Messy Mittwoch: No time to clean

I wish the little boy was doing more of this.  But I guess growing up means shorter naps...

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth

empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

hang out the washing and butter the bread,

sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

( lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

( pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

and out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo

but I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?

( lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

- Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, Lady’s Home Journal (1958)

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(Just a little poem I found, that helps me to refocus every time I start to fret about the messy, dirty condition of our home.  Do you find it difficult to balance household chores and parenting duties amidst everything else?  For us, its been tough these days getting the usual housework done with the boy sleeping less, so I'm off to do some tidying now.  Meanwhile, do you have any tips to share on getting your home cleaned and your chores done while still juggling parenthood?  Aside from hiring maids and cleaners that is!)