What happened to my Flats Challenge? Well...

To any of you who may be wondering what happened to my Flats and Handwashing Challenge, I have to fess up and it may not be pretty. I really don't want to tell you.

Day 5 of the Challenge was like everyday cloth diapering, full of good intentions. But then stuff happened. Husband and wife stuff. Pettiness. Misunderstanding. Overreacting. Anger. All of that kind of ugliness. I was so distracted by that and trying to be the good, stable mother that my kids need me to be, that washing diapers by hand wasn't going to happen. Something had to give and that was what I chose. I had to put that energy into surviving my own mind and keeping my household together. Arguments don't always make sense, but they will always suck the life out of you in the long run. After the flames of that fight simmered away, I have been reflecting on what I have learned by it and the profound lesson that I have never applied to my message about using cloth.

I believe in using cloth. I use cloth everyday. It really is a lifestyle for us now and I want others to know all about it. BUT there are times when other things are more important. Things like sanity. Like mom keeping it together for another day. Like putting your energy into the things that really shape your children's lives. There is no super hero badge for using cloth or even washing those diapers by hand. I do not know every one's situation behind their closed doors, but I think many times there are situations that are so difficult emotionally that we are just surviving. Yes, you can wash diapers by hand, but is it where you want to put that energy? I remember when I was handwashing everything in the house, including diapers for 2 when Thing #4 was 3 months old and the day my washer was fixed. I cried when I put that first load in. They were tears of having been overwhelmed and exhausted for months. The end of this week made me remember what it feels like to be at the end of my rope with life. I can sympathize with mothers who just want to get through this patch. Washing diaper? Yeah. Right. I was lucky enough that I could just go throw mine in the washer, but if I hadn't been, I probably would have reached for that sposie.

So in the end, I came up short on showing how to do something that I really believe in. God has an annoying way of showing me when I am being prideful and boasting. I promise not to judge folks on their diaper choices, but rather share what I know and my experience with those who are truly interested. Because life happens whether we want it to or not.

Pretty Pretty Easy = Mom Win!

Pretty and easy junk suncatcher (Pay no attention to the small hand prints and baby slobber on the window)

I have a great Super Mom points project for you! Ideas from pintrest along with a bit of "I wonder waht would happen if..." ended up being really cool. So here is a how to!

Items needed:

1) Cheap plastic beads. We used pony beads and some others that we found floating around in the craft supplies. You want hard plastic, not soft. Next time I am totally adding glitter!

2) Oven proof containers. These round ones were made in a mini muffin pan and the star is from a metal cookie cutter that we placed on a metal pan.

3) String, twine, monofilament, whatever. Something to hang your pretties from.

Place your beads into your containers and cover the bottoms. They should only be 1 layer thick, don't stack them or it leaves weird bumps, too few and you get gaps. Place into a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Cool and then tap the pans to remove shapes. We drilled some holes in ours using Daddy's drill press and tied them up. #3 snatched up the rest for his collection. (He's 4, you know he has "collections") TA DA!

*I should note that there is a plastic fume smell with this. We had to limit our creations to 1 oven load a day, because of the slightly nasty, possibly toxic fumes. It would be best to do this on an open window day, or even outside with a toaster oven.

The kids were so happy with this durable, pretty craft that I see many coming in our future and if you know us, probably coming to you in your next gift :) They thought I had really come up with something neat and I could see the wheels turning in #2's head. Yes, my mom cape was totally showing on this one!

Day 4 Flats and Handwashing Challenge

Today is the fourth day of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge. As a reminder, this is a 7 day Challenge where participants can only use flat cloth diapers and have to ditch their washer and dryer in favor of good ol’ fashioned handwashing. We are close to 500 participants this year and many are blogging their journey. You can find their posts linked at the end.

Today's question is: What's your wash routine?

I'm not going to tell you anything new here. It's laundry, not chemistry. Having said that here's my dance!

