Our Diaper Set-up

Being that William is our third child in cloth diapers, things have changed over the years that we've used them. I find that mamas who cloth diaper - or are interested in trying cloth - like to see how other people do things! So, for all you curious mamas, here is how we currently have things set up.

For a while, since we had more than one child in diapers, we had things set up out in the living room on a bookshelf and just changed the kiddos on a pad in the middle of the floor. Now that William is the last one in diapers (yay!), we have a changing table set up in his room.

On the side are clean wipes and fleece liners. The liners make it super easy to spray messes off of diapers. I use an old disposable wipes container for the wet wipes. Some people like to make a wipes solution, but I just wet a stack of wipes with water.

The top drawer holds a few disposables, extra changing pad covers, baby powder, cloth-safe diaper cream, lotion, and a bag of pins and snappies for pinning prefolds and flats.

The second drawer down is where we keep various sizes of wetbags for holding dirty diapers, as well as some extra inserts for pocket diapers.

The third drawer has our bumgenius "Flips". These are organic cotton inserts that go in a cover with flaps on either end to tuck the inserts in. We use these for our nighttime diapers, as they are super absorbent! 

The bottom drawer has all the covers to go over fitteds, flats, and prefolds. 

Behind the door are all the diapers. The top shelf has all the prefolds and flats (you need pins or snappies for these).

On the bottom are the pocket diapers and all-in-ones on the left (you don't need an extra cover for these) and fitteds on the right (you do need a cover for these).

 When we are out and about, we pack the diaper bag with a few all-in-ones or pocket diaper, a wetbag for holding dirty diapers, and a small case of wet cloth wipes. We also carry a few other basic essentials like a change of clothes, some hand sanitizer, and diaper cream.

In the bathroom, we have attached a diaper sprayer to the toilet, which makes dirty diaper clean-up a breeze. I would be hesitant to cloth diaper without one! 

 

When they are all sprayed off, they go in the diaper pail. Wet diapers get thrown directly in the pail. When the pail gets full, I dump the whole thing in the washer. The wash routine that works well for us is a cold rinse, then a hot wash cycle with half a scoop of powdered Tide original, some oxyclean, and a splash of vinegar for fabric softener. Dry on high heat. I choose to air dry covers and the outer shell of pocket diapers so they last longer. That's it!

Re-purposing Glass Jars

One of my favorite things to do is find a way to re-use jars that used to hold food. It seems such a waste to throw a perfectly good jar in the recycling bin when there are so many things you can do with them! I have found uses for all shapes and sizes of jars. 

One thing I had plenty of was baby food jars left over from when the kiddos were small. I have used them for various things, such as beads, thumb tacks, small nails, and more. But my all-time favorite project was this spice rack. I love buying bulk spices at WinCo, so the small fruit and vegetable jars worked really well to hold them. The added bonus to using baby food jars is that the lids are metal. I made my way to Ikea for some magnetic knife racks and... voila! My spices are not only practically placed and accessible right next to my stove, they are also attractive. I love how they are all so colorful. They do have simple masking tape labels on them, but I know the look of my spices so well now that I can just look at it and know what it is. The best part? I am saving cupboard space! A necessity in a small kitchen with no pantry.

How do you organize your spices? Please share!

A Peek Into My Kitchen

So, I thought I would show you all a bit of how I organize my kitchen. I always like seeing how other people do things. Now, this is all still a work in progress, as I have a few ideas for how to rearrange our food storage, but this is how I'm doing things right now.

Here is our coffee station. Right below this cabinet is the coffee maker and a large thermos. On the top shelf, I keep the coffee grinder, filters, and a couple extra glass jars. The middle shelf contains the regular and decaf coffee, powdered creamer (which is mostly for guests), and hot cocoa (I fill it with a homemade mix of powdered milk, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar). The teas and sugar shaker are on the bottom shelf.


The next cabinet over is above the stove. I keep mostly hot cereal in there, such as oatmeal, grits, and other host cereals. Sometimes there are crackers, although we don't eat a lot of those. I have a couple of coffee syrups and our wine glasses in there as well, since it's the tallest cabinet, therefore the only place they'll fit.


