Diaper Bag

So this is more for the new(er) mom's that may or may not read my blog.

I was inspired by a youtube video posted by Kandee Johnson (check her out guys, she's soooo sweet and has tons of great videos, go here for all of her wicked awesome make up tutorials!) who just had a little baby girl not too long ago. Her video was about everything she carries around in her diaper bag with her.

Simple right?

A lot of people think so.

But after years of "Oh shoot I forgot it" or "I really wish I had...." you learn that there are some things that really should just never come out of it.

• Baby wipes are a must obviously. But instead of bringing a whole package of wipes, grab a travel container for them. That way you have what you need but it's not taking up too much space.
• Diapers. Duh, I know. But not just one or two. I don't think I ever left the house with less than 10. No matter how long I planned on being gone. You never know what's going to come out of your little ones. Hehe. Or how often. Or even, who you might be around who needs to bum one off you because they ran out of their own.
• Changes of clothes. Notice I said CHANGES. Not A change. But multiple. And I know I've emphasized this very point before, but I don't think it can ever be said enough. Imagine driving home and having your child throw up all over their clothes. You pull over and change them and clean them up as best as you can and then carry on your way only to have them do it again 5 minutes later. You need another change of clothes. I've put my oldest in my own sweatshirt before after she hurled all over her clothes because I didn't think to bring more than one thing for her to change into.
• Binkies (Nuks, Pacifiers, whatever you call them). And this obviously is only if your child uses one. Some don't. My oldest took one for all of 2 days. My youngest for almost 2 years. Maybe a little longer. And again, this is something you need to bring 2 or 3 of. Incase one gets dropped and there's no way to clean it off. Maybe it gets misplaced. Or they bite a hole in one.
• Snacks. If you've got a bigger little one who can snack on stuff, bring cheerios. Or puffs. You know, the ones that can taste like strawberries or bananas and all but melt in their mouths so there's no risk of them choking on anything.
• Extra bottles (if you bottle feed). With my youngest I used liquid formula so this was a little bit less user friendly, as the longer they were out the less they could be used. With my youngest, I used powdered formula so what I did was I'd fill one bottle with powder and water, shake it so it was ready to be had, and put it in an outside pocket. Then I'd take 3 or more (better too much than too little) with just the powder in them incase I stayed somewhere longer than I planned, or little one was just extra hungry.
• Bottled water. Not only does it help in the above bottle situation, but if you've got older kids or you just get thirsty and don't want to stop somewhere, you've got beverages on hand.
• Some kind of changing pad. Not all places have changing tables and, lets face it, even THOSE are wicked uncomfortable. At least with your own changing pad you know you're not laying them down in some other baby's goo or germs or whatever.
• Handi-wipes. Incase you DONT have a changing pad, you can wipe down whatever surface you DO put baby on and somewhat sanitize it. This goes for shopping carts, counters, booster seats/high chairs, tables at restaurants (no not saying you put your baby on those, but they touch them).
• Receiving blankets. For burping. Covering up. Or using as a headrest in the carseat, because I'm sure anyone who already has a little person KNOWS how uncomfortable they look when they fall asleep and their heads fall forward or just kinda hang their to the side. Helps cushion them a bit and make the ride a little easier on them.
• A bigger blanket to throw over their carseat to block wind or sunlight or, honestly, people. I know everyone has good intentions but sometimes a cough can slip out or someone can be getting sick and not know it. A blanket over the car seat helps to eliminate all the touching. I mean, I wouldn't walk up to someone who had a blanket over their carseat and yank it off and start playing with their baby. Would you?
• Teething rings. Gives them something to hold on to and shake around if they're not teething, and to chew on if they are.
• Any kind of rattle-y toy. I love the rattles that you can velcro around their wrists. Super cute.
• Diaper rash cream. Everyone needs it at some point or another, bless their little hearts. Makes it easier if you have it on hand instead of having to wait to buy it or use it when you get home.
• Tylenol, or whatever pain reliever/fever reducer you prefer (if you prefer any at all). Just incase. Hopefully it wouldn't be necessary to use, but you never know.
• Band aids. If you've got a little one just learning to walk, you will definitely need them. Or if you've got a baby who just loves to scratch at themselves these definitely help. Make sure you've got neosporin to go along with the bandaids though.
• Scratch mits. To put over their hands so they are less likely to scratch themselves. Babies' finger nails are dang sharp for such tiny people. And it breaks your heart when they hurt themselves.
• Grooming kit. Which usually includes clippers. One of those suction bulb thingies (that you probably play with more than you use). Tiny brush/comb.
• Bring a few pairs of socks. Socks always seem to fall off babies and go missing somehow.
• Two or three hats. Most of your heat can be lost through your head. And not all babies are born with a full head of hair (heck, some of them even lose most of the hair that they have within the first year and then it takes its time growing back).

