Finding the Balance

It’s been a busy few weeks for us – we sent our helper back to the agency just before we went on holiday, and the house has been in absolute chaos since then. I really don’t mind the housework, but it’s been really physically tiring doing it with a growing belly and the chores, mess and dust are just never ending! I can barely even entertain the thought of the backlog of work that I need to clear too.

On the upside, we’ve enjoyed not having an additional person in the house and both boys have been happily “helping”, “washing” dishes, “doing” the laundry, and Mittens has been vacuuming the house parts of the house, his speciality being the sofa – with a Rainbow no less!

I remember telling Mittens that our old helper was going to go home to see her mother, and his first question was something like, “Who is going to cook for us?”. When I told him that he’d have to help out, by doing the dishes and such, he readily agreed. Which kid doesn’t like playing with water?

The hubby has also been really helpful, and we both had fleeting moments of considering not hiring a helper. But with his already physically demanding work and another little one on the way, I’d rather we be spending our time with the kids rather than on household chores. I definitely would like the kids to be more independent, and less dependent on hired FDWs or us or grandparents, and I love have the hubby help around the house – it feels like we are really working together for the family, and it’s so satisfying!

I love hearing from parents with young kids (of 2 kids or more) on how they cope, but for now I’m raising the white flag and crossing my fingers and toes and praying the next helper will be good to us.