The corner cabinet is my favorite! I keep most of the baking stuff and all of the spices in this one. I've been slowly switching to glass containers, which has been a slow process, since I'm doing things the frugal way. As we use up foods that come in glass jars (like baby food, pickles, jams, sauerkraut, etc), I wash them out and re-purpose them. All of my spices are in baby food jars. I'm still needing to make official labels for everything, but right now masking tape suffices. Oh, and I'm purchasing all of our spices at Winco in the bulk section, since they're much more affordable that way.


Above the sink is another cabinet that contains the rest of the baking supplies, as well as oils, syrups, molasses, and honey (we're going to be switching to bulk raw honey soon). We use coconut oil and olive oil almost exclusively now.


On the top of the fridge is where I keep our opened cold cereals and chips. The box you see is where I keep all our vitamins, supplements, and daily prescriptions.


And here's the fridge. In the door, I keep our cheese, butter (no more margarine!), opened milk, filtered water, dressings, and condiments.


We almost always have more milk than we need, so we often share our extra. The top drawer there is used for yogurt and other individual items. The bottom two drawers are for fruits and veggies, and the rest of the fridge is normally leftovers and other refrigerated items like sour cream and cottage cheese.
Since we have a small kitchen and no pantry, we've improvised and moved quite a bit of our food in the garage. Here is a bookshelf I'm using right now, which has a bit of everything, mostly canned and dry goods. I'd eventually like to get a couple more bookshelves or some stacked milk crates since they're a bit deeper. Until then, this is what we're working with. My plan is to get some food-grade storage buckets from some local store bakeries for each kind of bean, pasta, rice, etc, so they won't get stale and the pests won't get into them. So far we haven't had any pest, but you never know. I'd also like to get buckets for our powdered milk and grains/flours so they will stay fresh longer. To the right of the bookshelf are some boxes of empty containers I use to freeze or store things. The bag there with the red handles is where I keep all of my reusable grocery bags. In front of that is our recycling box.


Along the wall of the garage is a large shelving unit, which holds a lot of things besides food, but about half of it is used for food/drink storage. The cooler is full of diet and regular soda that we pick up at Gleaner's. We're always ready for a barbecue! Next to that is the bottled water. I've been buying a flat a month to keep in case of emergency. So far I have 3, but I'd love to have quite a bit more just to be on the safe side.

To the right of the water is my favorite part of the shelving unit. This is the left hand side, which has our extra paper towels, napkins, cups, and trash bags. A couple of those cubbies have some small tools, cleaning supplies, and paints. There are also some larger canned goods, extra peanut butter, and bottled drinks.

The right side of the unit is mostly used for baby foods, but there is also some toilet paper and supplies for making laundry soap and stain remover.


Below that is where we keep the rest of the drinks we get from WIC and Gleaner's. On the top is sports drinks, which we use a lot when people are sick. On the bottom shelf is mostly juices, such as vegetable, tomato, grape, apple, etc. There is our jug of extra syrup in the front. We just use that to refill our small bottle inside.

And just to keep it real, here is my pile of dishes ;)

I didn't show you my freezers, but they're full of frozen fruit for smoothies, lots of frozen veggies, frozen apple and orange juice, some meat (both cooked and uncooked), containers of leftovers that have been frozen for lunches, chicken stock, ice cream, and bread sticks. They don't look particularly organized, but I usually know where everything is :).

So, there you have it! I'm always trying to rearrange or make things better, but that's my system for now. What ideas do you use in your kitchen? Do you have a favorite way to organize? Tell me about it!

Keys to a Clean & Orderly Kitchen

I'm guest-posting about keeping an orderly kitchen today over at Michele's blog, Frugal Granola. Hop on over there and check it out. And you might try browsing some of her posts while you're at it :0). Thanks, Michele!

Gleaner's trip and William's room

I ended up going to Gleaner's on Wednesday this week since I was just wiped out on Monday. I've just been really tired, so hopefully I can get through my one-credit class this weekend. I'll be volunteering at Gleaner's this afternoon from 3-5, then heading right to class from 6-8:50. Then tomorrow I'll have class again from 9-5. Next week looks to be quite busy as well, so I'm hoping to get at least a bit of rest in there this weekend.

