Permission to fall behind: GRANTED!

I think one of the most important things to remember when trying so hard to keep your house clean is that it's ok to give yourself permission to take some time off and let things fall behind.

I've learned that keeping your house clean is like a big cycle. I love having a clean house. So when the house is mostly clean and I see little messes, I have no problem tidying them up right away. Which keeps the house cleaner. Which motivates me to keep the house cleaner. And this also affects my mood. I know that when the house is clean, I can take some time to myself, like watch some TV during nap time instead of cleaning floors. AND, another big bonus is when I'm not feeling very well, and I ask K to help me vacuum or do something, he doesn't hesitate to help out since he sees how hard I've been working to keep things under control.

I've been wondering lately if I would have been able to get to this point if we hadn't moved. I had a plan somewhat drafted up before we moved. We purged the townhouse of all our clutter, we got a storage locker and cleaned the place up. I got into some sort of routine at the old house and when we moved, I knew exactly what I needed to do to keep the new house clean. So I started off on the right foot. And the motivation just kept snowballing so I've been able to keep up with everything. Even over the last three weeks, when I've been sick. Which takes me back to the title of this post. I haven't been following my schedule over the last few weeks. I've given myself permission to fall behind. But I was able to prioritize my tasks, and keep up with laundry and dishes, and keeping the house tidy. When I've noticed something, I've been able to assess whether or not it really needed to be done right away.

And now, three weeks later (being sick while pregnant SUCKS) I'm finally able to take the chance at saying that I feel better and can bulldoze my way through my house to get it back to where it needs to be. I have no laundry in the hampers again. I only did laundry today because my pants were dirty so I added some bath towels in there as well. I have no dishes waiting to be washed and my kitchen is mostly tidy. After a morning of semi fighting with DD and a few time outs, most of her toys are picked up. And now it's naptime and I'm going to do the rest to get me back on schedule.

So to all the mamas out there that need a break sometimes, don't feel bad about giving yourself permission to fall a little behind. We all need a breather sometimes, just do what you have to so that when you feel better, it isn't too hard to catch back up!