Our house is lived in

Occasionally, I'll see those emails that get circulated, talking about how you're never on your deathbed wishing you'd cleaned your house more. That you should be spending time loving your children rather than cleaning, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I'm not sure what exactly those emails say because I don't read them. Anything longer than a short paragraph and I shut down, I just don't have the time.

I think though, whatever they are saying, I would have to agree. Our house is rarely, if ever, clean. Our house is lived in. I spend time every day picking up the clutter and dusting or swiffering but it doesn't make it clean by others' standards. Sometimes I feel like I'm just treading water with the housework. I used to try and do all my cleaning while Hannah was napping, but then she would get irritated upon waking and finding the house clean. "You forgot meeeeee!!!" She has her own swiffer and gets pissed if you swiffer without her.

There are those who are in the same boat as us, small children who seem to leak crumbs, following you from room to room as you attempt to clean. And then there are those with no children who don't understand how someone can live with toys on the floor, or crumbs on the rug. Some nights as we're sitting on the couch, I'll catch a glimpse of some toy peaking out from under a piece of furniture and be reminded of the giggles that came from playing with that toy. Its those giggles that make toys on the floor okay. But sometimes, it is still hard for me to not fret whenever someone who doesn't have kids sees our house. I, of course, get all the big chunks up before someone comes over, but I just can't have freshly shined, mopped floors every day in case we get a visitor.

The big one leaks small pieces of whatever her latest meal was and the little one spews milk, that's just how it is. I have accepted that our house is lived in. It isn't a display house. Maybe someday when they are past the age of spewing and leaking it will be easier to keep on top of the little messes, but right now Lance and I live in a home. A home that has small, happy, mess-making children.