Keeping a Clean Home

I feel like I have to share this because I feel guilty about it. I realize I use the word "guilty" ALL the time on my blog but it is what it is....I FEEL GUILTY! So, here I go, I had someone clean my house yesterday. Ahhhhh, yes I am a SAHM so cleaning is part of my job description but UGH, between my daughter and my husband I can't keep up. I am able to keep up with keeping the house organized and "clean" but as far as scrubbing and dusting I just barely get it done. I guess I feel guilty because I assumed that by staying at home with Ari I would have time for such duties and ummm yeah, NOPE : ) I saw a site on Pinterest that talked about how to clean your house in 15 minutes after spending like one full day doing the deep clean. So, I decided that I would have someone clean my house (deep clean) and then I would do upkeep. I don't plan on having her come back monthly because that would be too expensive, but every 2 months?? I like it!

My rationale for my lack of cleaning is a looooong list of excuses...I will now share a few of them:

1. My daughter is almost 2 (i think i could stop here, but i'll continue)
2. My husband drops clothes, lunch bags, socks...etc wherever he is standing at the moment
3. Our house is 3K square ft including the downstairs/basement that I all but ignore : )
4. I am finishing my MBA so naptime is homework time
5. Ari doesn't like to watch me clean house and gets in my obsessive compulsive way

Nice list right?? How about you, do you clean your house? What are your tips and tricks?

Please don't leave me thinking I'm alone : )

P.S. Before anyone says "you have time to blog therefore you have time to clean" - It takes less then 5 minutes every other day to blog. I can't scrub a tub THAT fast : )

To Work Or Not To Work?

I found this website on Pinterest and I've been pondering over this topic a lot lately. I have now been a SAHM for 21 months and I have enjoyed and hated it : ) Like any job, there are good days and bad days but overall I have a positive and grateful attitude about my situation. As much as I love staying at home there is a big part of me that desires a little more. I am finishing my MBA this December and have tarted receiving notifications about my student loans that will be coming due. It got me started thinking about why I went to school in the first place. Why did I go through all of this and take out all of these loans if I was just going to stay at home and have babies? I guess in my ideal/fantasy life I could stay at home and work from home for my own business, but I have not figured out how to make that happen just yet. So, I have considered going back to work; considered meaning keeping myself up at night dreaming about life as a working mom. I think of the good and the bad and I just can't wholeheartedly decide either way (lucky me that this is my dilemma i know) but I feel like I need to make a decision soon. I want to have more kids and if I'm going back to work I will need to postpone that for a little while. I don't want to start a job and get pregnant right away.

I read on a random site the other day about jobs for moms and how a SAHM that goes back to work is not just looking for money or busywork but purpose. We feel like we need to have a REALLY good reason to leave our child(ren) in daycare. I can totally relate! I feel like if I decide to go back it will have to be a great job that I actually look forward to doing or else I will become a guilt-ridden crazy person.

It's a big decision and I have to pick my poison soon.

Any advice??

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Toddler Eating Habits

So my daughter has decided, and so far she has been correct, that she can survive on the following:

goldfish
bread
veggie pasta
tomatoes
string cheese
strawberries
bananas
grapes
milk
water
a multivitamin

That's about it...that's what she eats on a daily basis along with random bites of maybe a cookie or ice cream or some sort of sweet. Other than that she does not experiment. Everything I cook she spits out of her mouth. Most times she doesn't even try it before she turns it down. The simple fact that it does not look like a goldfish or a string cheese or a piece of bread means NO THANK YOU! I am at my wits end. I do not know what I am supposed to do to please her pallet so that she gets a full range of foods. I feel like a failure of a mother because I cannot get my child to eat normal food. When she was an infant she ate everything; it did not matter what you put in front of her she ate all of it and wanted more. Ever since she started eating solid foods she has limited her options to the list I gave above. I don't know at this point what I'm supposed to do. I am just so extremely frustrated and sad about this issue. Hopefully I'm not alone and someone will pass along some advice my way. I have tried hiding veggies in the pasts and that kind of works, but then she gets tired of it or something and wont eat it anymore. I think I need a recipe for meat and veggie bread. Bread is the only thing I know she will eat no matter what it looks like...she knows its bread : )

Ugh!!

Blogger FAIL

Well, I started this blog with every intention of making it magnificent, successful and entertaining and I have completely neglected it. I have been so busy with Ari, school and LIFE that I have let my blog fall to the bottom of a never ending list. I plan on getting back on this wagon and I hope that I can regain some of my past supporters. I have LOTS to talk about in the real world of mommy-hood so keep your eyes peeled for more posts, pictures, ideas, thoughts, stories and more!

Talk soon!

Babies Are Supposed SLEEP Right?

Lack of sleep for both mommy and baby makes for a very, very, VERY cranky mommy and baby. My good little sleeper has decided to change her ways and seems to be extreeemely restless. She wakes every few hours at night crying/whining. Sometimes she has just become wedged in a weird spot in her crib but other times she is sitting up or on her knees holding the side of the crib crying. She has always been a good sleeper. She normally sleeps from 8pm-8am. Her naps have also become more complicated. Usually I would lay her down in her crib and turn on her music and she would be asleep shortly there after. Now she gets up, squirms around, whines, cries, tosses, turns and then passes out in odd positions. I am starting to get concerned as this is odd behavior for her and it has been going on for three or four days now. She is teething which is the only reason I can see for such a shift. I just feel sorry for her; she is miserable and not getting the good sleep that she needs. I hate feeling so helpless when it comes to her. I want to help her and solve her problems and when I am at a loss I feel like I failed. More mom guilt I guess : )

Me Time?

Is there really such a thing as "me time" once you have a baby? Personally, the answer to that question is NO! Even when I am alone it is not me time. I am usually thinking about what Ari needs, what my husband needs, what I forgot to tell my husband, who I forgot to call, what chores I did not get to that day...etc. Then, I begin Google searching on my phone; tips for moms, tips for wives, is this normal?, is that normal?, milestones, ways to work from home, mom guilt...etc

I am planning a girl's night for this Saturday night and I am just hoping that I can keep it as "me time" as possible. Only one other friend that will be there has a daughter so we are vowing not to mention the kids...or just not too much : )

Well, I will have to post more on this later as my daughter doesn't like it when I blog instead of play so "me time" is over for now. Check back later for more.