Tour Tuesday

Some of you may or may not know that I cloth diaper my kiddos. We first started nine months ago with Paul. My reason for cloth diapering is simply financial...it's cheaper! We save so much money not buying at least $120.00 worth of disposables each month. The cloth have paid for themselves.

It took us a few months to get into a routine with our diapering, but after 9 months we now have it down pat. I use Chinese prefolds with wraps. I have tried 4 different kinds of wraps.

• Bummis Super Whisper Wrap. These are ok. I like the fit and feel, but they tend to leak if left too long so are not the best for overnight.
• Bambino Mio Soft Wrap. I really like these. They don't leak at all...even overnight. Plus they are a slimmer fit then the BSWW.
• Bambino Mio Lite Wrap. These were an ebay mistake and I don't like them at all. The fit is all wrong and they sometimes leak overnight. These are used for night time diapers only.
  
• Motherease Rikki Wrap. These are good in that they don't leak. They don't fit right on my kids for some reason, but I have nothing against these wraps.
  

Here's how we do it...

First, you need a prefold, a wrap and a dirty baby bottom.


Next, fold the prefold just like so.


Then, place it on the wrap with the folded side down.


Put the baby bottom at the appropriate end. Pull the prefold up between the legs and fold the extra length under.


Then, pull the wrap up and fasten the sides with the Velcro.


That's it. No struggling with pins or Snappis. We're finished and ready to go.


Morgan is wearing the Bummis Super Whisper Wrap.


We do the exact same thing for the bigger child. Here Paul is wearing the Bambino Mio Soft wrap.


For night time I just double up on the prefolds and use a larger wrap. Ridiculous looking? Yes, but they are only going to bed. So who cares!?!

Dirty diapers are stored in a dry diaper pail in the downstairs bathroom. Pooped ones are first given a swish in the toilet as needed.

I wash diapers every other day. Starting with a cold rinse. Then a hot long cycle which includes a prewash. I put in about 1 tablespoon of detergent with the hot wash. After that I do another cold rinse. Then an extra spin to help cut down on drying time.

With this wash routine I don't have any leftover smells and they smell clean and fresh.

Dirty wraps are stored and washed separately on account that the BSWW's hold smells very easily. I wash them in a hot normal wash...no detergent. This keeps the smell at bay. Every so often I put them through a hot long cycle if I pick up any urine smells on them.

Honestly the washing was the most difficult thing to figure out. I got this routine after much trial and error with different wash combinations. Thankfully now I can follow this plan and I know they are going to be clean in the end. I hang everything to dry, as I don't have a dryer.

Hopefully that wasn't too confusing. When I was researching cloth and looking to buy I read many such posts and some of them left me wondering what in the world they were talking about. lol! I tried to keep it as simple as I could. Any questions...just ask.

And for those who noticed... Yes, I change diapers on a window sill. :)

Misery and Victory

Allergy season has hit. I so *strongly dislike* this time of year!!! It zaps me of all energy, patience, sanity, thinking ability, will to live... Can I stay in my bed all day with the windows closed and the curtains drawn? Please? I am struggling to keep up with my four clinglings, the housework, the laundry, blogging...and, in fact, I am not. Don't pop over for a surprise visit...I will not let you in the door! :) We can have a nice chat outside where I will have sneezing fits and itch fiercely. HaHa. Such fun.


It is no secret that I have two challenging children. They are much more clever, brighter and quicker then I will ever be. They run circles around me...leaving me dizzy. So there are few moments when I feel that I have truly "won" as a parent. Don't get me wrong. I win...many times, but that is because I am the mother and not because I've outwitted them.

Today I outwitted them and it was great! Made me so happy! lol!

They were fighting over a toy knight...both saying they had it first...yadah yadah. I said to give it to me since they were fighting over it.

Then I said, "How about I cut it in half and you can each have a piece to play with."

The first said...Yes! Cut it in half.
The second said...No. Don't.

The second got the toy and oddly enough the first didn't complain. Parenting with the wisdom of Solomon.
Sweet victory.

Morgan chowing down on an apple
given by his daddy when his mommy was away.
Happy boy!

Wordless Weekend

Mold Again

Two weeks ago we pulled Jason out of school for the next 3 months. His school moved to another building because they are replacing the windows and roof on the town hall where they usually meet. After one week in the other building we noticed his behavior had turned uncontrollable and he was tired all the time. On the norm he is a difficult child, but when he gets around black mold he becomes completely unbearable!


