get kind of down about it too. What happened to my nice clean house. I finally decided that I had a choice. I could keep my house clean or I could play with my kids. They grow up so fast anyway. I'm sure that is a realization that all those moms with messy houses came to a long time ago, but of course I had to learn it myself. I applaud all those truly stellar moms who manage to keep happy kids and a clean house! So I'm compromising on the clean house. Alex now has to pick up his toys 10 minutes before daddy comes home, and Annie and Alex are going to have to learn that they can't dump toys all over without picking it up. I've had two incredible moms give me great advice on how to get your kids to pick up their stuff. When Alex refuses to pick up his toys, his toys go in "time out" for 24 hours. It's amazing how fast he will start to clean up with Thomas and his friends take their time out on top of the fridge. Now what to do about Annie? This is her sneaking into the fridge after I'd taken something out of it for dinner. Alex is here telling her she's now allowed to play in the refrigerator.