I'd like to admit...

...it's getting better.

Someone must have put Izzy's switch back on to "Good." She has been getting up in the morning ALMOST with a smile (and a tired, "See, Mommy. I'm not crying!"). She gets dressed mostly by herself (she just needs to do it more quickly!). She has been putting her shoes on by herself. She has MOSTLY been getting her jammies on without a fuss (it DOES take her a long time as she keeps getting distracted with her TALKING). She greets me at the day care with a "Hello, Mommy!" and might even come and hug me if she's not too busy playing. This morning she was so happy and cheerful as I dropped her off at daycare, I got a million hugs and kisses goodbye--and well, I just feel like my sweet little Izzy is BACK.

Now we're working on her getting her own socks on--correctly. Socks are just so darn tricky! She can pull them on, but they're usually backwards or crooked across the toes. And then she comes to me to fix them. And up to now, I've been a LAZY mommy and just said, "Oh, let me do it!" as then it gets done quicker.

Yes, it's MY FAULT she doesn't do some of this by herself (er, well, more accurate to say, "seems to depend on so much help"). So I'm trying to LEAVE THE ROOM while she gets dressed ("I'll be back in a minute, honey!"), so that I'm not there to inhibit the "independence progress" and be so readily available for "help." I find that she does dress quicker (albeit still BACKWARDS) when I'm not there.

That being said, I still won't send my kid to daycare if I notice her underwear/jeans/shirt/socks are on backwards.

Hmmm.... I may just have to wake her up EARLIER to give her more time to do all of this.

As for myself, I've been working now for just over a week, and I've got the messy house to prove it. I've mostly kept the kitchen SOMEWHAT clean, but the rest of the house just looks SCARY. Toys and clothes and papers and the guts of backpacks and dust and CLEAN laundry and DIRTY laundry, and oh GOD.... It's simply a mess. I'm too tired to deal with it during the week. And then on the weekends, it's just so overwhelming (and then the thought of the kids just trashing it again) that I just IGNORE it.

No more excuses THIS weekend. I invited the neighbors over for a game night on Saturday. So now on Saturday morning everything HAS to get done, or I face major shame and embarrassment.

It's just like my mama taught me--just live with it until company comes, and then CLEAN LIKE THE DEVIL.

We need to have people over more often.