My biggest lesson since becoming a parent has been about adjusting expectations for what can be achieved in a certain time frame.
Today I woke at 5:30 am with the solitary goal of getting my room cleaned and vacuumed. Not a big deal really. It was just a bit messy. Fed baby, got up, showered, supervised kids dressing and tidied kids room. Got all the kids breakfasted and stripped sheets off a bed that had witnessed an accident the night before. I got the sheets in the machine and fed the baby again. We did some schoolwork, I dusted my room, kids took all of their toys out of my room (which are technically banned from there anyway).
10 am rolled around and I had to head in to town, so I did a quick clothes pick up in my room, piled kids in the car, returned an hour later, did some more schoolwork then made lunch.
Got the vacuum cleaner out of the linen cupboard and (wait for it) left it in the hallway because I was distracted by the sheets that were still in the machine waiting to be hung.
I fed the baby again and listened to readers; by this time it was 2 pm. I moved the vacuum cleaner to my bedroom and prepared dinner while Miss 7 had a piano lesson (LOVE music teachers that come to your house!).
3 pm rolled around – afternoon tea time – I started vacuuming the room and it began to rain, so I dashed out to the clothes line to grab the sheets. Decided to make the bed because there’s nothing worse than getting to bed time and remembering you didn’t do THAT job.
It’s 4 pm and I JUST finished vacuuming my room. It took all of 6 minutes.
Mission accomplished.
Welcome to the world of parenting!
