Well, that's a stumper

Allison's inquisitiveness is growing by the day.  Lately I am asked to spell at least a dozen words for her every day.  And dinner time has become a time for her to ask how things are made.

Pretzels?  no problem
Bananas?  easy

But tonight was a bit more tough.  First she asked how you make water.  Hmmm... do I go with the scientifically correct 2 Hydrogens + 1 Oxygen?  Or the simpler, it comes from rain?  I went with rain, collected in a reservoir and piped to our faucet.

And then the really tough one.

Mommy, how to you make people?

{{insert long pause}}

Well, people grow in the tummys of their mommies and then the doctors help them come out.  That seemed to appease her enough for now.  Oh boy do we have a long road ahead.

Picasso Pictures

Just in case you wanted to see the damage done here are a few photos.  The wet spots are from where we tried using the Magic Eraser to clean it off.

Hurricane Toddler

When we had just one child, even when we had just one toddler, I was reasonably able to keep up on housework.  Things were not perfect but in general rooms were picked up and presentable should someone unexpectedly stop by.

Now that there are two tiny tornados that run through my house each day I have found it IMPOSSIBLE to keep things at an acceptable level of chaos.  There is always something... toys strewn about, miscellaneous bits of toast or waffle on the floors, missing sippy cups that turn up underneath recliners, and just general bedlam.

Given my health issues and business we have agreed to bring someone in every other week to do the real cleaning.  And that is a huge blessing.  They get the floors and toilets clean and change the sheets.  I'm actually not quite sure how we did it before they started coming.  But even with that it just seems to spiral out of control daily.  Don't misread me here... I am not looking for perfection or a spotless house or passing the white glove test.  Far from it.  I can handle a certain level of dishevelment.  But almost every day it passes my threshold. 

I have routines.  Sort of.  We make sure to do the dinner dishes every night, wipe down the table and counters and sweep the kitchen.  We pick up toys before bedtime.  And yet nearly daily I find myself rushing to get out of the house and so things that I would have intended to pick up before leaving for the day are left for when we get home.  And when we get home it's a whirlwind of dinner, playtime, bathtime & bedtime followed by an exhausted me and Mr Brown trudging through the absolutely necessary chores and leaving the rest for tomorrow.

Getting up earlier is not an option.  My alarm already rings at 5am and that's only if the oldest tornado doesn't wake me sooner.  I can't be functional before 5.  Not gonna happen.

So, moms with more than one toddler... how do you do it?