I'm sure there was probably more that I'm not remembering. OH! Like I always brought a book in my bag because I'm a wicked book nerd and can't go anywhere without one. Put your wallet/keys/phone etc in there because it can get really cumbersome carrying your purse AND a diaper bag around.

But you get the general idea. And like I said, I forgot a lot of stuff or didn't bring enough of something or just didn't think to put something in that could have really been useful at some point (sometimes being a pack rat has its benefits). If I can save someone the trouble of doing what I did, then wonderful.

And just because I can, I'm going to show you the 2 reasons for my diaper bagging days. :-) When they were young enough for me to need diaper bagging days.

Alanna on the left and Lydia on the right.

That's All I Have To Say About That

It's been a while since I've posted in here. To be honest, I've been rather at a loss for things to post about. Today is not really any different. But I figured it had been long enough since I last graced your blogging feeds with my presence ;-).

Since I am unable to come up with a specific reason for this particular post, I decided just to post some helpful MOM tips. Hopefully these little tidbits of information will help to spare someone from having to learn the hard way (although, sometimes that is the only way to learn).

1. If you have an older child (and by older I just mean around the age of 1-2 and up) who is sick and vomiting (like mine did last night), milk is not a good idea. Really I would wait a few hours before trying to give them ANYTHING, but you don't want them to get dehyrdrated. Start giving them a few sips of lukewarm water. Not too much at a time or it can just upset their stomachs even more. If that doesn't come back up, move on to a few sips of ginger ale or for the younger ones, pedialyte. After a few more hours perhaps some saltine crackers would be ok for the tummy. We don't want blood sugar dropping too low. Sometimes I even throw in a popsicle or two.

2. With a newborn, remember, you're not the first person to get it wrong. You're going to be frazzled. You're going to be tired. You may even be anxious and think you're completely screwing up your child. Believe me, you won't have been the fiest person and you definitely won't be the last. Don't get discouraged. It gets easier. More like second nature. When you feel like giving up close your eyes, take a deep breath, and then say to yourself "I can do this". Now, I know it seems silly, and of course it doesn't automatically make you super mom. But the more you tell yourself you can do it, the more you believe you can.

3. You don't need to buy everything brand new or brand name even. Save your money. It's ok to take hand me downs. It's ok to buy in thrift stores. Heck, sometimes you get BRAND SPANKING NEW clothes in thrift stores for less than half the price. As long as they have clothes that keep them warm or keep them cool, and that fit well, it shouldn't matter.

4. Always always ALWAYS take a change of clothes for your kiddo wherever you go. No matter how old. You never know what's going to spill, stain, get peed/pooped on (ok so this one may not be so much for the older kids, but the other 2....). I've forgotten many many times to bring a change of clothes and I can't tell you how much I regretted it almost every time I did.

5. If someone offers to help you with something.... it's ok to let them. If someone wants to babysit so you can have a night out, why not? If they want to change baby, why not? If someone wants to make you dinner, why not? Let them help you. It keeps the stress down for you AND your baby/kiddo.

Bieber Fever

::hangs head::

Crow really doesn't taste very well.

My sister and I took our kids to go see Never Say Never with Justin Bieber yesterday.

Let me tell you that before this movie, I thought he was THE MOST annoying, over-rated teenybopping boy in the entire world.

BEFORE I watched the movie.

I must say, I am now a Justin Bieber fan.

I know I KNOW. What in the world is wrong with me right? Seriously though, this kid is amazing. He was the most adorable little boy and to see him bangin on those drums THAT GOOD when he was barely out of diapers was unbelievable. And he really can sing. Not only that but he's a sweet kid. And HOW MANY PERFORMERS do you see praying ALL THE TIME and MEANING it. Not throwing God at the end of a long list of thank yous. But really thanking Him and meaning every word of that thanks.

Bottom line. Kid is talented. He still sounds WAY too young, but he doesn't bug me anymore. The movie has turned me.

