This. Poor. House.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

This. Poor. House.  Life has taken it over.  Forget "Better Homes and Gardens", can I please subscribe to "Lived in House and Overgrown Yard"?  That way, I can live and dream in reality. 

Tuesday, I felt a bit overwhelmed in my teensy house.  Before you read any further you must know that my family of FIVE (+a fish) is squashed into a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house at the moment.  But, before you feel sorry for me, we are making it work, and it's actually kinda nice.  I can stand in my hallway and see all 4 corners of my house. (Can you do that?)  I can vacuum my ENTIRE house and never unplug my vacuum. (Can you do that?) 

See, it has it's perks.  

My children are small, they don't care that they are all smashed into one room, it actually brings them more security, in my professional opinion.  Some day (soon I am praying) we will move.  Today. This. Is. My. Life.  I can either dream of a bigger house in a better future, dwell on a "clean and organized past" or embrace today for what it is and find the wonder in this little life blunder.  (see what i did there...{see blog title})

So.  I was thinking.  If I did some reorganizing in this little abode, my life would be so much easier.  Here is what I was picturing and why: 

1: MAKE DINING ROOM A GIANT FAMILY CLOSET.

Dining Room before 3rd Child

Dining Room Post 3rd Child: 

Do you see the above picture?!?!  This is how my dining room looks 75% of the time.  Now.  All that laundry is clean.  Trust me.  But. Gracious.  When you have tiny children, the only time you can fold clothing is when everyone is sleeping (at either naptime or bed time).  This is because:

A) Little hands will unfold 3 items in the time if takes you to fold 1

or

B) They want to help!  (I'm sorry.  Maybe they can help with a load of towels, but ain't nobody got time for 2 toddlers helping with a family of 5's laundry.  And... if you do... Congratulations, you are a better Mom than me.  Come teach me your ways, oh wise one.)

Okay.  I fold it, but I cannot put it away because... every one is sleeping.  And what ruins your day more than your kids waking up early from their nap?! Nothing!!!  Absolutely. Nothing.  So.  It sits there, in my piles until the stars align and I have 3 happy children, occupied (and not needing Mommy) then I can put it away.

The solution:
I have 2 options.  I can get this problem under control, or I can embrace the problem and buy a few dressers and some clothing racks so I can set up a family closet in the dining room.

hmmm.  decisions. decisions.

2: MOVE DINING ROOM TABLE TO LIVING ROOM

Living Room Before 3rd Child

Living Room Post 3rd Child

Obviously, since our dining room looks like our closet threw up in it, we need to eat else where.  Let me pause a minute and tell you I am a BIG HUGE believer in eating at the table as a family.  We try to always sit as a family and eat together, but this clothing issue is a problem.  So what to I do?  Either, I move my piles to the floor or bar and we eat the the table, or we have a "picnic" in the living room. These two scenarios are about to drive me batty.  My children love it.  I do not.  So...

The Solution:
Since my dining room will be the official family closet... let's just move the table into the living room and call it what it is.  An added bonus is that our clothing will not get dirty. Yippee.


3: MOVE ALL 4 MATTRESSES TO THE FLOOR INTO THE MASTER BEDROOM

The Master Bedroom Before Third Child

The Master Bedroom Post Third Child

If you have small children, you can agree with me on this point.  All children think Mom and Dad's bed is where. it's. at.  

Mom: "Would you like to go to Chuckee Cheese?" 

Kid: "Nope, it's too noisy and no fun."

Mom: "Would you like to go with me and eat ice cream all day?"

Kid: "No, that would make my tummy hurt, duh?!"

Mom: "Would you like to come sleep in my bed tonight?"

Kid: "HECK YES!!!!!"

And, I would totally be happy with my children sleeping in my bed IF I got to sleep.  Nope.  That is not the case is it?!  Let's discuss the reality of this for a second...If our kid comes to our bed, we get an elbow to the face, a knee in the back and their body temperature rises to 200 degrees and you feel like you are going to die from heat exhaustion. And if your kid is like mine, they do the most atrocious of all actions... they. breath. through. their. mouth.  (and in your face if you are lucky) My children wind up in our bed part of the night about 50% of the time.  Then, I force my husband to carry them back to their rooms.  (I get up to feed the baby, HE carries kids back to their bed.  It's our give and take.) 

Also, because we have 2 bedrooms, naptime can be a little weird.  Usually I put the baby down in the kids room, and then our 2 year old sleeps in our bed for naptime.  Sleeping is all out of whack in a 2 bed, 5 person household. 

The Solution:

I will move all mattresses to all 4 beds to the floor of our bedroom.  This solves so many problems.  Everyone can have their own beds, no one will fall out of bed, and we can all sleep through the night!!!!  woohooo!!  Win. Win. Win. 

There you have it!!  I took all my life's problems and solved them with one post.  But.  Wouldn't it be the best if all these solutions were socially acceptable?  I am pretty sure the Duggars have a family closet, but they have 19 (or 40) children? (I lost count) Several people in our world sleep in rooms with several mattresses piled on the floor, but that lifestyle is a little too alternative for my family.  And, the "TV Tray" was invented because all of us eat in the living room at some point, don't we?! 

I guess we can't waste our time "Cause wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'; Plannin' and dreamin'..." for your life situation to change won't bring about any change at all.  Instead we must embrace our circumstance, and make it work the best we can.  Set small goals and accomplish those, then tackle something a little bigger.  

So my small goal for the month: Figure out a way to keep the laundry off the table.   I won't be rearranging my house according the the plan described above, instead I will start small and see where it leads.  

Thanks for reading friends.