Cinderella Needs Your Help!

Happy Wednesday!!!

Today I am here looking for advice. Okay, being really honest here I'm a messy person. I'm not organized and I get extremely overwhelmed with making time for all the housework that needs to be done. Mike and Lexi are also not organized (Mike is going to yell at me when he see's this post! LOL) Our house has 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, family room and living room. The house itself is 2,000 sq feet. The house isn't huge but it can be a lot for me to keep up with on my own with 4 kids, my sister, two dogs and a husband. It's a full time job just to do laundry around here. I don't have the budget for help. Although I would LOVE to hire someone to help me with the cleaning but right now, I just can't. I'm a stay at home mom, as most of you know, and it's all on me. 

Today I am here asking for help!! Someone give me your tips on how you keep up with it all! 

First things first, I need storage idea's. Rack your brains on cute, functional, storage and please share!! I realize a lot of the clutter in my house is due to lack of storage space. I have one, yes only ONE, closet that isn't in a bathroom or bedroom. And it is TINY! We don't have any attic space, and our basement is FULL! I keep telling Mike we need a dumpster and I swear he immediately goes into a borderline panic attack because he doesn't like to let go of anything. We also have a lot of other peoples things down there. I am not a saver...like at all. My mom always yells at me because she tells me I'm not sentimental enough. Mike and his family, however, are savers so we have A LOT of stuff his family has given us. I've never understood holding on to someones stuff, because to me its literally just that STUFF. My mom is rolling her eyes right now. So, until I can get rid of that stuff the basement is out of my control and I can't use that space. So I'll concentrate on the main part of the house.

I decided I'm getting one of these for the family room (pictured below). IKEA to the rescue!

My plan is to get a bunch of baskets for it and to use it for toys, kids shoes, hats/gloves, puzzles, books, you name it! Right now I have a bookshelf with only a few baskets and it's not enough. I really think this will make a difference (well, I hope....). I'm going to move the existing console we have and use it as a place to put our cable box, tv speakers and all that. I think that's the easiest solution to the toy problem. Because with four kids it qualifies as a PROBLEM! There's A LOT of toys!

Okay, I don't know how much more I can do with laundry. I try to do at least one load a day and I never get on top of it. The pile is INTENSE. What is your laundry schedule? I need to switch it up a bit to get more done. Another thing to note is my least favorite chore is laundry. So let me know what you do with that! Especially if you have a big family too! One thing I do have a hold on is the dishes. Those get done at night when I sleep and or at nap time and I unload them the next day or that night. Dishes are usually a twice a day thing in our house...a lot of mouths to feed therefore a lot of dishes. I will always dream of a home with a kitchen big enough for two dishwashers.  

And lastly basic cleaning. When do you find the time? I don't care if you work, stay home, whatever it is please tell me when you find, or should I say make the time. How much do you have your kids do, your husband, etc? I'm not good about delegating and being a stay at home mom I take on majority of the responsibility because I feel like it is my "job" but it's a lot and quite frankly, I suck at it. So I need someone to tell me what to do. I put off a lot of stuff and/or we're busy and I just can't find the time. I feel like I'll bust my butt cleaning and I turn around and the house is a mess again. I just can't get on top of it.

I need ALL THE ADVICE!!

Cinderella is drowning and she is calling out an SOS! How do you do it?!? I just need a way that it doesn't feel so overwhelming. Even if it seems like the most simple of strategies let me know! Leave me a comment! Email me: kriskrumbs@gmail.com, whatever you're most comfortable with! I'd SO appreciate it!

Thanks guys, have a great day!

What's next....

Sometimes I get these thoughts in my head and just need to sit down and type it out. Today, is one of those days. 

You see, I'm at a weird place in my life, a place that nobody really talks about. Maybe it's just me who thinks about it THIS much and if so, so be it. It's no secret that Mike and I became parents young. I found out I was pregnant with Kamryn when I was only 22 years old and she was born when I was 23. Looking back now it blows me away, especially when I look at 22 and 23 year olds. Lucky for me, I knew Mike was the guy for me and I knew everything would turn out okay, but holy moly we were babies. 

Today, I'm 31 and I have 4 kids. I'm surrounded by friends and family who are currently starting their families. My two best friends are pregnant with their first and second baby and I couldn't possibly be more happy for them. I know by the time the summer rolls around they will both be dealing with sleepless nights, at times inconsolable infants, millions of questions to google and through tired eyes they will be feeling more love than they ever knew possible. One will have a toddler running around and the other will be finding out for the first time what life really is all about. They both will be doing their best to enjoy every minute but at the same time wishing they could just get some sleep. They will look back at those days and they'll be a blur. As all moms know, when you're in it, it seems to last forever but when it's over you know it went by so fast. Too fast even. 

I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't jealous. I miss those days more than I could ever put into words and if you've ever read my blog you know if I could have anything, I'd go back and do these past 8 years all over again. I told myself over and over again that I was living the best years of my life and I did my best to enjoy every single second. Now, I have a 2nd grader, a kindergartner, a 3 year old and an almost 2 year old. At only 31 years old I'm at a cross roads, a cross roads that most people don't understand. It might be my age, it just might be my personality and it may be because I'm down right insane but someday's I don't know if our family is complete. I don't know what that feeling is that you're supposed to feel when you're done having babies. This could be because I'm only 31 and that clock is still ticking. It could be because people will look me dead in the eye and tell me "You're done, right?" - with authority, as if I'm breaking some sort of law and it bothers me when they do that. It could be because I'm just one of those people who were meant to have a big family. I really don't know?

One thing I do know is I don't have to make that decision today. I know I was meant to be a mom, there's nothing else in the world that has made me feel so complete other than me being a mom. Even at 23 years old I knew I was doing what I was meant to do. I know I've always been drawn to large families and since probably middle school I knew I wanted a big family. I know having a sister 13 years younger than me was a lot of fun, and still is. I know Mike and I are a team and together we'll make the right decision. 

Who knows? I wish I did. Thankfully I have a long time to figure it out. It might be tomorrow, it might be 4 years from now and it might never happen.....so stay tuned. As for today I'll be counting down the days until all of those in my life have those babies and I can snuggle them and then give them back. Because, I'm not naive enough to not realize that's a great thing as well! HA!

When I had my babies young I never thought about how I would feel when everyone my age was just starting out. I'm here today and it's a weird place to be. I wish I could feel at peace and not think about it so much, but that's just not who I am. Not only am I jealous of those just starting out, but I'm also jealous of those who know without a shadow of a doubt that they are done. It's true we all have our own journey's and it's all in Gods timing. I keep holding on to that. He knows better than me.

One thing I'm sure of is God has blessed my times four and I will NEVER EVER take that for granted. These pictures are great reminders of all the incredible memories and just how wonderful my life is and always has been. I don't know what I did to deserve all this but I am so incredibly thankful. I had no idea in the beginning just how beautiful motherhood could be.

It's a good life, a great life even, I'll continue to count my blessings everyday.

I can't wait to see what comes next....