My Little Monsters

I recently had the chance to visit a friends of mine house just for a second. Yes, she did know I was coming but when I got there I was floored! Her house was spotless. As I walked back into my own house after a very quick visit I was very dismayed to remember what my house looked like when I left. I swear that I clean all day! When I say that I mean literally all day. I know that all mothers do this and I am no different than the rest of them. But then after visiting my friends house I began to wonder why is it that some peoples houses can actually get to the point where you could call them clean. Mine.... not-so-much, I never can say "my house is clean" mostly this is all credited to my youngest who is the girl version of the Tasmanian devil. Right now as I sit here she just found a bowl of popcorn that someone left in the family room and dumped it all over the floor. Earlier my oldest who is usually more helpful, dropped an entire orange juice container on the floor and watched as it spilled out. My son has been asking me most of the morning, "how many days are we going to be cleaning mommy!" I feel so torn I would love to spend x number of hours cleaning my house to get it to that unobtainable "CLEAN" state but then I feel guilty for ignoring my children long enough to do this. I was in the process of cleaning all morning when my little Avery pulled back the covers and patted the spot next to her on the bed where she was sitting. I was so surprised by this that I actually put down the laundry and went and sat on the bed next to her. She was so pleased with herself that she had accomplished what she was hoping for. A second or two of mom's undivided attention that she couldn't stop smiling. So props to all the mothers who somehow manage to get that "Clean" house. And props to those of us who don't ...I guess sometimes a little undivided attention can make up for a sticky orange juice covered floor.