The Lawn, The House, or a Life?

As we gear up for the baby to arrive (less than two months to go!) we've been discussing the possibility of getting a yard and house-cleaning service to help us out.

We've realized that neither actually enjoys taking care of the lawn. We love growing veggies and get really excited to plan new landscaping, but can't get motivated to maintain the grass. Parts of our yard are in pretty bad shape. Although I have to say it looks much better today! BIG thanks to mother nature for a dry day and my hubby breaking out the lawn mower. :) It doesn't help that the lawn is completely filled with weeds and moss.  I do try to weed in the front yard, but I've given up on the back.  We both agree we would like to remove most of the grass over time any time so I look the other way as the back yard is taken over by bright yellow flowers and fuzzy orbs all summer long.

In addition to the mowing, neither of us enjoys picking up after the dogs. It's just not a fun chore. So...we have been searching for a lawn mowing and dog clean-up service around Seattle. Along with the lawn, we're also anticipating that house cleaning is going to be low on our list of priorities with a new baby...so I've got a few leads and I'll be meeting with house cleaners in the next month.

I think we both felt a little uneasy with the idea of hiring out these tasks.  I felt like maybe we were giving up--shouldn't we be able to keep our house sparkling clean, grow a beautiful yard, rock full-time jobs, be the best parents ever to our new baby, and maintain an exciting social life?

In the end, I'm pretty happy we're thinking about this now instead of four months from now when it would inevitably be totally overwhelming. Today was a perfect example of why this will be a great use of our money. Seeing and smelling our freshly cut grass put a huge smile on my face, but I would much rather have taken a walk on a sunny evening with my husband and our dogs.