Gleaner's Trip
banana cake for the freezer
1 pkg oatmeal raisin cookies
1 pkg raspberry milano cookies
2 individual bags Doritos
8 sodas
1 bag pirate's booty snack
1 box herb Wheat Thins flatbread crackers
1 lb grape tomatoes
1 lb strawberries
2 lbs red grapes
2 green peppers
3 kohlrabi
1 bag mashed potatoes
2 romaine hearts
1/2 lb sugar snap peas
4 ripe bananas for making bread
6 cheese breadsticks
1 loaf sesame french bread
1 pkg whole wheat bagels
a few frozen chicken breasts
1 pkg tortillas
16 oz sour cream
1 pkg mashed sweet potatoes
1 jar duck sauce
26 oz strained tomatoes
1 asian noodle bowl
1 pkg honey butter cornbread mix
1 can mandarin oranges
1 pair pants for William

My mom came over the other day and brought some things to decorate the kids' rooms. I had a few jungle themed items for William's room, including his crib set, a mobile, a throw pillow (also from mom), and a fleece blanket. Mom brought over some things to hang on the walls and another throw pillow, so I finished decorating. I think it turned out really cute, and the only thing I paid for was the crib set that I bought when I was pregnant!

Here is the view looking directly into his room. I put some of his jungle animals on the shelf mom brought. Under the shelf is a monkey picture frame that I'll put a baby picture in. On the dresser are two baskets-one for his bibs and one for his burp cloths-and a soft book that was made in Africa.

On the right hand wall is his toy chest along with two of the pictures that mom found at a local thrift store. They still had the tags from Target on the back. What a find!

Here is his crib. I had the bedding set custom made by a work-at-home mom I found online. I love it! The quilt is double-sided with a different design on either side. His name is embroidered on the front. The mobile I got on clearance at Babies R Us when I returned a duplicate set of onesies after my baby shower. Mom got William the green pillow for Christmas and found the lion pillow at the thrift store where she got the shelf and the pictures.

Here is his crib from the side, with the other two pictures mom brought.

The fleece blanket on the glider was one that my sister-in-law had for her son and the funny thing is that it is the same exact print that is on his bedding set. It couldn't have been more perfect. The boppy cover I got from my sister, and it just so happens that it matches the blue in the blanket quite well. Don't mind that corner over there ;). There are still a few boxes to sort through from the move. Those are mostly things we need to sell or donate.
Finally, here is the inside of his closet. In the bins are clothes and shoes he is waiting to grow into and on the top shelf are extra blankets and sheets. Our luggage is on the far side of the closet, along with a few more things I'm planning on selling. One of my upcoming projects will be to make actual labels for all the bins that we have. Right now I'm just writing the contents on some duct tape.

So, that is William's room. I'll post some pictures of the girls' room soon, too

Oh how I love a clean kitchen...

The past couple of days I have been trying to keep my kitchen and dining area spotless (inspired by the Flylady). It requires some effort, but I find that if I clean up while I cook and clear the table right after a meal, it gets less overwhelming. Even 5 minutes speed-cleaning in the kitchen can go really far. My kitchen is so clean right now! Which is good because this afternoon I am heading to Gleaner's since I didn't get to go on Monday. I would also like to put all the chicken thighs in my big stock pot and make some chicken stock. I love doing that because then I can take the chicken and separate it into meal-sized portions for the freezer. Then it's ready for when I need to fix something with chicken and don't want it to take extra cooking time.

Today I also tackled my sewing and crocheting bins. I threw away the stuff that was trashed or that nobody would want and then organized everything. Now there are only a few more things to do in our closet before it's completely organized. One of my next projects will be staining the bookshelf in our room. It's still unfinished and I would like it to be the dark color of the rest of our bedroom set. I think it will really finish off the look. I would also like to figure out something to do with my school textbooks/notebooks. It seems a shame to get rid of some of the stuff after I put so much work into it, but I know that most of it will never be used again. That shelf should be for the books that we decide to keep around. So, what have you done with school stuff?

Wolf it Down Wednesday
B: "Spotted Pup" as my mom affectionately called it when we were growing up. I made rice to go with the tacos last night and had a bunch left over. So, I threw some in a pot with milk, butter, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, and raisins, simmering until the rice and raisins were nice and soft.

