It’s very rare you’ll catch me without my diaper bag, basically because it’s very rare to catch me without my kids. Since transitioning from one child to two, and having a toddler and a newborn, I’ve really had to do some diaper bag editing. I am starting to realize with children that old saying “less is more” really applies. There is just no reason to carry around extra stuff for “just in case”. This life is more about being practical and minimal. Here’s a peek into how I’ve downsized what I carry around every day.
So, if you’re like the rest of the world, you binge-watched “Tidying Up” with Marie Kondo on Netflix. If you’re like me, you “mom-binge-watched it”, meaning it took you two weeks to watch the six episodes in the show because you can only watch at night when your littles go to sleep and you basically fall asleep a half hour into each episode.
LOVE that I can share my daily smoothies with Bryson + he loves them too! We try to do a different superfood recipe everyday + one of our faves is The Cacao Magic smoothie from Philosophie.
Instagram can be a double-edged sword for moms. There are so many posts of perfect families and filtered pictures, it can be hard to relate when you’re scrolling through images of perfection as you're nursing your newborn while your toddler is using you as a jungle gym, haven’t showered in 3 days, and your house looks like a war zone (clearly, I know from experience). Raising kids is NOT easy, and it doesn't have to seem to be on social media. I love a real parenting moment just as much as the next mom. That's why I've rounded up some of my favorite moms who don't shy away from sharing the difficult and hilarious aspects of motherhood.
1. Lacticups Milk Savers. Every ounce of your milk is precious and needs to be saved. These milk saver cups help you make the most of your supply. Wear one on the breast you’re not nursing from to catch all the milk that comes out with your letdown. If you leak in general, these are also very sleek and discrete. So you can put them in your bra to catch that run off. I have saved hundreds of ounces of milk this way. Just remove the cup and pour the collected milk into a milk storage bag.
Mercury Retrograde is the toddler of the planetary rotations. It comes, it’s babbling all sorts of nonsense, it wrecks your house, it loses your important documents, maybe cracks your phone, and leaves you wondering how you’re going to clean all this up before your husband gets home. It is the few times a year the planet Mercury seems to be going backward in rotation and is notorious for turning our lives upside down
Sensory play is any activity that sparks your child’s senses: touch, smell, taste, movement, coordination, sight and hearing. These hands-on activities helps dive into children’s natural curiosity to explore what is around them, while supporting their development such as fine and gross motor skills, language, cognitive advancement and even social skills. Lately, my toddler Bryson and I have been having a blast with sensory play! I actually started this with him as a baby and have adjusted the activities to suit him as he’s gotten older.
Do you have a picky eater on your hands? Those toddlers sure develop an opinion about food out of nowhere, considering they survived on a liquid diet for the first six months of their lives! As moms, we want to offer our children the most whole and nutritious foods so they grow up to be strong and healthy and make good decisions when it comes to food, but sometimes our kids give us a run for our money in this department. The good news is, there are ways to totally trick your kids into eating healthy! They won’t even know the difference.
Being a mom of two boys under two certainly keeps me busy! We love to spend our days going on adventures, mostly to get the toddler to run out some of that energy. In the diaper bag I keep all our on-the-go essentials and one for mommy too - my MiniFix makeup! It’s the perfect size for the one item I’m allowed to have in there because it holds everything I need for a touch up. Each pouch has 5 items you can customize or purchase preselected and a mirror.