Hormonal Instinct Vs Physical Capabilities

The title may suggest some really cool story about some sort of heroic motherly instinct to protect my kids or something like that, but it really is just a boring story about how my 'pregnancy hormones' are really starting to kick in, but with less than 6 weeks left until we meet our newest little family member, my body is telling me that I'm just not able to keep up with everything I 'want' to do!  (It will probably turn out to be long and boring, with not much of an ending, like most of the stories I tell ;)  )

Todd has lived in this house for nearly 8 years and I've been here with him since we got together in 2006 so we have a fair amount of clutter and just general 'stuff' hanging around.  The house only has 1 tiny linen cupboard so all of our other storage is the built in's in our 'spare' rooms.  We used to have 2 spare rooms to spread out in, but we always said that the kids will always have their own rooms from the time they were born (something that both Todd and I always had the privledge of having) which means that once this baby arrives, our only 'spare' room and place to store our 'stuff' is our study.

We have also been keen to move out of this house and into something a bit bigger, so for a while, I just kind of figured that we'd do a huge cleanout of 'stuff' and get cleaners in to do a complete overhaul and clean of the house once it was empty.  After a depressing 2 months of dragging Mackenna around during times that she should either be eating or sleeping to look at houses (poor thing had lunch in her carseat one day while we waited for an agent to arrive!), none of which were at all suitable, our window of 'a good time to move before I got too big and uncomfortable' is closing very quickly and we have pretty much come to realise that we won't be moving anytime before the baby arrives, or soon after.

I'm also one who doesn't like to throw things away and would rather give them to a charity where someone else might just treasure something I no longer have a need or want for.  So I've spent the last few months clearing out everything I haven't used, or don't see myself using in 2 years, selling what I can on eBay or giving it away to charities.  The floods also got me thinking about what things we had that we really didn't need or want anymore, but someone else who had lost everything would have loved to have.  (I couldn't physically get out and help with the cleanup, so it was the best I could do and gave me an excuse to actually take it somewhere - not just leave it in a pile in a 'spare' room, as I normallly would.)  It's done wonders for making a little more space for us, but it also unearthed a lot of things around the house that are VERY long overdue for a wipe with a wet sponge or a duster!!

(You still with me.... this is getting a bit long winded!)
  
This is when the incessant desire to clean this whole house literally from ceiling to floor started.  I have spent the last 2 weeks wiping and cleaning as many surfaces as I can during the times Mackenna is asleep or Todd is here to keep an eye on her.   Todd even caught the bug and spent what time he has been able to cleaning up the yard (which with an Alaskan Malamute who is currently shedding his winter coat, is not an easy task by any stretch!)  I must say, that I have been very impressed with the outcome and how much brighter the house is starting to look....  and I'm so keen to have the rest of the house looking the same way, like right now!!! 

But my body is starting to tell me that I really can't keep up with all these things I want to do..... running after a 12 month old while 8mths pregnant and on about 4 hours of good sleep a night (midnight toilet visits and pregnancy insomnia are not fun side effects!) all while wanting to have every part of the house more than clean right now is really taking it's toll!  I'm finding joints and muscles I didn't know were there (didn't even find them during the times I used to go to the gym!) and I don't ever remember feeling this tired & worn out when I was pregnant with Mackenna!! 

I have to admit that I know that my 'need to clean' is the onset of those 'nesting' hormones and I must say that this is a pregnancy side effect that I am happy to embrace!  I am the first to tell anyone that I am allergic to housework and will generally only do the bare minimum to keep a tidy house and there are days when the house is an absolute bombsite and it doesn't bother me (not that I sit on my ass all day and do nothing, I just don't particularly like doing housework!) and to be washing walls for longer than a day before getting bored and giving up, is very unlike me!

So I am trying my best to take the advice I would give to anyone in the same situation in how important it is to rest and put my feet up!  The instincts are hard to fight though, because I know tonight when I try and lie down to sleep, my mind will start going crazy about what I still have to do and I will start planning what I should get stuck into tomorrow.  Lets just hope that my body can suck it up and stick it out until I get the whole house clean (or at least until all the bits I have cleaned already end up needing cleaning again!)

[Told you it was a boring story with not much of an exciting ending....]