Cloth napkins.......

My guess is by now you have come to expect this.....but yes, we use cloth napkins!  I m not sure exactly  when/how this got started but it seems to fall into line with how we roll.  The most common argument I have heard for not using cloth is the extra laundry.  Welll friends, I have four kids...we have a LOT of laundry.  A few cloth napkins ain't gonna change a thing.  They don't even add an extra load a month.  And as for folding them......that's what the four kids are for ;)

Cloth WIpes

Now, I must say that there are a lot of things I never really thought I would do.  But cloth wipes is RIGHT UP THERE with the top few.  (I can only think of one other thing, which we'll get to later!)  It just seems like the GROSSEST thing ever to use cloth wipes.  GROSS!  However, when we started with cloth diapers, cloth wipes was just the most logical thing to follow!  Seriously, think about it with me......you wipe babies bottom, you stick the wipe in the diaper and throw it all away.  If you have a cloth diaper and a disposable wipe, you have one item going to the trash and one going to the wash.  As lazy as this sounds that is MORE WORK!  Once you have cloth diapers, it just makse sense to go to cloth wipes.  Now you can get all fancy and BUY specific cloth wipes, or like us, you can just use baby wash rags.  They are a bit cheaper!

We cloth diaper.......

Do you see that orange diaper?  :D

I always LOVED seeing my diapers on the line!

When my oldest (who is now ALMOST 8!) was about 18 months we switched to cloth diapers!  We were expecting our second child and knew that we would have two in diapers.....for a while!  I hosted an informational party where a lady came and told us all about cloth diapers and one of my BFFs and I started in on researching.  We both decided on and bought cloth.  One of the main reasons I decided to go cloth was cost.  I sat down and did the math and back then, when there weren't near as many options, it would cost the same price to cloth a baby from birth to potty training as it did to put them in sposies!  Since we knew that we would have at least two (we were for sure hoping for more) we went for it and have LOVED it!

Truth told we don't cloth diaper now, as sad as that is :(  But we have enjoyed it and LOVED it with all four!  We gave it up for MANY reasons, and occasionally we go back to it, but the baby is thinking about potty training, so we may.....just may be done with diapers soon.....  :O

TRASH BAGS.....

Another strange thing about us.....we don't buy trash bags.  Why would we?  We get them free at target :) 

When we moved to NC, a few years ago (really more like 10!), that was one thing we realized right away we didn't need.  We've always lived in small spaces and so a trash can seemed like a waste of space.  Therefore we've just been using Target bags.

The benefits-

it's small and easy for the littles to take out.
it doesn't take up much room
it's FREE
it never stinks, it fills up and gets taken out LONG before that

the downside-
it fills up fast (esp when you have company)

One Room

We recently bought a home.  We were very VERY excited to be able to do this.  When we bought our home we promised the kids, who had been sharing one room that they could divide out and the older two could have one room and the younger two could have one.

This was great and lots of fun.  They were thrilled to each have their own space.  However, it wasn't long (less than 6 months) and the kids were asking for our "old house" back.  I was stunned and disappointed.  My hubby and I LOVE our new house and we wanted our kids to as well.  When we asked them more about it, they revealed that they missed all sleeping in one room!

There you have it!  That is why all four of our kids share a room.  They love each other THAT much!  :)  I must admit it is fun and nice to have the extra space!

Hammocks

SO.....one of the newest "different" things in our home is our hammocks.  We (yes, we) sleep in hammocks.  The kids do EVERY night, my hubby and I sleep in our randomly.  But we all enjoy swinging instead of bed sleep.  So......WHY?

Well, my hubby and I were out on a date one night (yes, rare, but it does happen occasionally) and we began talking about our kids and their need to have new sleeping arrangements.  The baby was quickly "outgrowing" his pack-n-play and so, we had to find something different.  At that time, our boys were in bunk beds and the girl was in a day bed.  We were thinking two bunk beds, that would just be the easiest....we thought.  When we began looking into it we decided that two bunk beds would be VERY crowded in one room.  We didn't really like that idea.  We aren't really big on furniture...and that would have been a LOT.

So......we began exploring our options.  We looked at building beds that would be custom fit for that room.  We looked at lofts in the ceiling....you name it, we explored it.  Then we thought, why do they have to sleep in beds?  We started looking into hammocks and fell.in.love with the idea.

We asked the kids how they felt about never making their beds again.  They eagerly agreed that would be nice.  We asked them about hammocks and they were sold. VERY excited :)

We searched and searched and then bought four hammocks.  The ones we chose were fairly cheap, about $40 each.  We were happy with that since we likely wouldn't have found bunk beds for less thatn $160.  We bought them they came in and the were nice.....a bit small, but nice.

We quickly decided that our eldest needed a bigger hammock.  Once we got his we liked it so much we exchanged them all.  Then bought an extra....just in case we had an emergency in the middle of the night and needed it!

The good things about hammocks are-
-ALL the extra space
-EASY cleaning, just throw in the wash/dryer
-no pressure points on your body
-very inexpensive
-no bed's to make
-just plain fun!

The bad things about hammocks-
-no bed to bounce on (my kids always say they want their beds back to bounce)
-have to hang it in the morning, we have nails where they hang their hammocks, so that they have the room free.
-I am drawing a blank......

Mommy & Daddy's hammock

The first hammocks

Our newest hammocks

I'd be happy to answer any and all questions you have about our hammocks.  We love them, they are a perfect fit for our family, but I would totally agree that they are not for everyone.

About me........

I've been noticing lately, that my family is a bit, um.....different.  We don't typically do things the way MOST people do.  I've decided to share some of the things that we do different and tell why we have chosen this route.  I am not sure how long this will last or even how many things there will be, but I thought it might be fun!  Now, some of you who know me well might have a thing or two that you'd like me to explain.  If you do.....I'd be happy to!  Just let me know!  I *think* I will post Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a while and we'll see what happens!  Stay tuned Wednesday to see what the first thing will be :)