Our Bathroom

With three young kids, it is hard to find time to shower and spend any time on my appearance.... And that is why I have had to simplify my routine a LOT! I thought I would share the products (or lack thereof) that I use in my routine.


For Hair:

I have 2 plastic cups... one filled with one teaspoon of baking soda and the other filled with one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. While showering, I fill the baking soda cup with about 1 cup of water and pour over my head, rub in, and rinse. I then fill the vinegar cup with 1 cup of water, pour over my head and rinse. Very simple, and very effective! The vinegar smell evaporates as my hair dries. If I feel like I need my hair to smell good, I will add a couple drops of essential oil to the tips of my hair when I get out of the shower.


For Face and Body:

I use the same soap for my face and body. I prefer a castile soap of some kind. Right now, I am using raw African black soap. I buy it off of amazon.com and it comes in a large ugly chunk. I just break off a little piece and keep it in a cup in my shower.


For Moisturizer:

Once my shower is over, I moisturize with pure, cold pressed oils. I like castor oil for my face and apricot kernel oil for my body. I should note that I have extremely dry skin on my face and castor oil is great for that... if you have oily skin, soybean oil would be a better choice!


For Toothpaste:

I make my own toothpaste using a very simple recipe. Equal parts bentonite clay, organic xylitol, and water. I usually flavor it with a few drops of peppermint essential oil and store it in a half pint canning jar with a lid. The great thing about this toothpaste is that it is safe for the kids to swallow, and they LOVE it!

How Schedules Can Make A Difference

With three small children, it is hard to keep up with everyone's needs along with the house, the yard, and keeping up with friends and family. For me, the only way I can juggle everything successfully is to keep a daily schedule.

Here is our family schedule:

-8:00- Wake up, breakfast and clean up
-9:00- Devotions
-9:30- Get dressed, play time
-10:00- Television time (the baby goes down for a nap and the older girls each get to pick one 30 minute program to watch)
-11:00- Prep and eat lunch, clean up
-12:00- Play time
-12:30- Leave for work (mon, wed, and fri only)
-3:00- Snack time
-3:30- Quiet time
-4:00- Play time with Mommy
-5:00- Dinner prep, set table
-6:00- Eat dinner, clean up
-7:00- Get ready for bed
-7:30- Bed time

Schedules often change with the seasons our life goes through. This schedule will change once summer comes and we have a garden to tend!

I also have a schedule for cleaning the house. I always make sure to involve the kids in whatever I am doing to clean the house (a whole other blog post for another time!) and we usually do these jobs after breakfast and lunch. I do little jobs throughout the day around the house when I can sneak away while the kids are playing nicely!

Here is my house cleaning schedule:

Monday: Sweep and mop floors, wipe counters and fridge
Tuesday: Bread making, laundry
Wednesday: Bathroom, clean bedroom
Thursday: Dust, file papers
Friday: Vacuum, clean girls' room

Obviously, with three kids, the house needs a lot more cleaning than this simple schedule calls for, but I try to keep myself busy throughout the day doing things that I see need to be done. I usually do the dishes after every meal (although sometimes I fail miserably...) and that helps keep my workload down a LOT!

Clothesline Drying

It is summer!! And that means that I can dry my clothes out on the line! There are so many benefits to drying your clothes on the line:

1. It saves energy. This is because you aren't using your dryer to dry the clothes... this cuts down the power bill, gas bill (if you are like me and have a gas dryer), and keeps your house cooler in the heat of summer.

2. The sun can bleach out organic stains... such as breast fed baby poo! Hanging your newborn cloth diapers or soiled clothes out on the line for a couple hours will make those stains disappear!! For tougher stains, try spraying stain with a bit of diluted lemon juice before putting it out on the line!

3. Sunlight can kill bacteria and viruses. The heat of the dryer does this as well... but this is a greener alternative!!

4. Clothes smell fresher. Try hanging your bed linens out on the line to dry... they will smell so fresh when you hop into bed at night!!

Some people are bothered by the 'crunchiness' of their clothes after being dried on the clothesline. To soften your clothes, put them in the dryer for a few minutes with a damp washcloth.

There are many ways to build a clothesline, and there are also many varieties that you can purchase. My clothesline is a rope wrapped around two trees in my front yard. Just make sure you put your clothesline in the sun so you can get the full benefit of line drying!

Here is my clothesline:

Folding a Prefold Diaper #2

Here is the other fold that we use in our house. This fold is great for when baby is going coverless because it provides extra layers of absorbency right in the middle without adding extra bulk!

This fold is called the Bikini Twist fold and it is done using a premium chinese prefold diaper:

Step 1) Fold down the top of the diaper about an inch (or more to get a good rise on a smaller baby).


Step 2) Place diaper under baby.


Step 3) Twist the diaper (this is a '180' twist).


Step 4) Bring the diaper up snugly between baby's legs.


Step 5) Fold the top down to get a good rise on baby.


Step 6) Tuck 'wings' in at baby's hips.


Step 7) Bring back wings up on the outside of the front wings.


Step 8) Snappi the 2 top claws.


Step 9) Open up the 'pocket' created by the twist....


Step 10) ... and snappi inside the pocket!!! This keeps the bottom snappi from getting caught on your clothes while carrying baby!!

Folding a Prefold Diaper #1

We use chinese prefolds to diaper our babies here... I have tried many, many folds, and I have found 2 that work the best for us! Below is the one that I use most often...

This fold is a cross between an angel wing fold and a jelly roll fold using a premium diaper:

Step 1) Fold top edge of diaper down about an inch (or more if using a premium diaper on a smaller baby). This helps get a good rise and also helps keep the poo from going up baby's back!


Step 2) Place diaper under baby.


Step 3) Fold edges in towards middle.


Step 4) Roll edges in towards middle.


Step 5) Bring diaper up snugly between baby's legs.


Step 6) Open up the top of the diaper to make 'wings.'


Step 7) Fold down the top of the diaper to get a good rise on the baby.


Step 8) Tuck the wings in around baby's hips.


Step 9) Bring the back wings up on the outside of the front wings.


Step 10) Snappi the diaper!!


This is how the diaper should fit around the legs:



It may take a bit of practice to get the hang of this fold, and to be able to make it tight enough!