Sick and cleaning are not friends

After a very busy weekend, M and I are sick, and K is starting to get a runny nose. So today, my first real day back at it, I kind of slacked off. We didn't have much laundry to do because we had done a bunch over the weekend, so that wasn't a big deal. I didn't touch the dishes, but K did them after dinner. Eating leftovers, though, doesn't make a lot of dishes so there wasn't much to do. I did clean the shower, that needed to get done, but other than that, taking a day or two off as sick doesn't put me very far behind.

We had family over on Friday. My grandparents were in town for Easter and I took advantage of that to also invite my aunt and uncle over for lunch since they hadn't seen the new house yet. So I asked K to vacuum (it's starting to get hard to do with this growing belly) and I tidied up the rest of the house. But since I have been impressing myself with following my schedule, there wasn't much to do to get ready for the company. They all took M for a walk after lunch and K and I did the dishes while they were all gone. My grandma said 'we should go wash the dishes' when they get back and I surprised her with 'oh they're already done!'. They we had K's great aunt and uncle over yesterday (Monday) and again, it was super easy to tidy up for that.

I'm finding that this whole cleaning thing is just one big cycle. I LOVE having a clean house. And I know that if I slack off and let it get really bad, it'll be so hard to clean, so when I see clutter, I tidy it up right away. Which makes the house cleaner, and which also makes it easier to really clean up when I have bigger chores to do. All that makes me so proud of myself, that I can keep a house clean, that I can do a good job at it, and that makes me feel better about being a stay at home mom. I also get lots of time for baths or naps, or errands, or just for puzzles or walks to the park, so I'm not cleaning ALL.DAY.LONG. But I still have a somewhat immaculate house, or as immaculate as it can be for a pregnant mom of a toddler.

Ok, I gotta go, I think the Canucks just got a penalty shot in game 7. And I added a button for my friend's blog. She's started doing some giveaways so pop over there and follow her and enter the giveaways!

Day 2 is successful-I'm on a roll!

Ok so I cheated a little bit. I didn't do any laundry today but that's only because I didn't have any to do. Seriously, the baskets were all empty! It's those three loads I did yesterday. Instead, M and I made muffins. And they were good!! I also took a two hour nap when she napped. As soon as K walked in the door I asked him if he would take her to the park. I said that I wanted to take a shower, but really, the minute the door was closed, I had the costco sized container of lysol wipes in hand and set about dusting the house, which turned into also cleaning off the dressers, coffee tables, etc. This whole once/week thing is going to work out well. I can manage to tidy things up regularly and that will keep the house so much cleaner, which will make the cleaning so much easier.

Ok, it's almost 8pm here and I'm exhausted. I'm seriously heading off to bed. Ahh pregnancy!

Getting back on track

Yikes, over a month since I've written here. I hope that doesn't make me a terrible blogger. In my defense, we've been sick over here, busy getting settled into the new house and I've been busy finishing up work. Yesterday was my last day and I'm on vacation now for 3 weeks before starting my maternity leave. It's been a busy last few weeks trying to adjust to the new house and trying to get into a house cleaning routine, but I think I've almost figured it out. I had a great first day off today. As I type, the dishes are drying, our bed is made, the ensuite bathroom has been deep cleaned and most of the laundry folded and put away. I have a few towels left in the dryer to fold, but towels are easy. We even went to costco today and got groceries, and I changed the insurance on my car to remove the 'to and from work' coverage.

Here's what I've been working on and what I think might work. I've created a daily schedule where I make sure certain things are done before moving onto the next meal. For example, before I make breakfast, I put away any dishes that were left to dry overnight. Before lunch, I make sure the breakfast dishes are washed, a load of laundry is put into the wash, and the playroom is tidied up. During nap time, I move the laundry to the dryer, wash lunch dishes and do one deep clean task per day. Today was the bathrooms. As I mentioned above, the ensuite is done and I just have to wash the counter and mirror in the main. If I can make sure that each of these smaller tasks are done before each meal (or during nap time), then it shouldn't be too hard to maintain the house. So far day 1 of this routine worked out alright. I just have to go finish the bathrooms, put the towels away and sweep the kitchen floor. I'll be sure to report back tomorrow after having M home all day. If I can master this routine with a toddler, the hard part will be adding a newborn to the mix. Wish me luck!