Keeping the Super Cray at Bay
Having two kids two and under is sometimes like a high-wire balancing act–just in leggings and a spit-up covered shirt rather than a bejeweled leotard outfit (anyone else seeing that visual, or is that just my imagination?). Burning calories by changing diapers of children who haven no idea what “stay still” means, picking food up off the floor for the 234th time (totally guilty of using way too many paper towels…), wrestling little all-of-the-sudden-banshee humans to clean their food-crusted faces, offering their cute little faces with a variety of good-for-you and probably-not-the-best-thing-for-you edibles to keep the peace…. You know the drill. It’s enough to have you going a little (or a lot) crazy, so anything that’ll help streamline and/or simplify life is good by me.
Streamlining & simplifying life these days usually involves anything that helps increase efficiency, reduce mess (operative word: reduce–since eliminating is still a far-fetched dream), and create an environment conducive to a sane me (which usually translates into happier babies) :D.
The Goods
Seriously, these are the best things ever–you can easily wipe or rinse them clean. They help catch food bits, so there’s less food that ends up on the floor. And Aria’s known to go back into her “food bucket” as we’ve nicknamed it for seconds. Ezra hasn’t reached that level of resourcefulness yet; on occasion he likes to chew on his. ALSO. Twice now when Aria’s gotten car sick on super curvy mountain roads, we threw this on her in the back seat, and that was one less shirt we needed to change since it caught the throw-up. Gross? Absolutely. Genius? Heck yes. I always keep one in the diaper bag now a spare in the car just in case.
2. Suction Bowls.
3. Bumbo Multi Seat.
We live in a fairly small apartment in Santa Barbara, so anything that takes up less floor space is good by us. Ezra sits in this for most of his meals (you can strap it to a dining chair or place in on a safe surface). And even though she barely fits anymore, Aria will plop herself in and buckle up from time to time just for fun. The Bumbo is super portable, so we bring it with us on outings or trips whenever we know we’ll need it.
These come in so handy around our home (backs of doors to hang towels, jackets, purses, umbrellas…you get the idea), but the best way we use them, IMO, is the hook that we’ve placed on the back of the high chair. This is where we store all of our bibs. There’s always one ready to go!
5. Sound machine.
We used to just have one when we had Aria. However, when we had both kids, I got another one. One to easily throw in an overnight bag, or to plug into our room if we ever need to have Ezra in there for a nap in the pack and play (it’s a bit risky to have him in the room w/ Aria since naps may never happen when she sings her fave songs at the top of her lungs during “quiet time” :D.)
Easy Peasy
I know those are super straight forward, but they’ve been so helpful to have! A lot of the things I mentioned are really the little things that make a difference in my day-to-day. What are things that you use on the daily that make life easier–kid related or not? I’d love to know. Share in the comments below!
Oh, and if you’re looking for more ways to stay sane by keeping your toddler busy, check out some of Aria’s favorite activities to do indoors here. And some of her fave books here.