Wednesday, July 14, 2010

four days in

so the in-laws left on saturday and i have to admit i was a bit nervous about taking on all three girls full time by myself. the thought of the crying baby, trouble making two year old and melodramatic three year old (i do love them, but i don't own a pair of rose colored lenses!); as well as a house that would be constantly getting messy, meals that needed planned, prepared, cooked and served; appointments to keep; groceries to buy; and everything else that a stay at home mom does was giving me a headache. the word "dread" came to mind a few times. my mantra has become "people do it." they do. my mom, aunts, grandmother. my friends. neighbors. fai's coworders' wives. almost all the women in utah. some even do it with more kids than i have (what are they, nuts?). so with those words replaying over and over again in my head, i confronted my life again. and wouldn't you know it....

i was right! the baby cries and needs to be carried the majority of the day. the older two are constantly getting into things and getting into minor skirmishes. the toys and books are constantly strewn about in rooms that i seem to have just cleaned. these same kids get hungry several times a day and expect me to feed them (kids these days, huh?). the laundry piles up at an alarming rate, and the time i have to do these things keeps slipping away faster than you could think possible (even encroaching on my nap time, if you can believe the nerve!). and with all of that -

things are going really well! i manage to keep everyone happy (as long as rules are being followed), healthy (i even make the girls eat some veggies twice a day) and relatively well-groomed (noe keeps changing her clothes at least twice a day from what i put on her in the morning). i would like to credit my own awesomeness in the roll of mom, or pat myself on the back for teaching my kids to behave so well as to make it easier for me. unfortunately, i can't take all the credit. i have to throw some to my hubby for the help albeit indirect. i'm four days in and my house is not only standing, but pretty well kept. my laundry stays done. i've been to play group and the grocery store without incident. and all because of a book title fai mentioned he wanted to read and suggested i do the same. i haven't read the book yet (and don't know if i will actually make the time to do so since it doesn't sound all that entertaining), but it's about how to get things done (i don't even remember the name of it). when i asked for more detail about it, he explained that it said things like "if something is only going to take you a few extra minutes, go ahead and do it rather than putting it off until later" or something like that. well, what a concept! i interpret it into this: if i am going to sit on the couch in the living room, then i should go ahead and straighten up the couch and the various toys on the floor. if i'm going to be sitting, i can fold laundry while i'm there. if i'm going to be by the computer (let's be honest, i'm going to be on facebook), then why not research my primary lesson and talk, check on the finances, etc. if i'm going to be in my room with the baby, why not go ahead and make the bed and put away the laundry? if i'm going to be in the girls' room, why not put away laundry there? chances are, i'm going to need to be in every room of the house at least five times each day and there are several things that i need to do in those rooms, so why not do it as i pass through rather than make an extra trip? i'm walking by the bathroom, why not stop in the bathroom to grab the trash? well, i'm not explaining it well, but it makes enough sense to me that i feel pretty darn good about things at the end of the day. my house isn't a disaster, and i don't feel like i've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get my checklist done.

anyway, bottom line is, all is well in the poon family. in fact, it's so easy that maybe we'll go ahead and add another...? then again, maybe we'll wait a little while to make sure i've gotten it perfected.

1 comment:

Freya said...

Sounds like you guys are doing great. I literally CANNOT imagine having three such young kids under my sole control. You can be confident that I'll be coming to you guys for lots of advice some time in the (still far distant, before you ask) future.

Hugs to everyone