C, A, & J are 18 months and Noah is Almost 3!

7 Laundry Tips for Family of 6

Luke 11:25

And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.

Look familiar?

      As a child, I was never the "neat" or "ocd clean" type. I honestly did not care if my bed was made or if my toys were put away in their proper place. It used to drive my brother crazy, as he was the exact opposite. My friend, who was a lot like me in this respect, and I would go in my brother's room and mess up his neatly made bed just for fun. Ironically, this friend and I owned our own cleaning business called A & A Cleaning Service when we were off from school in the summer months. Needless to say, we had no clients. 

    As I got older and had kids, I had to change because I like clean and neat (I just liked somebody else to do it for me). I've realized that my household can be clean and orderly but it had to be super organized. Organized is my version of lazy. If I have a system to things, then I do less work! Win for me! Oh, and I married a man who enjoys cleaning (well, doesn't mind it).

     Here is my system for laundry. I never have random piles and laundry is always done and put away. It may not be ironed and my folding technique is not department store-worthy, but at least I put it away, I guess, and the laundry is done!

7 Laundry Tips for a Family of 6

1- Sort dirty laundry in bins and only washing that bin that way things get put away faster and schedule when each bin is to get washed/dryed/put away. This is seriously the biggest thing for me - separating items in laundry bins after we are done wearing an item. My master bathroom has three laundry bins.  labeled "mom," "dad," & "socks and underwear/nightwear." With everything already separated, it makes it MUCH more simpler to put things away. Noah (my oldest son) has his own laundry bin in his room and the babies' laundry is all together. I do Noah and the babies' stuff during the week (Noah 1 load and babies about 2-3 per week, and I do one a day during the week days, so M-Th) and I do my and my husband's stuff on the weekend. I also make sure to put the clean clothes away in the same day. 

2- Label drawers and have a specific place for everything. We own 4 dressers; one for myself, my husband, the boys and the girls. I like  for myself the ikea hemnes dressers because it has 4 large drawers and 4 small drawers. The small drawers are labeled: socks, undies, bras, and leggings/pantyhose. The larger drawers I have drawer dividers so I can divide pajama bottoms from tops and long sleeve tops and short sleeve tops. I love this dresser so much that I bought one for the girls. All the dressers in the house are labeled for where everything needs to go.

3- Do not hang kid garments and limit the amount of hanging for adult garments and check out my method of hanging! Before the triplets, I hung all pants, all dresses, and skirts and most tops. Now, I fold pants and put in a drawer labeled "pants." I am also not meticulous about how I fold and I stack the babies' garments. I finally came up with a system for tops that wrinkle that need to be hung. I hang stuff now like you hang drapes. I grab the item by the tag.

4- Stop wasting your time sorting socks and looking for the match that the dryer ate. Buy all white socks. About 30 white baby socks, 15 white Noah socks, 10 white Alexis crew socks, 10 white Tim crew socks, and 10 white ankle Tim socks (I don't like ankle socks). It makes folding easy peesy because items were already separated before washing.

5- Do not use the old fashioned towel racks; instead hang towels on hooks. This method is so much faster and I personally think it looks better!

6- Have a schedule with everything, including linens. I do all the bedding every Friday (sometimes every other if too much "life" happens). I own double the amount of sheets and put on the new sheets right after I take off the old sheets. I wash all the sheets together. I usually do towels on Fridays too.

7- Never iron. Never iron. Never iron. We buy a lot of garments (especially my husband) that says "wrinkle free" (because he know I will not iron). Or, we set an alarm to move items out kid the dryer for folding and hanging as soon as it's finished drying. On my iPhone, I just click Siri and tell her to remind me that the clothes are done in x minutes. 

I have a system down for toy organization that I will blog about soon!

Aria came home a year ago yesterday!

My sweet little Aria has been home for a year now! She spent 125 long days in the Nicu at umc. I remember feeling so sad leaving her when the other two were home. There were even two days that I had to send Tim to visit her and give her my breastmilk so I can be home caring for Jude, Cadence and Noah. I'm so glad those days are over! Aria is doing well and has such a fun personality! We joke that she is going to be a gymnast and she gets herself into predicaments that the other two wouldn't dare to get themselves into! She's still on the small side, not even 15lbs yet. But, the doctor said she is following her own curve on the growth chart. We call her "Little Little" because she is so tiny. She is the baby who gets colds first and gets them the worst. We pray she grows out of her virus-induced asthma one day. Here are some pictures of my beautiful little girl!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  (James 1:17)

 

Cadence's 1 year anniversary and Preemie Awareness Day!

It's been a year since Cadence Rose has been home! Cadence is such a funny, strong willed, smart, sassy, and loveable baby! At 15 months, 12 adjusted, she weighs 17lbs (she was 1lb13oz at birth). She has been walking for a few weeks and says mama and dada. She loves when I read to her and her monkey stuffed animal. She had such an infectious laugh and is so full of personality! Today is also World Prematurity Awareness Day, which is near and dear to my heart. I'm so proud of where Cadence is today and of her brother and sister! Here are some recent pictures of Cadence. 

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.  From now on all generations will call me blessed.”  (Luke 1:46-48)

The 1st anniversary of Jude's homecoming was yesterday!

It's been a year since Jude Joseph has been home! Of all three babies, Jude is the one that amazes me the most with his progress and development. At 15 months/12 adjusted, he crawls, pulls to stand and cruises, babbles mama and dadda, self feeds (and boy, oh boy, can this boy eat!) walks with the walker, and sleeps through the night, and drinks out of a sippy cup very well. Of all three babies, he naps the best and just loves to sleep! From a tiny 1lb13oz, 13in long baby at birth, to a 19lbs and is 29 3/4in long, this boy is so amazing. He is still on nexium for his reflux, which has improved but is still present some days (unfortunately, because it causes pain). But, if you give him his binkie (which he is thoroughly addicted to), it helps a lot. Here are some pictures of my handsome miracle baby.

And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.  (Luke 2:40)

1 Year Adjusted Birthday!

Today is a big day for the Burrows Triplets- they hit their 1 Year Adjusted birthday, which means if they would have been born on their due date, then they would be a year old (puts it into perspective how early they were- 3 months and 4 days, 96 days, 13 weeks and 5 days). They are REAL living miracles! They are following exactly what they should be doing if they were to be a year old. Cadence started walking 9 days ago, and Aria and Jude are right behind her and are master crawlers. They eat solid food like champs (I did baby-led weaning with them and they are completely off purees), they drink whole milk now instead of formula, and are very good sleepers and nappers (yay, finally on a solid schedule!) We got the good news that the babies will receive synagist for rsv for the months of November and December. It lifts a huge weight since they are still at risk for getting very ill from it if they get it. Aria is only 14lbs8oz so she is particularly at risk. Cadence is almost 17lbs and Jude is19lbs. They are growing but are still small, even for their adjusted age. They are doing so well though and we had a great Halloween! Noah was the Big Bas Wolf and the triplets were the 3 Little Pigs! Here is to many, many more happy memories and cute coordinating costumes :)

Psalm 16:11

 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.