A tidy home?!

Is it at all possible??

Now that my twins are moble & love exploring I let them roam. But the only down side of this is that they create havoc where ever they've been!

Also, of late I've noticed that they have started copying me..just the other day Ds Michael was watching me put the clean laundry away. Just as I turned to walk out the bedroom I turned & saw him unpack the drawers with all the clean clothes on the floor!

Now you might say corner them in a playroom or with a play yard. Unfortunatley our home is on the smaller side & this is not possible. I did have them in a play yard when they were younger but now that they are little explorers they don't want to be contained.

This week it's been over 100F with humidity so no going outside to play..We only go out early in the morning & maybe later in the afternoon..but mostly in the mornings.

It's totally amazing, you clean up & when they awake from a nap it doesnt take but 5 to 10 min before your livingroom/kitchen has toys ALL over..
(We have a open plan living room/dining room & kitchen).

Am I the only one going through this....yeah right! B)

 

I've just resolved myself to having a messy house until all my kids are grown and gone. Then I'll have plenty of time to clean .. until then .. oh well !

 

Great attitude! :lol:

 

yes we expierence the same phenomenon here as well! I usually just let it go til I can't take it anymore. Then I clean up after they've gone to bed, or I make them put their toys away before going. I should make them pick up every night, but I'm guilty of more times than not letting them get out of it. I guess it just depends on my mood and how tired I am.
I have put up a gate in the hallway to contain them to the living/dining/kitchen areas so they can't go and rid my drawers of their clothes. That and my DH put a small steel dowel down the front of their dresser so they're not able to open it or climb up open drawers. Part of the twinado proofing their room.
Good luck, they'll grow up way too fast all the sudden one day!

 

besides the house looking like a tornado hit toys r us nope its clean :rotflmbo:

i know the feeling we to have an open area of living room, dining room, kitchen, toys are all over the place. they nap i put everything nice and tidy back in the corner of the room, lovingly place them in a nice way on top of their toy chest. they wake up make a bee line for the toys and in the blink of an eye my living room is full of toys, DS's truck full of leggo blocks scattered all over and those darn balls from the ball pit are under dining room table again rolling in the kitchen etc....i turn to see my cute black lab lovingly chewing on there stuffed doggie singing a,b,c,d....oh yeah sister i hear ya big time. just another day in the life of toddlers :rotflmbo:

edit: the other day i had just left the hamper with the CLEAN clothes on the floor to take a toy from the dog and i turn around and DS is sitting on the floor right next to it happily flinging clothes all over the place and DD now has my nice clean white shirt wiping all over the floor as she thinks its a push toy and running all over the living room like a monkey....

 

My mom used to have a little painting on the wall that said,

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby & babies don't keep."

 

I do a really good clean on MOndays. Then I tidy here and there other days. I usually enlist the kids help, but often it is faster and easier for me to do it. My main focus is a safe walkway through the rooms and aroudn the stairs!

With 5 kids home, escpecially being summer....Clean houses do not exist!

Cindy

 

I can't remember who now, but somebody here on TS has an awesome quote in her sig: "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling your walk while it's still snowing."

There's also a Quentin Crisp quote I love: "There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse." :lol:

 

He he he, I see myself as i read this post. I know, my house looks like a storm was BORN here. the more I pack up the more they unpack. And as for copying you, yip mine unpacks teh draws too and throws it into the washing machine..

It also looks like we are very tall people, and believe me we are not, because everything is packed HIGH up. and has to move higher almost daily.

I now have little cupboards with draws, turned around, and a stern warning to every guest entering my house, this is their exploring stage and i let them, so watch your step when you walk.

Most jsut laugh it off. I have had a few raised eyebrows, but they dont have twins, nor exploring twins.

isnt it amazing how they just get into EVERYTHING. LOL

 

Yup, it is crazy! I have no idea when my house will ever be rid of the mess of toys! :lol: It's like a hurricane came through here too!

I figure I will do my best to just spend time with my kids now when they are still little.

I can clean my house later.

 

My house is always a disaster zone. Everytime I turn around they are helping each other get into trouble. One day I caught them pulling the window blinds out of the sockets and stacking them on the floor. Of course the pulling broke the top of them, so now I have a blanket hanging at night in my window so people can't see in. I'm not going to buy new ones until they out grow this stage! I try not to sweat this stuff, they are little curious guys and don't mean to trash my house

A side note: My mom had a play date with Austin this weekend, so it was just me and Colton. He followed me around the house, picking up toys so I could vaccum, putting clothes in the dryer, stacking books, putting toys up, I DIDN'T KNOW WHO THIS CHILD WAS! They never do that when they are together, but apart, they are so different AND HELPFUL

 

QUOTE(fuchsiagroan @ Aug 2 2008, 06:47 PM) [snapback]910525[/snapback]
I can't remember who now, but somebody here on TS has an awesome quote in her sig: "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling your walk while it's still snowing."

Love the quote - however, it did make me think of the massive snow storm last winter where we had to shovel several times while it was still snowing, or it would have been too deep to even get through it if we'd waited until it stopped! Sometimes we have to get the toys put away or they'll be too deep to even wade through!