L: David took a couple of tacos I put together after dinner last night. The girls had the rest of the top ramen stir fry and some sliced oranges. I fixed up a taco salad from the rest of the taco fillings and some crumbled tortilla chips. I make a habit of taking the tail end of each bag of chips and putting it into a container for taco salad or taco soup, that way they're already crumbled and we don't waste any chips.
D: Tonight we cooked up the burgers that were in the freezer from gleaner's a couple weeks ago. They were goooood. Topped with cheese, mayo, spicy mustard, avocado dip, tomato, spinach, pickles, and sauteed mushrooms (the other 1/2 of the can from Saturday) and onions on a toasted bun. Dorothy liked them so much she had seconds and told me I made the best dinner in the whole world. She also scarfed down the veggies. I had picked up a bunch of red chard at Gleaner's this afternoon and sauteed the chopped stems with some onions in olive oil. When those were tender, I added salt, garlic powder and some water, then steamed them until tender. My taste buds are still happy.

I'll update on my shopping trip tomorrow.

Thankful for Friday!

I didn't get around to writing yesterday since I was feeling under the weather and William cried most of the day. Both he and Charlotte seem to be getting a bit of a croupy cough. Such is life during the winter. It's definitely better since they've stopped going to day care, but being in the church nursery still gets them sometimes. Now that I'm home, though, it's not as stressful (other than less sleep for everyone). I'm thankful to be able to just be with them. William and Charlotte both ended up in our bed for the second part of the night... and to be honest, I love it. It's so sweet to wake up to Charlotte stroking my face saying "nose" or William snuffling around in search of milk. I feed him and kiss his soft little head often when he sleeps next to me, and I find that having him nurse frequently when he's getting croupy keeps him calm and his airways more relaxed, so we avoid the breathing treatments he had to get when he was 3 months old. They seem to be feeling pretty good this morning other than some stuffiness. I plan on doing basic housekeeping things today... wash a load of diapers, wash and fold some clothes, do dishes, and try to clean the bathroom. This afternoon I will be putting in my volunteer hours at Gleaner's for the month. I'm signed up to work the first Friday of each month from 3-5/5:15 in the child care area. David will keep our kids today, so there will be 3 fewer children ;).

On the topic of our budget, I have begun selling some books on cash4books.net. I sold some textbooks for $118 and am also selling 2 more to Powell's for $10, which is better than the $0 the college bookstore was offering me! I'm not quite sure where I will apply the cash we make from books yet. We're trying to pay off debt and build an emergency savings, so perhaps we should split the money between those two things so we can be closer to both our goals. We have very limited shelf space for books, and many boxes of books in the garage. We'll only be keeping the ones we know we'll be wanting around long-term (ones we'll be likely to use often). And those that we can't sell will likely be donated to Gleaner's. This is going to be quite a long process, but my goal is to get through one box of books a week until they've all been gone through.

I did manage to go through the art supplies yesterday. It didn't take long at all since most of it was in bins already. I just needed to add a couple of medium totes; one each for beads & string and magazines & clippings. In addition, I put the excess crayons & watercolors in a small tote. I moved all of the arts supplies to the coat closet shelf, but my painting things, canvases, and larger drawing pads are in under-the-bed totes in our room. I think it will work well that way. Soon I need to make a batch of homemade playdough for the girls since their playdough is pretty dry and hard to work with now. Once that is done, our craft area will be completed. I also need to organize our office supplies, which are going to go in a stand-alone shelf unit that is in the kitchen/dining area. It has a child-locked door and doubles as a counter for our toater and breadmaker. The art supplies used to live there, but I find them easier to access in their new location. I love getting things done!

Thursday's Tidbits
For our meals yesterday...
B: English muffins with peanut butter and honey, plus some kiwi fruit and grape juice from WIC.
L: Spanish rice with sour cream and plain yogurt with blueberries and a sprinkle of sugar for the girls. David took spanih rice as well. I had the rest of the au gratin potatoes and sauteed half of the snap peas with olive oil and garlic.
D: Shepherd's pie.

Friday's Feasts
B: Oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins for the girls. I had eggs and the last blueberry bagel.
L: Shepherd's pie
D: Fish fillets I have in the freezer still. They're tilapia, and I think I will bake them with some lemon pepper and dill. We'll also have the tomato, veggie, and orzo side dish.

