Oh Dear!

Well I have a ton to write about now. My marriage is officially over. At least I know what my life will be like in the future. I will be a single mom of 4 boys. I am not going to dwell on the fact that my marriage is over. I need to step up the the plate for myself and the boys. I need to start to do everything on my own. I will work on being a better rolemodel for them. I need a plan. That's why I am writing tonight. I have three almost four boys that I will need to shape into great men. I want them to be successful in life. I want them to become great fathers and good husbands. They will now need to be taught that marriage is important. They have not had great role models in this area. Now I need to come up with a way to handle all of the childcare, housework, laundry, yardwork, gardening, and finances all alone. I do not need a man. Especially one who only seems to care about his own feelings and not about anybody elses. I can do this on my own and I will! Tomorrow morning I will have to go to DHS and et on assistance. That will help with the finances for now. Tonight I need to come up plans to handle the rest of it all. The plans might need tweaking here and there.

Childcare

So the basic needs of my children are self-explanatory. I do need to do better in this area. I need to work on some routines for each of the boys and stick to them. I need to set up some rules, reward systems, and expected consequences and follow thru with them with consistency. I also need to set up chores for Andrew and Nikolas. This idea scares me the most. Mostly because of Andrew. He is such a strong-willed and defiant child. I know its going to be a struggle with Andrew. I think I'm gonna have to provide Andrew with his basic needs and books and require him to earn things back through chores, responsibility, and good behavior. I know this is what's going to happen with him. I'm just gonna have to enforce these chores no matter what. Now I have to figure out what chores I would like him to be responsible for. I know I would like him to make his bed each mornin, set and clear the table, keep the kid's bathroom straightened, declutter his bedroom floor each nite, and to declutter the playroom/family room floor for 5 minutes each nite with Nikolas's help. I think this will be a good starting point for Andrew. Okay now for Nikolas. He can help me make his bed, put laundry in the machines, declutter his bedroom floor, and help Andrew in the playroom/family room for 5 minutes. That should be good for Nikolas, for now.

Housekeeping

How do I keep 24 rooms/areas CHAOS free and clean? Do I start from the top each day or do I just focus on straightening but if I do that how will I work cleaning into my routines. My routines have to be doable each day. How do I manage childcare and getting out of CHAOS? I'm not sure how to answer this one yet.

Okay I stopped writing to think about how to handle this part and I hope I've come up with an answer. After the morning routines are completed I am going to do my FOCUS cleaning and laundry. I already have a FOCUS cleaning schedule in place. I will work on these two things until I start my afternoon routine. Once the kids are in bed I will focus on just straighteneing. Here is my FOCUS cleaning schedule:

Mondays: Office, Kid's Bathroom, Andrew's Room, Nikolas's Room, Alex's Room

Tuesdays: Hallway, Stairway, Master Closet, Master Bathroom

Wednesdays: Master Bedroom, Front Entryway, Front Porch, Dining Room

Thursdays: Living Room, Back Porch, Kitchen, Garage Entryway, 1/2 Bathroom

Fridays: Laundry Room, Garage, Stairway, Playroom, Family Room

Saturdays: Hallway, Brandon's Room, Mackenzie's Room, Basement Bathroom

Sundays: Vehicle, Yard Word, Gardening

Okay, I believe I have good routines figured out for myself and for the kids. I am not going to be getting much sleep for the next 18 years, but I know what I have to do. I will really have to puh myself even when I don't feel like doing anything.