Introduce yourself. How many kids do you have? What are their ages? Are you a stay at home mom or working mom? Anything else we should know?
Well hello all you beautiful people! I'm Shannon, a 30{ish} (how did I miss you turning 30? Dying to know how you celebrated that milestone since mine isn't too far away and I've got it on the brain after Hubby's party this weekend) years young mama to one beautiful two year old girl, Kendall. I am married for three years to my best friend, Jimmy. And for you math whizzes out there, that means we got pregnant soon after we tied the knot, like the month after. I am a former working mama turned stay-at-home-mom and although I wouldn't have it any other way, this is the hardest job I've ever taken on.
1. Do you follow a cleaning schedule? We want to know how often you mop the floors, clean appliances, windows, etc.
I WISH! OMG I have pinned numerous cleaning schedules to follow and even put a cleaning lady on my Christmas list {two years in a row} and somehow neither one of those things have happened. I clean when I feel like things need cleaned. Sometimes I'll be sitting down to catch up on the DVR and catch a glimpse of the wood floors in the sunlight and realize it's been days, weeks, months {yes, months} since they have been steamed and I'll steam them. Other times it's like, "OMG we are having company, better clean the toilets!". I do every day stuff, well, every day. I tidy up, sweep, pick up toys, dust, laundry on a fairly regular basis. But things like appliances, windows, and baseboards/trim? Forgettaboutit! I barely do those things twice a year, if I'm lucky.
2. When do you do the following chores and where are your kids and what are they doing?:
a. Dishes
b. Vacuum
c. Dust and clean appliances (what products do you use?)
When I'm cleaning it's usually throughout the day. A lot of times when Kendall is eating I'm putting away dishes or cleaning up from whatever I just made for her to eat. She is at the age where she likes to "help" and so when I do chores like putting the dishes/laundry away I let her get involved. That usually means letting her put the the Tupperware type stuff in a cupboard she can easily access and/or put the clothes from the washer into the dryer. Vacuuming has become a little harder recently because she so badly wants to help but it's not really something that she can help with just yet (get her a dust buster for Christmas! Chase loves to dust buster! I also give him a turn on the big one some times too.) Dusting is my easy chore as it doesn't take too long and I can usually do it while she's watching an episode of Veggie Tales or down for a nap. I typically use the easy and convenient dust wipes (need to get some of these!) that are ready to go and are a mom's dream come true. My go to cleaning product is Clorox wipes and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Those two products are really all you need to get any job done. That and a good steam mop (it's on my Christmas list!)!
d. Grocery store
Kendall accompanies me to the grocery store 98% of the time. It's hard,I hate it. She doesn't like to sit in the cart anymore, instead she prefers to push it. I miss the days when the grocery store used to have the kid sized carts. At this point it's just easier to let her "push" it and honestly she does a pretty decent job and the reaction we get from other shoppers is quite adorable (that's so cute!). It may take longer to get through the entire store but at least we're not fighting.
e. Other errands
Kendall is pretty much with me when I am doing anything. It makes a "quick Target trip" seem like a chore and therefore I often find myself questioning whether it's REALLY necessary because, let's face it, taking a toddler to Target is hardly fun.
f. Exercise
IF I exercise it's when she's alseep, whether it's a nap or after she goes to bed for the night. Exercising while The Toddler is awake is not an option these days. Instead she wants to get on the treadmill with me and thinks she's perfectly capable of lifting 8lb weights. I did try to do a dance video on the Wii with her a few weeks ago and she thought that was super fun and mama was able to burn a few calories (such a good idea! I keep saying I'm going to try to do yoga when Chase is awake because I figure he will either keep playing with his toys or try to do it with me).
g. Blog
h. Relax
Blogging & relaxing are things I have to do when there is no sign of a toddler for a long time aka at night. I have said it a million times before, and it's true, I do not sit down until she goes to bed at night. Until then it's constant playing, cleaning up, filling sippy cups, getting snacks, watching Dora. During nap is when I usually answer emails, catch up on my blog material, and any other online things but to truly RELAX, I have to wait till night time.
3. Is your house always visitor ready? If someone rang the doorbell right now and wanted to take a tour of your house would there be any rooms you were embarrassed about? Take a picture and show us! Good or bad we want to see!
