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Having your place on the market means one thing apparently, you will be cleaning ALL THE TIME!!!
Last week I posted an article about staging your home when you have children. I thought at the time that the hardest part was behind me. I figured that getting this place in tip top shape so we could put it on the market was going to be the most challenging part. Once it was on the market, I thought, naively, that it would just be a matter of keeping on top of the cleaning (something I tend to do anyway) and occasionally having to be out of the house with both cats and my toddler in tow for showings. I have learned, very quickly, that I was wrong.
It turns out that the hardest part is keeping my place show ready, not getting it show ready in the first place. With 2 cats, a husband and a 2 year old it is more challenging than I expected to keep this place sparkling clean.
Take this morning for example. We had an open house. Now mind you we just had one on Sunday so we had done a very thorough cleaning Sunday morning and Lorne and I had done a bunch of tidying up yesterday evening so we figured it would be fairly easy for me to do a final tidy up and get the cats and Maya out of here in the couple of hours I had this morning. Let me tell you, I busted my butt for 2 and 1/2 hours straight and barely managed to get out the door before the open house was slotted to begin. Who knew that in one day there would be enough cat hair, dirt, etc on the floor and furniture to require a full up vacuuming. Who knew there would be enough dust on the surfaces of our furniture and photos to require a full up dusting. Who knew our bathroom and kitchen would be dirty enough to require a thorough wipe down (thankfully not a full up cleaning!). No me apparently 
I feel like I spend all my time cleaning. I barely have time to play with my daughter, to write, to sit quietly for five minutes. Even Maya has noticed. She has asked me several times in the last few days to please be all done cleaning so I can play with her 
It turns out open houses and showings are good for something a little extra, they give me some free time away from the vacuum, dust rag, windex and paper towel to spend with my daughter.
So from now until our place sells just call me Mrs. Clean, because that is what I will be doing morning, noon and night, cleaning.
Any tips you have for me on how to make keeping this place clean a little easier would be greatly appreciated? Have you ever sold a house, how did you keep on top of this cleaning without going crazy?
Nipple confusion, in basic terms, is when your baby forgets how to nurse or how to draw milk from a breast nipple. It is caused when a baby is introduced too early to artificial nipples like pacifiers or bottle nipples. Since artificial nipples are easier to use and require much less effort on the baby’s part to get the milk out the baby may become confused when then placed on the breast and be unable to draw milk out.
Babies are born with a natural ability to suck. However, the type of sucking necessary to draw milk from an artificial nipple is different than the sucking technique for drawing milk out of a breast nipple. A breast nipple is soft and requires the baby to open very wide and then engage many muscles in order to suckle properly and draw out the milk. When nursing a baby uses 40 different facial muscles! An artificial nipple is firmer and pre-formed and can be coaxed into the baby’s mouth without much effort on the part of the baby, the suckle required to draw milk out of a bottle nipple is very minimal.
When nipple confusion occurs you may notice the baby refuses to latch and if he or she does latch they get very frustrated and upset almost immediately. This is caused by the fact the baby has forgotten how to draw milk from the breast nipple and is getting frustrated because he or she can’t get anything to come out. You can imagine why the poor little thing is screaming so hard, all he wants to do is fill his hungry tummy with yummy milk but he can’t get anything to come out.
If you suspect your baby is suffering from nipple confusion you have your work cut out for you but you can get past this breastfeeding challenge and continue down the road of successful breastfeeding. Just remember to be patient and avoid getting too frustrated.
- Offer the breast at every feeding.
- Begin to nurse your baby before he or she shows signs of being overly hungry or before he or she becomes fussy.
- Avoid offering your baby artificial nipples until the nipple confusion has resolved, if possible.
- Consider changing your nursing position to something more relaxing and comfortable for both you and the baby.
- Contact a lactation consultant for some assistance. They may be able to give you some advice over the phone, or better yet meet up with you and help you figure this out.
- If you baby appears to be losing weight or shows other signs of not getting enough to eat like too few wet or soiled diapers than contact your child’s pediatrician.
Nipple confusion can lead to other problems as well such as engorgement, clogged milk ducts, an extended nursing strike, sore nipples (from improper latch) and possibly loss of weight by the baby if he or she is not getting enough to eat so it is important to back on track quickly. Many moms who have babies who develop nipple confusion often give up on breastfeeding. But, you can get past this challenge with a little effort, patience and persistence.
The best way to avoid nipple confusion to begin with is to put off introducing artificial nipples to your infant until breastfeeding is well established. Once you and your baby have the hang of breastfeeding and are in a good routine nipple confusion is much less likely.
Maya is big into singing and dancing, I know I’ve mentioned this before. Every day you can find her dancing around our living room, singing along to songs in the car, learning and singing new kids songs, and singing and dancing along with her favorite purple dinosaur, Barney. As her language has continued to developed so has her ability to remember and sing lyrics. She has gotten pretty good at being able to sing her favorite songs like “Pearly Shells”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Old McDonald Had a Farm”. She gets enough of the words out that you totally know what she is singing.
One of her favorite things to do is to entertain her stuffed animals with cheerful renditions of her favorite songs.
Earlier today I was busy cleaning up the living room while Maya entertained herself. Maya was playing away in her bedroom when all of a sudden I started hearing her sweet musical voice singing “Old McDonald”. I quickly grabbed the camera and sneaked into her room. I found her sitting on her change table (climbing up there is one of her new (scary) tricks) entertaining her a few of her stuffed animals by singing “Old McDonald” to them.
