Things & Hacks That Make Life Easier With Two Kids (2 & Under): AKA Things I Use Daily That Help Keep Me Sane

 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

1. Silicone bibs.

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.

My mom is always blown away by the baby gear that we have now. Never would she have imagined a bowl that sticks to a high chair or table surface. These ones also come with a lid, which is super handy if there’s leftover you need to store, or you’re prepping your little one’s next meal and want to keep it nice and fresh until then.

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.

4. Large Command Hooks.

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.)

6. Stroller Hooks

I take the kids on walks around our town all the time–sometimes to run errands when I can, which means I have bags to carry sometimes. I could stuff things in the stroller basket, but sometimes it’s just not enough space. It’s so convenient to be able to hook the diaper bag onto the stroller. I have two on our stroller since each backpack strap gets a separate hook to evenly distribute the weight. Plus, it’s handy to have two–you never know when you’ll need the second one (sometimes when i’m walking around with a friend, they’ll strap their purse on too–win/win).

 

7. Double stroller. 

This thing is, hands down, my favorite piece of kid gear. It allows me to take the kids out and get fresh air. I had no idea why strollers could be so expensive prior to having kids. Now I totally get it, especially if you do the math on cost-per-use. I did a lot of research and lots of friends also recommended this specific stroller to us. It’s versatile w/ lots of different configurations. Not too bulky. Easy to put together/take a part. And it’s narrow enough for me to get and out of places around town (the double bob strollers w/ the side-by-side seats have a hard time getting in and out of places around here). We found ours used, so look and ask around to find a good deal.

 

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.