  I like to soak my diapers over night. For this challenge I wanted to use a little fewer resources so I just tossed them into the kids' used bath water last night. Sometimes I forget to soak them though so I just put then in at breakfast time to soak a bit in warm water. It looses up the poo. I have a washing stick that I use for many less than desirable tasks and it is useful here. It's actually the stick from an old plunger that I broke trying to do the whole 'camp washer' thing. Anywho, I swish the diapers around with the stick after they have soaked, knock the plug out of the tub with it and poke them around while they drain. Next I turn on the shower (and this is why I use the tub) and let a little water run through them while I wait for the hot water to come down. Fill the tub with a few inches of hot water, 1-2 tablespoons of Tide and 1 Tbls of washing soda. I then go through and unfold all of the diapers, swish them a little and then let them set. My mom job has to be done too! When I get back to washing, the diapers have cooled down enough to handle and the detergent has had time to dissolve and do some of it's own work. Now, think washing machine. You want to make that "Wish, Swish" noise you hear from the machine. I get in bare foot and stomp around on them, usually while wearing the baby. Stomp, slosh, fold with feet, repeat. Great workout! Next I get out and scrub the diapers against each other with my hands. It is very effective, no equipment required! With flats, you really just need to move the water in and out through the fabric to clean them so keep that in mind. Then drain the wash water while squishing out as much water as you can. Shower time again! Run the cold water shower on the pile of diapers while filling the tub a couple of inches. Stomp, squish, dance again for a few minutes. Take a second with each diaper to see if it is as clean as you would like. Drain again. Now I go through the pile one at a time. I rinse under running water while holding one corner. Then fold up in half-ish, the again and twist. It goes quickly with a rhythm.

  Now, for drying. I live in a place where the wind ALWAYS blows. Every. Single. Day. Whether we want it to or not. Having said that, there is a trick to hanging laundry in very windy places. You have to hang then from the middles instead of the ends. Otherwise you will have to pick up your laundry from the next county. Plenty of wind will move through them this way. It is not as pretty that way, but you'll thank me for that tid-bit. On the occasion when it's raining, I have hung them, folded in half, from one end on a hanger, same as a line. I have hung them many places that way, shower rod, ceiling fan, cabinet doors. Much easier than hanging a line and you can move them if they get in the way. I also want to add, if your diapers or wipes get uncomfortable crunchy you can soften them with a little elbow grease. I grab the diagonal corners and yank a couple of times, then switch and yank the other way. Quick and effective and easy to do while folding.

  So that's my routine. You do develop a feel for it after a bit. I like to leave my laundry a little wetter than most people because my hands give out when I have a lot of laundry. Wring them more if you are drying inside. BTW I didn't get my diapers out to dry today until after 2, but they'll still be dry by dinner.  :)

My portable indoor drying method

Welcome to my gym! This is the first soak. Yes, there is poop in there.

Are you gonna tell her she's not cute in cloth? Me neither!

Why Wonder Pets will be the downfall of our society

I can't help but wonder if Wonder Pets is the kind of cool stuff the network brains think our kiddos should watch, then which ideas did they reject? I mean as if the talking baby animals were not genius enough, they have to over-dramatize simple problems. "This is sewrious!" And then there's freaking Dora. She has to repeat everything 3 times so that our sweet ADHD and audio processing disorder kids can follow what's going on. But really, it's the freaking Map, just like the last 20,000 times you watched it! I know I don't have to let them watch that crap, but I do because sometimes I need them out of my hair and they don't like history documentaries. The bright side of that, I guess, is that at least my older kids can see the errors of the programming now. After catching the end of Barney one afternoon, Baby G was completely sucked into to the song, "I love you, you love me." #2 said, "It's like they are brainwashing a whole generation! (zombie arms and voice) Must love everyone. Must be nice to everyone. Must hug people." It might sound bad, but I'm pleased that she sees the socialist message in mass media. I wish everyone did and I wish I had the intellectual fortitude to give them better things to watch. Brain junk food will always be around our house in the form of tv and video games, but there will always be better choices available, too. I so want them to know what is out there, but choose to do things better and different from the mainstream. Oh, one more thing, Baby G fell out of the chair while I was writing this. My first thought was, "This is Sewrious..."