Getting a house ready for that final step, putting the “for sale” sign in the front yard and welcoming strangers into your home to critique it, is hard enough when you don’t have an endless supply of children’s stuff laying around. People coming into view your home and potentially make an offer to buy it don’t want to trip over stuffed animals, dolls, bouncy seats, baby swings, race cars, or video game systems. They don’t want to feel like they have inadvertently entered a Toys R Us store instead of the home they were maybe considering purchasing.
The trick is to make your place look like a great place for kids without it looking like there isn’t room for all the stuff that come with kids. Plus not everyone looking at your home is going to a) have kids b) want kids or c) care if the house is a good family house. Staging your house to appeal to all potential buyers, whether they have kids or not, means staging your house so that the people looking at it barely notice all the kid stuff.
As someone currently getting her place ready for sale and in the market looking at homes I may want to purchase I know both how hard it can be to make all that kid stuff seem like it has disappeared and what a difference having a house properly staged can make on a potential buyer. It doesn’t matter if your house is big or small, has lots of storage or lacks storage. The key is good staging. Here are a few tips and tricks for keeping all that kid stuff in check while you are trying to sell your home.
- Go through it all and get rid of anything that you no longer need. If you have been holding onto old baby gear like high chairs, bouncy seats, diaper genies, etc, but don’t plan on having any more kids get rid of it. Donate it, recycle it, etc.
- Consider renting a storage locker somewhere so you can store stuff your kids aren’t currently using but you will have a need for in the future. For example if it is summer your kids won’t need all their winter gear like snowsuits, sleds, skis, etc so put it in storage. Any toys or gear your kids have outgrown but that future children will need can go in the storage locker.
- If you have a playroom make sure it is well organized and doesn’t look to cluttered. Consider a shelving unit and bins to help keep toys organized and up off the floor when the house is being shown.
- If you don’t have a playroom and your kids use your living room as their play area consider getting versatile pieces of furniture that can act as storage for the kids toys but still look like grown up furniture. For example, a ottoman that opens for storage can make a great toy box. Beautiful weaved baskets to slide into the bottom shelf of a book shelf in the living room also are great ways to stow kids toys away and still have the room look like a grown up space. Consider storing most of their toys (or at least some of their toys) in their bedroom during showings.
- Keep kids bedrooms clean and clutter-free. Organize book shelves, kids toys and clothing in a fashion that is cute and clean.
The idea is make the kids stuff blend into the rest of the house. You want potential buyers to recognize that this is a great house for kids but at the same time not feel like a nice grown up house as well. If they have children they will love seeing bedrooms already nicely decorated for kids, and that there is enough space in the house that they won’t have to worry about tripping over their own kids’ stuff if they decide to buy the house. A well staged, clutter free, clean house is always more appealing to potential buyers.
When you are getting ready to sell your house be sure to talk to your real estate agent about your kids’ stuff and find out what recommendations they have.
NO NO NO NO
As parents it is the one word we feel like we say most often. It is the word we get so tired of saying it we wish we lived in a world where we didn’t have to say it ever again. NO. No you can’t have cookies before dinner. No you can’t stay up past your bedtime. No you can’t break curfew. No you can’t borrow the car. No you can’t hit your brother. No you can’t use bad words like that. No you can’t….and the list goes on and on and on and on.
Being the mother of a 2 year old I use more than my fair share of the word “NO”. Some days are worse than others. Some days I can actually get through the whole day without having to use the word “NO” much at all. Other days, well other days I might as well record the word “NO” and just play it on a continuous cycle!! What I have learned in my short time of being a mom is that I get a better response if I am creative with my use of the word “NO” or if I spin into a positive somehow. Changing things up a bit breaks up the monotony and saves me from feeling like all I ever do is say “NO”.
Kids get tired of hearing the word “NO” as much as we get tired of saying it. As time goes by our “NO” loses it’s punch and our kids start ignore those “NO’s” they hear over and over again. Kids like to hear “YES” every now and then. They like to feel like there are things in this world that they are allowed to do. We can understand that can’t we, I mean adults like to hear “YES” every now and then too, we all do. By being a little creative with our use of the word “NO” we can all get a little bit of what we want. So, here are a few creative ways to spin your use of the word “NO” so that you say “NO” less often and “YES” (or something else positive) more often.
- Instead of saying something like “No, you can’t do X until you have finished Y.” try saying “Yes, you can do X when you finish Y.” It sounds easy enough, right? I use this one a lot with my daughter. She responds a lot better if she hears it as a positive rather than a negative.
- If your child is doing something they are not allowed to do, say throwing a ball in the house, tell them where they can throw the ball while you are telling them can’t run in the house. For example, “Remember, throwing the ball is an outside game. You can throw the ball outside.”. It helps if you can then give them the opportunity to follow through and head outside to throw the ball around for a while.
- Be specific when you are telling your kids to stop doing something. Instead of saying “No throwing food” or “No whining”, etc. Say things like “Please stop throwing your food.” or “Please use nice words to tell me what you want.” Taking the word “NO” out of the equation may just get you better results.
The idea is to try to avoid saying “NO” so that you don’t feel like that is all you ever do and your kids don’t get tired of hearing it and stop responding to it. Of course, in the middle of a heated moment it may be difficult to remember to spin your “NO”, but if you try to do it most of the time the few times an actual “NO” comes out won’t seem so bad.
What do you do as a parent when you get tired of saying the word “NO”? What spinning techniques do you use?