A Two-Part Post

Part I: A rant about cleaning.

Tonight, I am making my third attempt to get all caught up on laundry around here. It seems impossible for the following reasons,

1. I am not a great housekeeper to begin with.
2. I have a baby.
3. I have a baby who still spits up/spills formula from her tube.
4. Laundry is literally never done. Even if I get all "caught" up tonight, which let's be honest, is unlikely. I still have to wash the clothes Dalan and I are wearing now. So, I am technically not caught up.

It makes me think of an article I once read about the satisfaction men and women get from traditional gender-specific chores. Men, in general, have a much higher rating of satisfaction than women because their (and remember we are talking traditional here) chores end and you can see the fruits of their labor. For example, if they fix a leaky sink, the sink is fixed, and that chore is done and crossed off the list. And they feel good about it. On the other hand, if a woman gets the floors all mopped, the kids and the dog are just going to track dirt and spill food all over the clean floor that afternoon. Her chores are never done, and thus, the lower satisfaction.

During the school year, Dalan and I both try to do our fair share of the chores. We are both working, so it only makes sense to split up the household tasks as well. However, in the summer I try to do way more than my half since I have less outside responsibilities. It brings me little to no satisfaction. Last week, I had the house perfectly clean...and now certain rooms are slowly looking disastrous again. I can never seem to keep up, and I am greatly dissatisfied about it!

Part II: Quinn news.

1. She decided that sleeping in her crib was for suckers again for the last two nights. Last night was comical. She was overly tired and slap happy. She was giggling at everything, and refused to sleep. We actually had a good time playing in her room, and if she wasn't already hooked up to her feeding pump, I would have just brought her downstairs and played. I really have no problem with her being up as long as she is happy. Finally, at quarter to 11, I got her to sleep by patting her and shushing her in her crib, because she had gotten fussy.. She then needed this repeated every hour basically. Luckily tonight, she went right to sleep. I think the two hours in the pool helped wear her out. Let's hope she sleeps through the night.

2. She stood up on her own on three separate occasions today. We have been trying to get her to stand solo forever, and she just learned to squat and go to a crawling position any time we tried. Today, she decided it was cool. This evening at my mom's, she just let go of me and stood, and stood, and stood, like it was no big deal.

3. Quinn likes to take a part out of her Dr. Brown's bottles, and play with it, while we are tube feeding her. If she pulls it out of her mouth against her gums, it makes a squeaking sound. When she does it, I say squeak. She now understands what to do if you tell her to make it squeak. I told her to show Dalan today. She took the part, smiled, looked to make sure he was watching, put it her mouth, and pulled it out so it squeaked. She is a smart girl!