To the Mom with Lots of Littles in the House

I have been asked a lot what the best advice I could give a mom with lots of little ones. Well the first would be that God will supply your needs. Yes, it gets hard. And when you just almost whereyou can't make it anymore God will give you exactly what you need. Trust me on this!!!! It played out just yesterday for me. While this advice is for others I have to remind myself weekly not in my own strength only with the help of the Lord!!!! God gave you these little ones and he will give you the tools to make it through. And remember what is important!
I think the next advice would be do not feel bad about taking help and get your rest. I am not saying you have to take a nap everyday because I have NEVER been able to do that, too much to do. But I had a hard time for a long time taking any help that was offered. This for me is still a work in progress and yes many women do not have others to help but IF you do trust me take them up on their offer. They would not be offering if they did not want to help. And I think the biggest reason I am having such thyroid issues is NOT due to having so many children(although it may or may not have contributed to it), it is due to not getting the rest I need. If a grandparent offers to take care of your little ones or maybe just a young lady at your church, whomever it is , if they are trustworthy and you are comfortable with them take that time and let them help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness either, actually for me it takes more courage to ask for help that it does not to.
Thirdly something else I have struggled with is not always being able to help others as much or get out and really spread the gospel. But one thing is for sure God gave you these children and your ministry right now is to your family. Yes, as time permits by all means help others. But just remember we have seasons in our lives, and our seasons look different as our children get older.
( That bit of advice was given to me by a couple of wise women in my church)
Lastly, just soak it all in because believe it or not one day you will want this back. The dirty diapers, the slamming doors, the little feet running through the house, the handprints on your freshly cleaned window, etc... Children are only little for a brief time. Take the time with them, yes this is for myself as well. Remember to stop in your busy day just to give them a hug or listen to what they are trying to tell you. Everything will wait for you. Just love them!!! Loving them is the best gift you can ever give them after teaching them about the Lord.
Have a blessed day!!!!!!!!!!

Cloth diapering

This year we have decided to try to save money but also for us more importantly improve our health. That being said one of the first things I wanted to do was cloth diaper. I have thought about it for a while but would always chicken out but my last little man has had so many diaper rashes and I have tried every cream known to man. Although I did find all natural herbal bottom creams that worked we were still having trouble with rashes and such and the more I read about the toxic stuff in disposables the more I knew that I did not want to continue using them. This being said we have used them for all our other children. SO anyway I just decided to take the jump. I started buying diapers for the youngest two since my third one was in pull ups and almost trained. So at first buying enough to last all day was overwhelming but the good thing was the youngest two are very close to the same size so I could use the same size with them. I order some boy/girl ones too just because that is how I am. Cloth diapering you can make as cheap or as expensive as you want and I do mean expensive. I mixed it up and ordered some prefolds and covers for low cost but I also LOVE my AIO's(All In One's) and pocket diapers as well. They are a bit more pricey but if you think about how much you actually do pay for those toxic ones you throw away the cost doesn't seem so bad. In the months since we have decided to do this probably 4 months ago I have spent less than $200 and that is enough diapers for 2 kids(adding in some fancy more expensive ones) and also several for the baby we are expecting in July. I also found a wonderful website that is always running a special if you spend so much they send a free diaper so that also allowed me to see which ones I liked better since they have sent a different kind each time. Also this website once you spend a certain amount gives you certificate for a certain amount off. It is called http://www.kellyscloset.com/ . Also the next step is actually washing the diapers. This sometimes can be tricky depending on what kind of water you have(soft or hard). My awesome handyman husband made me a diaper sprayer so when we have nasty diapers I can just rinse them out. YOu can also buy these but him putting it all together made it cheaper and better made. You can always look up cloth diaper sprayer to find out how to make one or you can buy one. So since we go through so many a day with two in diapers I have to wash everyday . I just use a old diaper genie I had and bought a liner that I wash each time with the diapers. So , to wash the diapers I do a rinse, a wash, and then another rinse to make sure all the suds are out. If any detergent is left in the diapers a lot of times they will smell. Also there are several problems you might have with your diapers like smell staying in them,etc.. but there is so much excellent advice on the computer. When baby gets here in July we will have 3 in diapers and with cloth diapers we will save so much money. Even though I used to coupon and get the best deals for disposables we still will save a ton and I know that we are not putting toxins on our children's skin. I wish I would of took the jump sooner and would not have been so chicken so if you have thought about it before but have worries just try it. I am sure you will find it is not as bad as you think it is. You are ALREADY having to change those nasty diapers anyway. The first time I actually washed a load of diapers I just looked at them and thought we have been throwing that much away, money just thrown away. How happy I am that we decided to go this route. Yes, it is a bit more work but what important things are not more work anyway. Eating healthier is more work sometimes but we need to still do it. So the reason for this post is to encourage you and say yes you can do it and it may NOT ALWAYS be easy and you will have to figure out what works best for you but once you get a schedule it is not difficult. I usually start my diapers at night , that way I can do the rinse right when we are going to bed, then the wash and the other rinse when we get up the next morning. That way they do not get in the way of all the clothes I need to wash.