Today is Birthday Book Day!

I got my birthday gift from David in the mail yesterday. He got me two books I have been wanting: one is A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family and the other one is The Complete Tightwad Gazette. I've already read almost half of the first book since last night, and it's a good read. You don't have to have a huge family to apply the principles, as we only have 3 kids and I'm finding it really helpful. A friend recommended the book to me, and I'm definitely glad I got it. There are some really good tips on organizing and running a household, some of which I am already doing and some of which I would like to start implementing as the kids get older. The second one is a hefty book that addresses any topic you can think of related to living frugally. It's a must-read if you're working on a tight budget.

In the next couple of days, I am tackling the arts and crafts supplies. They need to be sorted, organized, and stored to my satisfaction. Well, they are already in bins of varying sizes, but I'm wanting to pare down and re-sort some things. They will need to be easy enough to get to for regular projects with the kids, but up and away from Charlotte, who loves to destroy and/or eat anything she gets her little hands on. She keeps me on my toes and forces me to be creative with how I organize and store things.

Wolf it Down Wednesday
On the menu for today....
B: Blueberry bagels again, plus some milk and juice.
L: The girls ate toasted cheese sandwiches, applesauce, and green beans. I ate half of the au gratin potatoes and half of the remaining salad. The other half of those will be used tomorrow for my lunch again.
D: We may be eating dinner at church if we go to small group, but if not, I made a batch of this amazing shepherd's pie from some veggies and mashed potatoes I got at gleaner's in the past few weeks. The ground beef was from my mother-in-law, who is super kind and generous. When I go to Costco with her, she always helps us out and shares some of her groceries :). Last time she gave us 5 lbs of ground beef and a huge jug of olive oil, among other things. Anyhow, I put it into two 8x8 pans and froze one for a rainy day. Perfect and sooo yummy!
I forgot that yesterday and today we have eaten those brownies for dessert. It's sure a mood-lifter, especially since I didn't sleep well last night. Chocolate always helps.

What's on the agenda

As I have been organizing and decorating our new place, it always helps me to think a bit about what I would like to get done. I have somewhat of a running list that I add things to and cross things off as I get them done. Some of them might be smaller things like doing some laundry or paying some bills. Some of them might be more time-consuming projects like organizing and sorting through specific things.

Some of the bigger projects I have coming up:
*Sorting through and organizing old photos
*Printing some pictures for the walls
*Sorting through my arts and crafts supplies
*Sorting through my sewing and crocheting bins
*Taking pictures of and selling the cloth diapers and covers we're not using any more
*Taking pictures of and selling some baby things/clothes
*Sorting through boxes of books and selling them to cash4books.net, Powell's Bookstore, or Swagbucks
*Putting the finishing touches on decorating the kids' rooms. I'm wanting to get a decorative shelf for the girls' room and William's room, plus a couple of frames for each room to put some art into.
*Finding a good storage solution/shelving unit for the books we decide to keep

Monday is also shopping and menu planning day around here. Since my sister-in-law also uses the Gleaner's program we go to, she asked me to post what I was going to cook for dinner with the food I picked up. So, I thought perhaps at the beginning of the week I will start posting about what I pick up there, plus what I need to get at the grocery store each week between WIC checks and budgeted cash. My menu will mainly be based on what I pick up at Gleaner's. I like to try to buy as little as possible now that we're back on the program. The good news? We were able to pay $120 this month toward our credit card instead of the minimum payment! I'll try to post our menu every weekday, plus any recipes I think are worth sharing (this will be in addition to whatever else I happen to be rambling about on any particular day).