So I says to Caleb that I bet there is mold in that new building (which is, in fact, a very old building). Caleb checked it out and sure enough, the room was covered in black mold. The walls actually looked like they had been sponge painted black. So gross!!!

I don't know how long it will be before he is back to normal. The last episode took about a month before all was well again.
I don't know exactly how we are going to deal with this problem for the rest of our lives. We live in a country where mold and mildew grow abundantly.
I don't know how to help him when he is "under the influence". I can't help but think how it's making our parenting job extremely difficult/impossible.
I don't know what internal damage this is causing in his little body.

I do know one thing...
We are in a pickle and God is the only one who can fix it.

Oh, and we have mold in our bathroom again.
*sigh*

Tour Tuesday

Heather, one of my newer blogging buddies, has started "Tour Tuesdays" over at her blog. She says it is because she's a nosy person. Well, truth be told, I am just as nosy as the next person so this idea appealed to my inner nosiness. And since she asked others to join in with tours of their own...that is exactly what I am doing.

I had great plans of starting my first tour with pictures of the outside of our house, the street where we live, our garden, our village... But I don't have any pictures, because I haven't been outside all day, except to hang some laundry.

And what could have kept me inside on this beautiful, sunny, spring day?

I was moving! Not far...just down the hall a ways. We swapped our room with the boy's room. Giving them the bigger room. The thought behind it was that we use our room for little else, but sleeping and the boys want/need to play in their room. So they get the space and I get the toys out of my living room! Yeah!!!

Here are a few pictures of what I (and Caleb) have been up to today.

The New and Improved...

"Boy's Room"

Here we are standing in the doorway. Straight ahead is Seth and Jason's dresser that they share since they wear the same size and share all their clothes. The boxes on the dresser may be used for books or they may be moved...I haven't decided yet. The picture on the wall was bought from a charity shop by my mom when she visited. Thanks, Mom! :)

Seth and Paul's bed with Seth on the top bunk and Paul on the bottom. You can see through Paul's bed that there is a fireplace behind it. It is just decorative and a real nuisance as it takes up precious wall space.

There is one window facing the main street. They will have a bit more traffic noise now, but I don't think it will bother them. It never bothered me. The sunshine (when we have it) comes in this window in the morning.

Looking from the window I have a quilt, that was a baby gift for Jason, hanging on the wall. The two storage dressers are for toys. What I love about them is that they are organized! The one on the right has blocks in the top, cars in the middle and the trains in the bottom. On the left we have dolls on the top, stuffed animals in the middle and Action Men in the bottom. The box sitting on top has castle pieces.

And back around to the other wall. Jason is on the top bunk and the bottom will be for Morgan in a year or so. This dresser was Morgan's but it won't fit in my smaller room anymore so it is now Paul's. The pictures are actually framed cards. One of Daniel, one of Noah, one of Jonah and they say "Happy Birthday" on them. This can be called "just making use of what you have" or "very cheap art". You choose. lol! And in the right-hand corner you can see the door...so just let yourself out. :)

And as far as the other end of this room swap...well, you won't be seeing that for a while.
It's a HUGE mess!

Another Month...

Morgan turned 8 months on Saturday! I can't believe we will be celebrating his 1st birthday in just 4 months. He is such a good, sweet baby...we are so blessed! He is still sleeping through the night...about 8pm to 5ish. Although 7am would be more my ideal, he usually goes back to sleep after a feed so it's not bad. :)

He is a full-time crawler and stander now. I find him in different places all over the house... standing up ...pleased as can be with himself.


He can also sit. Although he doesn't like to and will only sit if I force him. I think it's because he likes to be moving and can't be if he is sitting. He doesn't know how to get from sitting to crawling yet.


His first two bottom teeth popped through. You can just see them in the picture below. He hasn't had any teething miseries, thanks to his amber necklace. I am so grateful to have found out about those. :)

I love the way his eyes light up when he sees me.

Playing Hookey

There will be a new proper post with pictures soon. We have been having summer-like weather... mid to upper 60's. So we have been skipping out to the beach or to the park every chance we've had. Much fun!

AND...any other spare time I've had has been spent with my nose buried in a book. I found a new author who I really like, so I've gotten several of her books from the library and have been reading with a frenzy. Also, much fun! :)