Housekeeping is a Fulltime Job

Frank has been running a fever and has a nasty cough. The fever broke and he slept through the night last night, so the signs are that he is getting better, and that's when Mary started to feel poorly.

Sick kids used to mean whining babies and hot, clingy toddlers. Now it just means that I have an unusually tired and hot kiddo who wants to lay on the couch and watch "Field of Dreams" on repeat. I joined him for one showing yesterday and he curled into me and I had a flashback of hot, clingy toddler, but overall, he is pretty independent. I am mostly here to administer Tylenol and encourage him to drink juice and water.

I have enjoyed the opportunity to clean. Yesterday I moved all the kitchen appliances off the counter and did a deep clean. I mopped and wiped down baseboards. I moved all the furniture on the main floor and cleaned the wood floors like they haven't been cleaned in years. I've been running the washer and dryer and baking bread and serving my family home cooked meals on stoneware which I cheerfully wash so that the kitchen is once again shining and clean.

I do a pretty good job as a mom with a full time job outside the home. We don't order take out or eat much prepared food. I cook from scratch, although I don't usually bake bread. But we often use paper plates and the floor usually needs to be cleaned and the towels pile up in the basement.

As a mom it is easy to be resentful that no one notices your hard work and no one wants to help you. The kids do not care that the trash is overflowing and that the toilet is stopped up and that the dishes from LAST night are still piled next to the sink. They will balance their trash precariously on top and use the toilet anyway and pile their recently dirty dishes on the kitchen table since there is no room in the sink. And then they WALK AWAY.

I do have them help, but it requires instruction and cajoling. I accept that they do things differently from me. I accept that I do more than them. And I have chosen to be that way. The clean house and home cooked meals are my gift to my family. I love them and want them to have a clean house and a good meal. It has helped me a lot to change my way of thinking and feel that way. Sometimes I am not successful and I scream and go on a rant about how I do everything around here, but most of the time I smile and ask them to take out the trash while I mop the floor.

But these days of caring for sick children has put my domestic instinct into overdrive. I happened to have a few days with nothing scheduled at work and so I have been able to devote myself to my sick children and my house. Four loaves of zucchini bread and four loaves of whole wheat bread, for example. It's been nice.

The two kids are tucked into blankets on the couch watching "Field of Dreams" (there is no way Mary will put up with that all day, so I am predicting that the movie changes after this showing) and I am going to sort fall clothes and pull out the electric blankets and put clean sheets on the bed. And then I will make them a hot lunch of beans and homemade bread. Maybe I'll join them for a movie this afternoon.

I think that the newness would wear off quickly if I really was a full time mom, but I am enjoying it right now.