Flats and Handwashing Diaper Challenge

I am participating in the Flats and Handwashing Diaper Challenge this year, hosted by DirtyDiaperLaundry http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/ It is a week we have set aside to diaper babies as inexpensively and simply as possible. No washing machines, no dryers, no fancy $30 all-in one diapers, just the basics or even better, using and reusing what we have on hand. I have to say that I use flats everyday, so that meant I didn't need any equipment for this challenge. I have washed by hand out of necessity before, so that wasn't a stretch either. And line drying? Well, I do that for fun anyway. The wind blows constantly at our house and the sun shines most days, so it only makes sense to hang laundry. Hanging laundry is always satisfying for me. I feel a connection to the hundreds of generations of women before me. By hand washing, that feeling is only intensified. Seeing my family in clean, sweet smelling clothes feels like a real accomplishment and makes me feel feminine. Whatever works, but that's my thought process.

I'm a little behind on running through the topics by day, so I will try to keep this short to catch up.

Day 1: Why are you taking this challenge?
   Because I can. Because I think it's important for people to know that there are more options. I tried cloth with Baby #1, it didn't go well but I wasn't in it whole heartedly. He had some uniqueness that I wasn't aware of at the time which made things harder with him. Baby #2, well, I was tired and overwhelmed, I didn't even try. Baby #3, why would I change?  BUT then life happened. I suddenly had a child who was 3 and refused to potty train. I found myself pregnant with Baby #4. Husband got laid off and I would have 2 in diapers. Cloth was my answer. It saved us. With cloth, I would always have diapers. Always. The worry of how I was going to buy them every week was gone. It was liberating. The real kicker was that Babies # 1, 2 and 3 had bleeding diaper rashes. Baby #4 has only had a few episodes of redness, not really even enough to call a rash. Sold! Everyone should use cloth. With today's products, it is easy, affordable AND realistic.

Day 2: What does it take?
  Let's talk logistics. I bought 4 dozen LL Flats for $40 from a lady on Craigslist. She was leaving cloth and ended up bringing me 5 dozen, some receiving blankets and doublers. I didn't realized what I'd really gotten until later. I chose to go with flats because I would be diapering a 3 year old and a newborn with one set. Then I ordered 2 Econobum shells on a B1G1 sale and one PUL shell from eBay. For wipes, I cut and sewed some squares of old flannel receiving blankets. The Econobums fit my 3 year old, and later, the littlest one. When baby #4 was 3 months old, my washer died. We were still trying to recover from the unemployment, so I started handwashing everything. I washed in the bathtub every day. Sheets, clothes and diapers. So it takes diapers, covers a tub, soap and want to.

Day 3: How do you use your flats?
   This one is easy. I pad fold and stick them in a cover. Ta-Da! That's what I use even at night. Occasionally, I will double them, but more often I will just place a couple of our flannel wipes into the fold. I have some pockets now, but I use them the same as a cover. Stuffing annoys me, lol.

So, all caught up now! I had planned on posting some videos, but my camera has decided differently. Instead here is a nice photo of yesterday's diaper laundry.

Thing 3 and Thing 4 have lost their minds

"There coming to take me away, hee hee!" Baby G is getting her first molars. And her ear hurts. And she NEEDS me. If you know Ty, it's just one of his bad days. A day when nobody does what he wants. He can't write the numbers the way he wants and he's just mad, again. You know it's always so unnerving to hear mean things come out of your kids' mouth, but its hard not to take it personal when they say it while actually trying to hurt your feelings. I know he's trying to get a rise out of me, but honestly, I'm over it. He's in trouble again and Thing1 and Thing 2 are goading him. And I'm letting them. I figure they will all get tired of yelling at each other eventually. That's when I can swoop in and make sense of things for them. That's when I can make things better. In the mean time, Thing 4 needs to be rocked, and held and nursed and loved on and I am feeling lucky to be the one who gets to do it.