Mary Poppins said "In every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap-the jobs a game!" I think my Mom must have lived by this philosophy because she always tried to do things like that. We would have sock folding parties that included our favorite movies and refreshments, and although there always seemed to be socks left over, the folded pile grew pretty quickly at these shin digs of hers. I remember she also told one of us [Hillary I think..] "The day you put your boots away we will have a party!" So when that day actually came and Hillary said a sarcastic "Well I guess we better have a party then," my Mom actually made good on her word and we had a Hillary put away her boots party, which I think she half loved half hated. She was always doing things like that.

I realize now as the wife/Mom in the household that this is a good philosophy to live by, because the list is never ending. I think if you didn't add some element of fun to these jobs, for your sake and your kids, you would either go crazy or die of being overwhelmed. So whenever I have to do my million jobs, I try to make them fun for me and Addy. When I do dishes [my least favorite aka bane of my existence] I will put Addy in her bumbo with some toys and her bag of chocolate chips [she likes the way the bag crinkles], put the Disney playlist on Pandora and make it a full fledged concert. This way, she can see me and she is entertained not only by her toys, but also her crazy Mom who reminisces about all good days where girls argued about who got to be Ariel, and you couldn't sing a song without dancing. Its great because I have fun, and she has fun laughing at the fool her Mom is. For laundry, we play choo choo train. I will put all the clothes in the basket and fold/hang them up while we listen to some music or show, and she will patiently play with her toys till the train is ready. Then, she gets in her seat on the train and we chug-a-chug-a over to the closet where the train comes to a rearing stop and she sits on the floor of the closet admiring all the shoes till its time to get back on the train and go back for another load. She loves it, and I love watching her get so excited for the train.

Anyways I was just thinking about all this because my sister was saying how she's worried things are going to be such a mess at her place after the baby comes. I told her they probably will, but that is ok-your whole life is changed and you slowly but surely incorporate the other things back in. It made me think about the first few weeks after pregnancy, how our apartment was such a disaster and I didn't cook hardly anything for weeks. I remember when I first started figuring how to make a decent dinner while still taking care of/entertaining a baby. Then how after I figured out how to juggle those, being able to incorporate things like laundry and dishes. Now, we do it all and it is the norm. But it took us a few months to get to that point, and I should always remember that.

At the end of the day, I still wouldn't say I enjoy cleaning and what not, but I enjoy it a lot more now then I ever did before. There is a feeling of accomplishment at seeing your baby happy and healthy, your dinner in the oven, and the dishes and laundry almost done. It took me so long to get here, but its a nice place to be..now if only I could figure out how to make those things stay done I'd be home free!