In theory, we pick everything up at least once a day - in reality, it's probably twice a week. And about 10 minutes after they wake up, it looks just like it did before we cleaned. But it makes me happy seeing everything in its place, if only for a very short time.

My favorite part right now is all the toys in our entryway - wonderful first impression! We have a split level, and the boys' territory is the whole upstairs, minus our bedroom. One of their current favorite games is standing at the gate at the top of the stairs and throwing toys over the gate and down the stairs - just to see how far they'll fall. The result is a big toy pile on the floor right when you first walk in the door, and scattered all the way up the stairs. Lovely.

 

QUOTE(naomi02 @ Aug 2 2008, 01:27 AM) [snapback]909569[/snapback]
My mom used to have a little painting on the wall that said,

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby & babies don't keep."



OK, that got me teary! I am such a sap!

I, too, tidy when they are napping ... and TRY to contain the mess to the playroom (which I am lucky to have!) and their room ... which as we all know, doesn't happen ... I also feel amazed at how fast kitchen tile can get dirty! I SWEAR I must sweep and swiffer two times a day!

I think when people have kids, toys everywhere is just a given! Try not to sweat it!

 

My girls are very bad about this. I think their primary goal in life is to destroy, demolish everything they possibly can. If books are on the bookshelf, they are not satisfied unless they throw them in the floor. If I leave them in the floor then no one bothers them. Put them back on a shelf, lickity split, they are in the floor again.

 

I think it just goes with the territory.
For many sad childless years my house looked like a museum. Now I LOVE having the messy toys, etc. around. It looks like a family actually lives in my house now!!
Lots of time later to tidy up - enjoy and embrace it - don't fight it!! :lol:

 

I have cleared out the lower level of our house of all knick-nacks and things that could be moved by the kids. Literally, I moved everything out of the living room except for the couches, the entertainment center, and 2 wicker storage cubes (filled with dvds and cds so they're really heavy.) That's it. No coffee tables, no magazines, no picture frames, nothing. It's soooo much easier for me to keep the house tidy this way. And besides, I learned that, for us anyway, the more tables and flat surfaces you have the more clutter is likely to collect on them.
I do have one room downstairs gated off, it's their playroom and where we keep all their toys. Toys are not allowed anywhere else downstairs but that room. They can have books in the living room but it only takes a few seconds to put those back in the basket. I also try to limit the number of toys they have access to and take out at a time. I have a hutch up in my bedroom that keeps extra toys to be used in rotation and things they're not old enough for. I go in and check on them periodically when they're playing alone and if things are out and not being used we take time to put away all but what's being played with at that moment. I still do tidy up after the go down for naps too, I think it's important for them to have a sense of order, being used to things being put away. I try and put toys aways before naps, but sometimes they're just too fussy.
I don't stress myself about it, just try and tidy small bits thru the day. I frequently have people comment on how tidy my house is. (Which is kind of funny if you've seen the upstairs of my home!)

ETA: We've just taken down the gate b/w the playroom and the living room to take it on a trip (my parents are taking it with them tomorrow but we don't leave until Sat.) so we will have a few days without this nice separation we're all used to... we'll see how being tidy works without a partition!

 

QUOTE(Moodyzblu @ Aug 2 2008, 02:28 AM) [snapback]909391[/snapback]
I've just resolved myself to having a messy house until all my kids are grown and gone. Then I'll have plenty of time to clean .. until then .. oh well !


I clean when they are asleep. Otherwise, my mom has always said; "YOu have kids, there is NOTHING you can do about it!"

 

QUOTE(Rose524 @ Aug 4 2008, 11:49 PM) [snapback]913439[/snapback]
I think it just goes with the territory.
For many sad childless years my house looked like a museum. Now I LOVE having the messy toys, etc. around. It looks like a family actually lives in my house now!!
Lots of time later to tidy up - enjoy and embrace it - don't fight it!! :lol:

ditto... I was a neat freak... I was too much to be honest. I still keep a tidy house but not like it use to be. I have NOTHING in my LR anymore. LOL... They are contained to the LR alot but they just climb in the toy box and throw everything out. I love watching them do it. Like i told DH, man our lives were boring before. LOL...

 

Twinado. I love that. House is a mess here too.
We call them the little warriors. They have "battles" all over the house. Today they discovered they can reach and feel around on the top of some of our counters. Yikes! Another place to keep childproofed.

 

QUOTE(symercat @ Aug 6 2008, 04:46 PM) [snapback]917488[/snapback]
Twinado. I love that. House is a mess here too.
We call them the little warriors. They have "battles" all over the house. Today they discovered they can reach and feel around on the top of some of our counters. Yikes! Another place to keep childproofed.


Yes! Their reach is getting longer and longer! We definitely have to childproof the countertops too!!

I can't let them 'search and destroy' too much otherwise we'll need a compass to navigate around here!

But I tell you most days every room in this house is 'upside down'!! Except the bathrooms!