they can has rooms!-lias kids living like human beings....

[tabitha2]

if any one is interested , this is the new bedroom situation...

The boys have the smallest room. Calvin sleeps in our room, so for now it’s just 6yo Perry and 2yo Parker. I keep all of their clothes in their walk-in closet and most of the toys are in the sunroom, so their room really only has beds. We found a great deal on craigslist for matching car beds, one twin and one toddler size!

The 3 oldest girls (17yo, 16yo, and 14yo) share the middle-sized room. It’s about the size of the bedrooms in the old house, but there’s a small bonus: a second-story deck. I’m a little jealous of the view. We offered to buy them beds, but they were adamantly against such a waste of space. Instead, they used their “bed allowance†to buy chalkboard paint and a bright red sleeper sofa – another craigslist deal – so that they could decorate their bedroom as a sitting room. They use the mattresses from the old shelf beds, just laying them out on the floor at night and rolling them up in the corner of the room during the day. They think their bedrolls are much more comfy than regular mattresses, but are thinking of trying thinner Japanese style mats to save even more space. They have their personal collections of books and pets displayed on shelves mounted high on the wall to preserve the limited floor space. They hope to add a drop-down style table soon to hold Kaitlyn’s old-fashioned record player and provide a surface for laptops, etc.

The biggest kid bedroom belongs to the 4 younger girls: 13yo Natalie, 11yo Becca, 8yo Rachael, and 4yo Bethany. They have 2 walk-in closets. Each of the older girls is paired up with a younger one to keep their closet in order, and each has one entire side to herself.

They have bunk beds with a full size bed on top and a [full size] futon on the bottom. Rachael usually sleeps on the bottom with Becca, and Natalie is all alone on the top, waiting for Bethany’s bladder to grow. Right now Bethany has her own toddler bed, because…um…we don’t want to change full size bedding every morning, if you know what I mean.

[Widget]

Sure they "chose" to keep using Costco foam and think it's more comfortable than a real bed....

And I'm a Victoria's Secret model.

[tabitha2]

they might have...the lias daughters are very different from most of the fundie girls talked about here, more creative and such.

[Azelma]

Oh, thank goodness! LIAS was my gateway fundie blog, and I've worried about those poor girls in the shelves for years. I'm also glad there seems to be minimal utilization of older sibs as mommies, but that might be due to the reluctance to put the little boys in the girls' room?

Still far from ideal, but oh man is this an improvement.

[tabitha2]

nah, they did not seem to care about boys and girls together before.

[Mama Mia]

Sure they "chose" to keep using Costco foam and think it's more comfortable than a real bed....

And I'm a Victoria's Secret model.

I think a lot of teens would prefer to have a sitting room look to their room - and many people like sleeping on harder surfaces - if that's all they are used to I don't see why they would automatically prefer a soft bed.

But part of my job is helping people in ridiculously small spaces try to make it more livable - rental housing is ridiculously expensive, and many low and middle income families have to adapt to crowded spaces - so multi-functional just makes sense. I'm surprised though that they didn't go for the full bunk over full futon couch that their sisters have. Still get a couch, but don't have to worry about rolling up mats - unless they prefer to have their own personal sleeping space - which makes sense too.

[sewingmom2]

I lived in Korea for a couple of years and fell in love with sleeping on the floor on a roll-up mat. I love the look of minimalist decorating, too.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

No way in hell real Japanese futon are thinner than Costco mats. I saw pics of those Costco mats. Plus people often use two futon or put a futon on top of another cushion, if they're getting old and worn out.

She needs to look up what actual futon are like.

I do like sleeping on futon though, and putting it away. But it's better than Costco mats. Seriously.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Anyway... is this the family that stored their extra clothes in plastic bins underneath the house, and there were spiders and whatever else involved? Or am I thinking of some other family?

[tabitha2]

yes, this was them.

[MamaJunebug]

I'm a bit behind the curve - how did they sudenly afford such a better place than what they had?

[slickcat79]

I'm a bit behind the curve - how did they sudenly afford such a better place than what they had?

There's the big question. Maybe they just managed to pull together a lot of savings from living in an unfinished self-built shack for years.

Or maybe Dougie grew a soul and decided to pass up his European vacation and start paying his employees a housing allowance instead...

[tabitha2]

I think they do all right. they live very cheaply to a fault and he is middle management at vf as a ware house manage.

[lilith]

nah, they did not seem to care about boys and girls together before.

But Perry's six now.... Time to separate him from those defrauding sisters.

They had like ten girls before they got a boy, so it's only just becoming an issue.

[Freyacat]

The biggest kid bedroom belongs to the 4 younger girls: 13yo Natalie, 11yo Becca, 8yo Rachael, and 4yo Bethany. They have 2 walk-in closets. Each of the older girls is paired up with a younger one to keep their closet in order, and each has one entire side to herself.

They have bunk beds with a full size bed on top and a [full size] futon on the bottom. Rachael usually sleeps on the bottom with Becca, and Natalie is all alone on the top, waiting for Bethany’s bladder to grow. Right now Bethany has her own toddler bed, because…um…we don’t want to change full size bedding every morning, if you know what I mean.