Wordless Wednesday - Silly Lilly Picadilly

I'd Like To Thank The Academy

Yay! I got my first ever Blog Award from Alison at One Lucky Monkey! Too cool. Thanks Alison!

1. Thank and link back to the person who send you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact the bloggers you picked and let them know about the award

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Hmmm.... 7 things about myself...
1. I'm a glutton for punishment. The hotter the buffalo sauce... the better (and I love me some buffalo sauce).
2. I'm great with accents. I annoy the people around me with them, but I'm awesome at them. Any accent. Really.
3. I had to learn how to french braide (braid?) by watching YouTube videos. And apparently I still do it wrong. My french braids look more like corn rows. OOps. Oh well, They're cute. Totally learned how to do a fishtail braid (braide?) on YouTube as well.
4. My (not so secret) ambition at one point was to be a comedienne (glad I didn't follow through with that one aren't you?).
5. Photoshop is my friend.
6. I like to bake. Cookies. Cakes. Pies. Brownies. I'm the type of friend that will make you fat.
I've got 8 earrings and 8 tattoos. Hmm.... I'm too even. Must remedy that asap.

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And the award goes to
1. Jan at The Simpler Life
2. Kandee - The Make-Up Artist
3. McVal at Sew Not My Day
4. Kimberley at Life With A Possum
5. Siobhan at Thoughts Of A Mad Hatter

Check them out!!

No really... you have to. Cuz I said so.

Travel Package

My girls are no strangers to long car rides. Or plane trips for that matter either.

Not saying that they like them. I mean, really.... who likes being stuck in a car for 12 hours (or 2 days if you can't drive the whole trip in one day)? Show of hands? No one? Me either.

You CAN make the trip less tiresome tedious completely and utterly horrible for them though. Will it alleviate all of the boredom and whines of "MOOOooom... are we THERE yet"? No. But it will help.

If you have one, a portable DVD player can be a life saver. Make sure if you're driving you have a car charger that you can plug in to your cigarette lighter. And bring about 10 movies. It's enough so that they don't have to watch the same movies over and over, but not enough to completely take over your vehicle. And my suggestion would be, make one of the movies a brand new one that your kids haven't ever seen before. Don't let them watch it right away. Keep it as a secret or a surprise. Wait until they're tired of the movies they've already watched and don't really want to do anything else, and then pull it out. It's easier for their attention to be held by something they don't already know every word to.

Some suggestions:
Ratatouille
Despereaux
any Barbie movie
Cars
Finding Nemo
Care Bears
Wall E
Monsters Inc.
Alice In Wonderland
Aladdin
Bolt
The Incredibles
Toy Story 1,2,3
Ice Age
Chicken Run

For older kids:
Mary Poppins
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Harry Potter
Chronicles of Narnia movies
Neverending Story

Aside from movies, bring books. I'd say pack a backpack full of age appropriate books for however many kids you're bringing with you. Maybe even some magazines as well, just to change things up a bit.

Coloring books. At least one for each child that you have with you. And honestly, I'd say bring each one their own set of crayons. It doesn't have to be a lot of crayons. Maybe just the eight-five cent small boxes you can pick up from Walmart or something. That way there's no fighting over coloring books and there's no fighting over crayons. You may even want to duplicate one or two coloring books that way if one likes a coloring book that someone else has, there's no screaming or crying over it. And again, doesn't have to be this big huge thing. You can buy tons of cute coloring books from the dollar store.

Toys. Bring some of their favorite toys. My girls love Barbies and My Little Ponies. On my recent trip down from Maine to Virginia I threw every pony that Lydia owned in a yellow bag and just handed her the bag when she got bored and she played with those things for hours.

Bring kid friendly music. They don't always want to listen to what you listen to. Now, my oldest memorized almost all of Emmy Rossum's songs as fast as I did, but not every kid is as eager to listen to grown up music.If you go to Amazon you can find a cute little CD called Car Ride Fun that's got a ton of old tried and true kids songs on it. It also, as always, has recommendations for a bunch of other CDs for car rides if that particular one isn't your cup of tea (or your kids' for that matter).

