I hate cleaning my house. I love having a clean house which is why I hate cleaning my house. Because I have a four year old and a one year old. And the four year old is pretty good about not being too messy, at least not fast. But the one year old -- totally different story. The minute he gets up he starts pulling toys off of shelves and out of tubs. Not to play with them, just to put them on the floor.

And then I have to feed him. Again, the one year old is generally more trouble than the four year old. She tends to eat quickly and neatly so to get back to Dora the Explorer. This morning he was actually pretty clean. I watched him pick up the pieces of his Pop-Tart and his banana slices and was amazed at how well he was doing. I was reading my Bible (www.biblein90days.com) and looked down to read some more from Deuteronomy and it happened. He picked up the paper towel his breakfast was on and waved it like a flag - crumbs and two remaining Pop-Tart bites flying with it. So much for my clean floor.

My mother-in-law's house always seems clean. Even when all sixteen of us are there ... well maybe not then, especially in winter when there are extra hats and shoes and coats and sets of gloves. But really soon afterward things are back to normal. Will my house ever be back to normal? And what exactly is normal?

And then I wonder, why do people buy toys for one year olds? I mean, really. He found the box of garbage bags and wanted to play with it. So when it was empty, I let him get it out. It's his favorite place to hide magnets from the fridge, parts of sister's doctor kit and pacifiers. I seriously should have returned all of his Christmas presents and gone out to dinner - and a really NICE dinner at that, because all he wants to play with are garbage boxes and his sister's stuff. Oiy vey.