I'd say yes, our house is always visitor ready. There may be a puzzle and the centerpiece on the coffee table may be ready to fall to the ground but I'm happy to say I'd be perfectly comfortable if someone rang my doorbell, right now. The playroom is always a mess, always. I clean, clean it about once a month but as far as putting the toys away, every day, that doesn't happen. I used to pick them up every day during nap and then again at night but now I realize how useless that is. So it's pretty much a mess, always, and that's OK with me. The rest of the house? I'd totally be willing to give a tour of.
4. Are you always visitor ready? If someone rang the doorbell right now is your hair perfectly styled, make up and pin worthy outfit on? Take a picture and show us! Good or bad we want to see!
Me? OMG no way! Unless it's Wednesday {we go to Story Time at 10 am} or Thursday {we have a Create & Play group} I'm probably not showered and my hair is greasy enough to fry chicken. I'll probably have yesterdays makeup under my eyes and my husbands sweatpants on. So yeah...
5. What time do you wake up? What time do your kids wake up? What time do you go to bed? I don’t want to know what time your kids go to bed because it takes me forever to get mine to go to sleep by 8:30!
Since I put tin foil on Kendall's window she sleeps until 8-9, can I get an "AMEN!"? From the woman who used to pray for a 7 a.m. wake up, this is huge! Depending on if we have something to do early in the morning I wake up when Kendall does. If we have plans to do something in the morning I'll wake up around 7:30 so that I can shower and start getting ready before she gets up but otherwise I wait until I hear her to get up. On those days I will wait to shower during nap time. As for bed time, I used to go to bed between 9-10, religiously. These days it's more like 11-12 and Kendall goes to bed between 8-8:30.
6. When do you blog?
I usually blog in advance. I am a huge blog post scheduler and I feel better when I have them scheduled to post at least a day in advance. That doesn't always happen though. I blog when I can. Some days that happens before Kendall wakes up {if I so happen to get up before her and have enough time to chug coffee}. Some times I blog during nap time if I feel so inclined and then most of the time I blog at night, after she's off in dream land. Some days I will write multiple posts and other days I have nothing. Just depends.
7. When do you shower?
Again, this depends on the day. If it's Wednesday or Thursday I will shower bright and early around 7:30-8. The other days I don't shower usually until nap time, around 1-2. That is obviously subject to change if we have a play date or need to run to Target.
8. How often do you do laundry? Do you always fold and put away right away?
Laundry, laundry, laundry. I swear if I could hire someone JUST to do laundry it'd be worth every cent. I hate it. I am like Jessica Simpson, I don't mind washing & drying but I hate putting away. (This is why I love Shannon! Fellow Jessica Simpson fan club member and hater of laundry!) I am notorious for leaving baskets of clean, folded laundry around for days, heck, even weeks. But when I do put away it takes all of 2.5 seconds and then I'm like, "that wasn't so bad!" and wonder why I waited so long in the first place.
9. How often do you make dinner? Do you eat together as a family?
Oh this varies. My husband started a new schedule about 2 months ago forcing us to eat dinner at a drastically different time than we were/are used to. That being said, I don't make dinner as much as I used to either. I try to make dinner more nights than I don't make it. I hate to report that due to this new schedule we don't usually eat together either. We typically eat the same thing but we don't eat it together.
10. How often do you have fun with your kids? Park, out of the home activity, in the home activity?
Every week we have at least 2 days where we are guaranteed two activities outside of the home. We go to our local library for story time on Wednesdays and we have friends there that we hang out with for a good half hour {or more] afterward. Thursdays our parks & rec center puts on a a "create & play" class for 2-5 year olds that lasts for an hour and there is a craft, story time, sport, snack, etc included. Randomly we'll do things like go to Chuck-E-Cheese or the park or our kids science museum but that's on a "need" basis. At home I try to do something fun every day. That doesn't always happen. Some times it means we bake cookies, other days we'll get out the Play-Doh, or even attempt some fancy Pinterest idea. I wish I were more crafty and could think of something fun and creative to do every hour of every day but, quite frankly, that's just not possible.
Thanks so much for doing this Shannon!
I wish I got to sleep that late!!
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