So, here's a brief summary of what I got this week at Gleaner's:

Household items
deodorant for David
3 rolls toilet paper
2 rolls paper towels
1 pkg liquid hand soap

Food items
1 pkg blueberry bagels
1 pkg sourdough english muffins
1 loaf white bread with whole grain
1 can mushrooms
1 pkg whole grain tortillas
32 oz sour cream
16 oz cottage cheese
homestyle gravy
mashed potatoes
tomato, herb, and veggie orzo pasta side dish
1 side of au gratin potatoes
8 yogurt cups
gluten free brownies
1 lb strawberries, a few might be moldy, but most are ok
1 bunch very green bananas for later this week
1/2 lb grape tomatoes
1 lg bag mixed greens salad mix (w/dressing, nuts, dried cranberries, and feta cheese)
1/2 lb sugar snap peas
2 small peppers
sandwich bag of chopped, cooked, seasoned chicken
1 jar blackberry preserves
1 bottle pancake syrup
6 applesauce cups
1 jar grey poupon
1 bottle coconut coffee syrup (Yay for coffee at home! Add a bit of hot cocoa for a "mounds" mocha :))
1 pkg decaf coffee
3 bags nacho cheese tortilla chips
1 bag avocados (need to be used now)
1 large box frozen breaded chicken breasts
1 canister table salt

The motherload of snacks for lunches
2 bags organic cheese curls
6 cans diet pepsi
8 cans regular pepsi
6 mini cherry pies
1 box gingerbread cookies
1 box chocolate mini cakes
1 box triscuit thins

I'll update later on my Grocery store purchases.

Monday's Munchies
B: Whole wheat blueberry pancakes from scratch. We also had bananas and apple juice.
L: Grilled cheese, grapes, oranges, carrots, and ranch
D: Spanish rice (recipe below) with the baggie of chopped chicken, 2 small peppers, onion, frozen corn/pepper mix, and 1 can each of organic tomato sauce and organic diced tomatoes (bought in boxes of 12 at Costco when I go with my mother-in-law and use her card ;)). I'll be serving guacamole, sour cream, and tortilla chips on the side.

coming back later to finish the plan.... gotta go cook up some grub!

OK! Now that said grub has been cooked, consumed, and approved of, here are the recipes (courtesy of the mad cooking skillz of none other than yours truly). You will not be disappointed:

Spanish Rice
2 c uncooked rice
1 c. chopped, cooked, & seasoned chicken (or ground beef!)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 29 oz can tomato sauce
12 oz. frozen corn
1 diced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin

I threw the 2 c rice along with 4 c water in my rice cooker and let 'er steam. While that was going, I chopped the veggies and sauteed them in some olive oil in a big ol' pot (I went ahead and threw in the corn when the rest of the veggies were tender). Yum! Then I added the tomatoes and tomato sauce and heated it through, adding the spices. You could add salt and pepper to taste, if desired. By the time that was all bubbly, the rice was done, so I plopped it all in the big pot and mixed it well, turning it to low, and then stirring it occasionally while I made my to die for guacamole. That way all the juices had time to soak into the rice. We ate it with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Holy Guacamole
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
3 med-lg avocados, mashed
1/2 c cottage cheese (yes, really!)
2 tbsp sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp lime juice (I just keep a bottle of it on hand so I don't have to run out and buy fresh limes)
1 tsp garlic powder

Dump it in a bowl and go to town with a potato masher. That's it! And it is soooo good with Doritos.

This post has been linked to The Grocery Cart Challenge.

She sings them to Him

(photo credit: Life Candids Photography, 2010)
Yesterday morning, my precious Dorothy was wandering around the house making up little songs as she often does. As she walked by, I told her that her singing was very beautiful and that I loved to hear it. Her response was priceless to me. "I'm so happy because everybody likes my singing! My other songs are true because they're about God. I sing them to Him," she said excitedly. It melted my heart, and it also got me thinking about what I am doing on a daily basis to teach my children about the things that are most important in life. Do they know who God is? Do I show them His love, or am I short with them? What more can I do to make sure that they see God's love through me? Am I teaching them responsibility and creativity? These are all sobering questions that will require daily thought, purpose, planning, and action.

I have been thinking more lately about how I want our days to look. Now that I am home with the kids every day, I feel like we need more of a routine to keep things running smoothly. It's too easy to fall back on cartoons to keep the kids entertained while I get things done, but my desire is for them to learn and grow as individuals. They have many options for creative play. We have been blessed with many toys and art supplies, most of which have been given to us as hand-me-downs or holiday gifts. If I am purposeful, it should be relatively easy to fit in all the things I want to do with them.

*Since the toys are organized into bins, "center" time is something I'd like to incorporate into their day. They can each pick a bin to play with and use their imaginations. The antique dollhouse/furniture we gave them for Christmas has already been a great addition to their play time. (And can I admit that it's fun for me, too?).

