What are your aspirations for the New Year? Mine consist of the usual (career goals, patience, etc), but I also have one dedicated to Baby… no more baby junk invading our common areas! Now that LadyP is 3 months old, I am stripping away my excuse of “I just had a baby… I’m too overwhelmed to clean that up.” New ‘trimester’ for baby means new living space for Mommy & Daddy. At least, as much as I can reasonably help it.
Having a few friends over on New Year’s Eve forced me to clean up the growing mess that had parked itself in our main living space since LadyP’s birth: the tummy-time quilt perpetually spread across the floor, the jungle safari gym, the infant chair, the Boppy/feeding pillow, the messy conglomerate of bottles/formula/burpcloths that were permanently setup across my kitchen counter for all who entered to see, blankets strewn about… and it was slowly getting worse as LadyP has recently started to collect rattles and toys that squeak. I used to be so cool. What happened? One of my peeves has always been when parents allow their home to be overtaken by baby/child toys in common areas (so much that you’d never guess that adults even lived there), and I was slowly on my way. I had to stop the madness before it got out of control and reclaim my fabulousness asap. I attempted to put as much as I could away in the baby’s room until I needed them on a case-by-case basis… for which I’d then bring out, use, and put away when finished with them. (Ok, so I kept the infant chair next to our couch and also kept my bottles on the counter, but moved them so they’d be behind my wine rack instead of in front if it… I’m not that unrealistic.)
I’m making a goal to try this ‘take out, use, then put away’ method until I completely lose my mind. I will inevitably fall off the wagon more times than I can count, but it’s never too soon to set an example for your kids to pick up what they’re not using/playing with to keep a decent living space. I don’t expect to live in an immaculate home with kids, but it’s not impossible to keep it comfortably picked-up most of the time. So far (2 days in) the goal remains in-tact. And at the very least, reclaiming control of our home feels fantastic! It’s like I’m my old self again, but better (with a fun little baby). Call me nuts, but I’m convinced my goal is do-able.. because looking at this makes me too happy:
