Today I stopped by a friend’s house unannounced to drop off a flyer for a church function. Actually, I didn’t think she was going to be there so I didn’t think it was a rude move since I would just slip the flyer under her door and call her later. It turns out she was there, and before I could apologize for stopping by without an invite she blurted out, “Hi! My house is a mess!”

I got to thinking about how I would react if someone were to stop by my house unannounced and I really think that the first words out of my mouth would be along the same lines. I long ago came to grips with the fact that if I’m going to work from home while raising my two kids there is an excellent chance that the majority of the time my house is not going to be guest-ready. Don’t get me wrong…I clean up if I know that someone is going to come over, but on a day to day basis there are toys on the floor, dishes in the sink, and I swear the unfolded clothes on the couch are silently mocking me.

Why should I feel guilty about this? My first priority is to make sure that the kids are okay, my second priority is to make sure that my deadlines are met, and my third priority is to make sure the house is in good order. I’d say that if I make it all the way down that tier and have everything set then it’s a really, really good day.

Today’s experience with my friend helped me to realize that I’m not the only mom with a messy house. You may laugh that I actually needed that revelation, but sometimes I think we forget how difficult a job it is to keep kids content and relatively injury-free. If our houses are a little messy but our kids are thriving, then I think that’s a pretty good trade-off, isn’t it?

Be forewarned: You shouldn’t read this post if you’re about to eat lunch. Or dinner. Or a snack, for that matter.

My son has a new habit, and I have no idea how to break him of it. Although he has potty trained with regards to everyday activities, when he goes down for a nap I still put a diaper on him because he’s not quite to an age where he can hold it in while he sleeps. He takes naps most days, but some days he decides he would rather play than sleep.

Here is where it gets gross.

Once in a while he’ll need to poop during naptime. Instead of yelling for me to come help him, or going to the bathroom on his own, he’ll remove his diaper, do his business on the floor, and then smoosh it into the carpet until I come upon this horrific discovery.

Hey, I told you it was gross.

He’s done this three or four times in the past couple of months, and I’m just about ready to just give up on naps altogether just to avoid this situation. I’ve tried making him help me clean it up, I’ve tried scolding, once I even tried crying but that was more involuntary than anything else. Really, who wants to have to clean that stuff up? I think it would bring just about anyone to tears.

Yet today the same thing happened again. My husband seems to think we need to be more stern, but I think I can’t get any more stern without giving the kid a spanking, and since I don’t spank there’s not much else I can do.

I’m open to suggestions on this one.

My house is a mess.

It’s so comical when I try to clean up the house that I swear I can hear circus music playing in the background. There have been times when I would clean up a room and have just enough time to survey the delightful scene when immediately one or both of my kids would enter and start flinging things about: toys, juice, diapers, whatever. They would do it so joyfully, as though a clean room was an invitation to invoke chaos. This phenomenon still frustrates me to no end, but I’ve managed to talk myself into accepting a little bit of mess within the house. It’s taken me a couple of years to manage this reluctant acceptance, but it has helped me immensely.

Mind you, I don’t allow the house to get to a level of mess where it becomes a health hazard, but there are times when the vacuum doesn’t see any action for a couple of weeks and I can’t even estimate when the Christmas decorations will be taken down. I do know.