*I also want to make sure that they get art time every day with drawing, painting, or play dough. They both really enjoy art time. I just have to make sure Charlotte doesn't eat the crayons ;).

*I'd like to get some good Christ-centered preschool curriculum that is age-appropriate for both girls. They are both showing signs of being ready to learn more about letters, numbers, and how things work. We also need to set aside a regular book reading time, as well as a time to read their children's Bible.

*Baking/cooking time is another thing that I would like to do with them at least on a weekly basis. One of my favorite memories is punching down the bread dough for my mom in the kitchen. I remember the feel and the smell so fondly. Because my mom let me help her in the kitchen from such a young age, I was cooking very early on, and I love cooking to this day. It has blessed not only me and my family, but others as well. In fact, I'd like to add meal ministry to my tithing of time and resources. We may not have much money to work with, but I can use what God has given us to bless others. And I know first-hand after all of the high-risk pregnancies how wonderful it is to get a home-cooked meal when you are unable to prepare one. Allowing my children to take part in this will teach them how important it is to give of our time and resources to help others.

Scheduling my time will be a bit more challenging, as I still have some coursework. Household and school is always hard to balance, but it can be done! I'll let you know when I have a more solidified schedule worked out. What works for you?

Going through the archives

Today I am trying to go through some of my archives to label posts, which should make it easier to find what I am looking for later. Although, I am finding that there are just so many categories that I could almost do a few different blogs pertaining to things I am interested in. At some point in the near future, I will be starting a blog for my doula business, so I'll be doing most of my writing about childbirth and breastfeeding on that one. I'll let you know when I launch it, but for now I will be working on getting this one more organized.

Speaking of organized, some of you may know that I'm quite a perfectionist when it comes to being organized. I don't know for certain when this evolved, since I didn't really keep a clean room when I was growing up, but I think it started to take shape when I got my first apartment in my early twenties. And I find now that I have a family of my own, being organized is the key to a peaceful home. As peaceful as it can be with small children, anyhow. Being organized has helped me get though my toughest terms at school as well, because cooking and cleaning is so much easier when there is a plan and a place for everything. I like it that way. It works for me.

Some things that make my life easier:

*Storage bins of all sizes. Large ones for all the kids clothes are a lifesaver. I keep a bin for each size of clothing in both girl and boy. These stack in the kids' closet. Having them clearly labeled makes for easy storage and easy sorting as they grown out of things. I also try to keep the girls' clothes in their drawers folded together into outfits. This helps especially if we are packing or dressing in a hurry, since nobody has to ask if this shirt goes with those pants. It's a breeze!

*My 3-bin laundry sorter that I got from Target. It has removable bags that are just perfect for a load so that when one gets full, I just take it to the washer and dump it in. Easy peasy! I use one for darks, one for mediums, and one for whites. All of my kitchen towels, cleaning rags, cloth wipes for hands/faces, and bath towels, etc. are white so that I can throw in a capful of bleach with each load to keep them white. This assures me that everything is clean, too, since a lot of the whites are used for germy jobs.

*A home organization notebook. I have a wide 3-ring binder that I keep everything in. It has tabs for menu planning, grocery lists, packing lists (for camping, outings, etc), schedules, and budgeting. I also have a notebook for recipes, although I am needing a bigger one. When I find a recipe that I love, I print it out and put it in my book. Lists are my friend. I puffy heart love them. I have a master grocery list of every item I like to keep on hand, including all over-the-counter medicines and vitamins. It's always a work in progress, but it's so helpful!

*Toys are the tough one, especially since we now have a boy in the house, too, so we're adding more to the mix. We now have baby toys, big girl toys, books, and art supplies. All these things are in bins as well, although most are in medium ones instead of large ones. We have a bin each for blocks, ponies, barbies/other small dolls, baby dolls/clothes, dress up, legos/mega blocks, dishes/food, and our most recent addition is potato head sets from Christmas. The dollhouse furniture/dolls was going to go in a box as well, but I decided to keep them in the house to save on space. We also have medium bins for art supplies like paints, paper, coloring books, and crayons, as well as a small bin with play dough containers and accessories. When a bin is at capacity, I sort through to get rid of some things so the kids (or I) don't get frustrated trying to cram a bunch of toys into a box that they won't fit into. The bins also keep things easy to pick up. I'm going to be working on labeling them with pictures so the kids know what goes into the bins when they're cleaning up. Most of the bins get stored under the futon in the living room. Their books and kitchen are in the girls' room and William's toys are all sorted into something similar to this.

