messes.

If you had asked me a year ago to describe how messy my house would be after having a child, I would've given you a veeeery modest answer.  I feel like I have a messy house all.the.time. Anyone else? I knew it would be different, since I'd be home most of the time, but I didn't even consider exhaustion, or feeling like a forgetful space-case most of the time.

"Where did I put my keys?"
"Did I not bring the diaper bag in from the car...?"
"Sure Liv has clean jammies; they're still in the dryer. I think."

I will never forget the day I sat in my cubicle at work, close to my due date, and Rhonda, who worked across from me, came over to see how I and baby were doing. "I used to be sharp," she told me. "Before my twin boys, I was as sharp as a tack." I thought she was joking. Nope. She was right on. But that's a topic for another day!

I've spent the last few days helping my parents move and settle into their apartment, and after helping them downsize from a townhome into a cozy 1,000 sq. ft place, I am spent. They are spent. All of us are spent. Stuff is just exhausting, isn't it? I keep thinking to myself, "Oh brother, what if we had to move? Where would I even begin?" Moving is overwhelming, no matter how much stuff you have I'm sure, but the more there is the merrier the worse it is. By far. Thankfully they've purged a lot, and are now in the settling process. Soon it will all be tidy and shiny and organized. Because my mom has the organizing gene I missed out on...

So once I recover from purgeville at my folks, I hope I can tackle some things at home. I think I just feel overwhelmed and then nothing gets done. So how do I overcome the overwhelmed feelings?

Getting out of the house for a walk has been the best solution to cleaning lately. You may call it avoidance; I call it getting some fresh air and a fresh perspective. So that's what we did today--Dex, Liv, and I went for a nice long walk, then stopped by the playground on the way home and swung on the swings and played in the dirt. Dex was tied to a metal pole of the swing set, and jumped around like a maniac whining for most of the time... isn't it amazing what you learn to tune out?


Now we're back, and ready to sort and fold some laundry.

Some messes are cuter than others.