And I recommend bringing either one big cooler or two smaller coolers. If you have room. One for bottled water, juice, sodas, milks, etc. And the other is a real time/money saver. One cooler full of lunch meat, cheese, mayo... any kind of sandwich makings or fruit or yogurts. Saves you from having to stop unles ABSOLUTELY necessary (ie gas or the ever so troublesome potty breaks) and also saves you from having to spend money on fast food. It's readily available (I hate having to watch for exits to see which one has food my kids will eat) and even healthier (unless you make really bad for you sandwiches lol). Make sure you also pack some plastic silverware too. For sandwich making/yogurt eating. And don't forget snacks. Graham crackers are a favorite with my kids. Slim Jims (I know, I'm horrible, but they love them). Cheezits. Pretzels. Puffcorn (oh so yummy).

As an aside, if you're a driver who has trouble staying awake while you drive, or you've just been on the road for EVER and you're exhausted.... eat pretzels. If soda/red bull/monster/caffeine pills aren't working for you, eat pretzels. Or anything really. I prefer pretzels or cheezits, but we'll say pretzels for right now. Get the bags with the thin pretzel sticks and if you start feeling tired, just pick up one and take tiny bites off of it. Me, I bite off the salt, and then take small bites of the stick itself. LoL. I'm weird, but it helped me make my one and ONLY "straight through without stopping" trip from ME to VA. Nothing else worked. I could never figure out how my dad managed to always make such long road trips without stopping until I did it myself. Amazing, I'm telling you. Obviously make sure you have something to drink because pretzels will suck all of the moisture right out of your mouth, but still.

WELL, this has been a VERY lengthy post, and I apologize, but, hopefully I've given you some helpful tips to alleviate stress and boredom for EVERYONE.

Lydia-isms

My 3 year old fancies herself a comedian. And truth be told, she is quite the little joker. I'm surprised at her sense of humor. She's so young and yet... I don't know. It's hard to explain. I'll have to show you. :-)


Lydia: know how you say 'butt' in sign language?
Me: How?
Lydia: a-l-a-n-n-a

Lydia: I don't know how to put the juicebox in my mouth.
Alanna: it's simple.
Lydia: No it's ELMO.
Alanna: No, I said it's SIMPLE.
Lydia: NO. IT'S. ELMO.
Me: Sweetie she's saying it's easy.
Lydia: Oh.

Lydia: Hey I wanted milk!
Me: You mean 'thank you mom'?
Lydia: Thank you mom.
Me: You're very welcome.
Lydia: Can you get me some milk?

Mom: Tara, she's upsetting me.... she's talking to the refrigerator.
Me: No, she's talking to the magnet ON the refrigerator.
Lydia: I'm talking to my kitties and my puppies. That's who I'm talking to. Hi-5 frigerator!

Lydia: Justin Bieber's a MAN. He's not a human.
Alanna: You mean a woman?
Lydia: He's not a woman!

Lydia: Hey I can't see!
Me: No more computer for you tonight.
Lydia: But I want to see a picture of you ugly!
Me:...
Lydia: I want to see a picture of you ugly with me.

Lydia: Do I have to go away?
Me: Do you want to sit at the counter?
Lydia: No, I want to go away.

Mom: Where's my computer?
Lydia: Where's the beef?

Lydia: Can I have a popsicle?
Me: Not right now.
Lydia: Please?
Me: Not right now, maybe after lunch.
Lydia: But I said please. You have to give me one because I said please.
Me: No I don't.
Lydia: Then I'm getting one anyway.

Lydia: Mim
Me: Who am I?
Lydia: You're Uncle Putz.
Me:.....
Lydia: You're still Uncle Putz

Lydia: (kisses my cheek)
Me: Thank you
Lydia; Wipe it off.
Me: Why?
Lydia: Cuz I don't like your eyes.
Me: You don't like my eyes?
Lydia: No.

Lydia: Say hi grandma Betty.
Me: .....
Lydia: Cuz you're a little pig, mama.
Me: .....
Lydia: What big EARS you have grandma. (Smacks self in face with little canvas purse

Lydia (looking at my arms): Mommy you have hair!
Me: Yes, I do.
Lydia: You need to shave it off or somethin'

Lydia: Mama say "knock knock"
Me: Knock knock.
Lydia: I can't come to the door, I'm naked.

Me: I love you.
Lydia: I want cake.
Me: I love you.
Lydia: I want cake.
Me: I Love You!!
Lydia: I love you too, but I want cake

Lydia: here's your money grandma.
Me: I'm not your freakin' grandma!
Lydia:.... here's your freakin' money grandma.
Me: Oops.

Lydia: Mommy you have a baby in your belly button.
Me: No Mommy's just fat.
Lydia: You're fat? No, you're just a wiggly worm