There's so much more, but I'll save it for another time. Those are my biggest sanity savers around the house. What do you do that makes life easier?

So about one of those interesting facts....

I am compulsively organized. Let's just say David and I had a chuckle at my expense last night when I showed him how to fold an undershirt rather than crinkle it into a pile. He took his stack of "folded" t-shirts and put them in the front of the drawer. For most people, this would be the normal thing to do, I assume. But this little feeling inside me makes me rotate everything, so that no one thing gets worn more than the others. Even underwear. David laughed at my compulsive need to put the newly folded stack in the back of the drawer... and then put the newly folded socks underneath the old ones. It just helps my peace of mind.

But last night I have never laughed at myself so much. I asked David if he would rather have a slob for a wife or someone who is organized. He said, "of course, I would rather have someone who.... rotates their underwear (snicker)."

So I say, "honey, are you laughing at my anal nature?"

"WHAT about your ANAL nature???"

Goodbye Size 0-3 mo.

A couple of weeks ago I had to switch Dorothy to the next size of clothing. There was a hint of sadness as I folded the little clothes and placed them in paper bags for storage. The jammies had gotten too small and would stretch when she put her legs out straight. The onesies were getting too short (especially with the cloth diapers). Not to mention that I got maybe a dozen summery dresses that she never got to wear because we started getting too many rainy days. What I don't understand is why all brands don't make the sizes go to the same weight. Most of the 0-3 sizes go up to 11 lbs (Dorothy is now almost 12) and some of them go up to 12 or 12 1/2 lbs. Before she was born, when I first started sorting through her clothes, I didn't even know how to sort them. I had to call my sister-in-law and ask her which size to put the 6 month size in. Was it 3-6 or 6-9? One of my favorite things about getting ready for Dorothy was sitting in her room with a big pile of freshly washed baby clothes. I oogled over all the cute outfits imagining what they would look like on her. I held the clothes up to my face and wondered what she would smell like. I love that baby smell (I'm sure I've mentioned that before). I knew she would grow fast, but she has grown even faster than I thought she would. My friend had twins on Saturday and they were 6 lbs each. Looking at Dorothy was so amazing because she was two times their size! And she's only two months old. What a healthy little girl. Although I put her little clothes away with some sadness the other week, I am glad that she's right on track.

And that I get to put her in most of her cutest clothes. Most of the clothes I like best are in the 3-6 mo. size.

And maybe someday I can use them again....

No more cerclage, baby!

On Tuesday morning I went in at 9AM and got my cerclage taken out. I wasn't expecting to go into labor that day, but secretly I was hoping!! The removal was supposed to feel like "a bad pap smear"... uncomfortable, but not too painful. Well, it didn't go down that way. It hurt. A lot. The good thing is it was relatively short (10 minutes or so). Even so, I was asking him to stop in the middle of it. He said in terms of removals, mine was a more difficult one. Evidently he put it in not wanting that baby to come out (good thing, cuz it worked)! My tissue had healed really well around it, which necessitated pulling harder, which caused PAIN. After a few minutes I started to feel a bit better, so David and I took a little walk to get drinks at the cafe downstairs. When we went back so Dr. F could check me, I was 2-3 cm dilated and 25% effaced. So now we are in the waiting game (again). Luckily this time the wait is shorter, as my due date is only 16 days away! I have been having the normal amount of contractions I had been having, so nothing has really changed in that regard. So (besides the awful castor oil) what are some of the wives tales to get labor started? Not that I am anxious or anything.....

I had another wonderful baby shower last Saturday at church. I couldn't believe how many people showed up! We are now totally set for Dorothy to get here. Her nursery is done and everything is in place.

The larger dresser (beside it is the metrolite stroller, which I love):



Her clothes are all washed and put away:



Her crib is set up and changing table painted:



And Goatee continues to be as cute as ever:



So, baby girl, you can come when you want to now. Mommy and Daddy want to meet you!