Better than 10 kids to a room, but I still wouldn't want to be 13 and forced to share with 3 siblings ranging in age down to 4. And what's with the wet bedding every morning? This kind of implies they are changing the toddler bedding every morning, which is easier than changing full size bedding. I have a 3 yr old boy who can't yet hold his bladder all night, and pull ups work pretty well. And he's a really heavy wetter, the pull up is puffy and drenched in the morning. Every now and then his tossing and turning at night wrenches the pull up crooked and he leaks, but it's certainly not a daily occurrence to have wet bedding. I'm wondering whether her daughter is an unusually heavy overnight wetter, or if she's too cheap to buy pull ups.

[snickerz]

Yeah, she's too cheap to buy pullups.

She says the room the 3 oldest are in is the size of the old bedroom. And it sounds like a tight fit for the THREE of them - limited floorspace, etc. And yet she crammed TEN CHILDREN in that size room in the old house.

[NurseNell]

I think a lot of teens would prefer to have a sitting room look to their room - and many people like sleeping on harder surfaces - if that's all they are used to I don't see why they would automatically prefer a soft bed.

But part of my job is helping people in ridiculously small spaces try to make it more livable - rental housing is ridiculously expensive, and many low and middle income families have to adapt to crowded spaces - so multi-functional just makes sense. I'm surprised though that they didn't go for the full bunk over full futon couch that their sisters have. Still get a couch, but don't have to worry about rolling up mats - unless they prefer to have their own personal sleeping space - which makes sense too.

I agree. Their bedroom sounds like it's the way they want it. I remember an apartment I looked at, the current residents were Japanese. They had no beds, just sleeping mats. They also had no couch in the L.R. My older son has his mattress on the floor, he doesn't like bed frames. I had to sleep on the floor for 3 nights when I was moving and I have to admit I slept better than I had in years. I could get very used to sleeping on the floor.

[yetanothermeg]

Sometimes when I was a teenager I would get out my too-soft bed and sleep on the floor next to it. No Costco pads involved.

I would be pissed if I was the 13 year old and didn't get to be in the cool teenagers bedroom though.

Did the oldest daughter just get married, or am I thinking of someone else? Maybe one less kid plus husband got a raise equals new housing? Is the mom young enough to have more babies? If she doesn't have the bird-shit deck to birth on, she will probably commandeer the teen girls' deck.

[yetanothermeg]

Oh, and did anyone else watch Just the Ten of Us? I'm picturing Marie, Wendy, Cindy and Constance with their attic bedroom.

[Patsy]

Better than 10 kids to a room, but I still wouldn't want to be 13 and forced to share with 3 siblings ranging in age down to 4. And what's with the wet bedding every morning? This kind of implies they are changing the toddler bedding every morning, which is easier than changing full size bedding. [...] I'm wondering whether her daughter is an unusually heavy overnight wetter, or if she's too cheap to buy pull ups.

Better than just leaving her to wet the floor every night.

[yetanothermeg]

Better than just leaving her to wet the floor every night.

Ew, I am picturing a stinky, urine-saturated Costco pad that never fully dries out in the Texas summer humidity. Poor little thing.

[So Many Lies]

they might have...the lias daughters are very different from most of the fundie girls talked about here, more creative and such.

I.agree. They are quite different, none of this costco foam stuff bothered me. I think their lives are just so much better than, say, Seven Sisters who decorated their room Grandma style and are limited to very gender defined crafts. I'm not saying there aren't issues but I do think I like the fact they are more expressive and have led a proper childhood. I fully.expect critism for this and God knows I know there's more to that family than the kookiness and fun, but I still prefer them because they let Deanna marry and not languish as a SAHD.

[lilith]

Sometimes when I was a teenager I would get out my too-soft bed and sleep on the floor next to it. No Costco pads involved.

I would be pissed if I was the 13 year old and didn't get to be in the cool teenagers bedroom though.

Did the oldest daughter just get married, or am I thinking of someone else? Maybe one less kid plus husband got a raise equals new housing? Is the mom young enough to have more babies? If she doesn't have the bird-shit deck to birth on, she will probably commandeer the teen girls' deck.

Yes, oldest daughter Deanna just got married, and yes, Kim is young enough to have one or two more - her last was born a few months ago and she is a committed quiverfuller. I'd expect a few more babies.

[OkToBeTakei]

From the questions.

6. We have three girls 14, 12, & 10…and two boys 7 & 1. We have 3 bedrooms for them. Oldest has own room, middle girls share, 7yo old hates to sleep alone, but we cannot get 1yo to be on same sleep schedule as big brother. So for now 7yo is w/oldest sister & 1yo is in our closet… What do we do???

In the closet? :shock:

[Patsy]

Ew, I am picturing a stinky, urine-saturated Costco pad that never fully dries out in the Texas summer humidity. Poor little thing.

I don't remember when she posted about it, but I mean literally directly on the floor. Bedwetters used to get transferred from their wet mattress to the floor during the night, if I am remembering details correctly, without even a sheet to lie on.