A Cleanliness Confession

I'm kinda ashamed to admit this, but here it goes:

I pretty much always have a clean house.

That feels really good to get off my chest.

The past few days I've let things slip a little, which means 4 un-ironed shirts on the couch and a basket of unfolded laundry in the living room. A couple small clutter piles on the counter-tops, but that's really about it.

So last night I spent an hour and a half after I put Alexa to sleep to tidy the place up. It's addicting because as one thing gets put away, it feels so good and I want to do more!

I am more than slightly embarrassed by this seemingly good obsession because some of the best moms I know throw cleanliness to the side and instead go on grand adventures with their children, teach them how to do wonderful and exciting things, and are so bushed by the end of the day that there is no energy left to clean.

I'd like to be more like that. In fact, I actually had a previous post all written up where I took pictures of my little piles of messes around my house to prove that it's not always clean, to convince myself that I can throw cleanliness to the wind and be as random and spontaneous as these other great moms I know.  (Especially blogging moms. It seems the first thing blogging moms honestly admit to the blogosphere is that their house is not always clean.)

But the fact is, most of the time things are pretty tidy around here. Maybe things will change as Alexa gets older, but I really don't think so. She already helps to put her toys away.

Alexa and I rarely get out of the house. Any out of the house activity can only last about an hour, and then it's nap time again, so it's just easier to stay home and let her roll around on the floor with me and her "frienemies," a.k.a. her toys and stuffed animals. She has just as much fun doing that, and I love it, too. We do go out a few times a week to the park or on a walk, but the time spent outside the home is pretty minimal. Not a whole lot of adventuring around here, I am sorry to say.

So, for me, a clean house is essential to maintain my sanity. Since I spend most of my time here, and relax on occasion (which was the problem last night--I wanted to read but the shirts needing to be ironed were in my reading spot), then things have to be tidy.

This maybe a surprise to say anyone that knew me circa 1986-2006, but getting married and making a goal to "never go to bed with a dirty or messy house" while on our honeymoon really helped. There's nothing quite like waking up to an empty couch and no dishes in the sink. It's a fresh start to a new day.

I'd like to say I'm a cool, adventurous mom, but for now, I'm learning to accept myself as the mom who is teaching her 5-month old how to put her bottle in the sink when she's done eating.

Super cool, I know.

I'm starting to explore black and white photo-ing, and I thought the low color contrast of these would be a good place to start.