Motherhood Archives - Page 2 of 3

Category: Motherhood

Take A Look At My Phone | My Favorite Money And Time Saving Apps

Posted on February 23, 2018February 22, 2018 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

I’m sharing something really personal today – a peek into my phone. I thought it would be really helpful to see my all time favorite money and time saving apps that you might want to incorporate. Because, let’s be honest, if you’re like me then your phone is your life. It holds all the things.

All the appointments, reminders, coupons, pictures, memories…everything.

As busy moms it’s important to make sure we’re utilizing our phones the best way we can. Our phones can actually save us hundreds of dollars each year, if we take the time to use them correctly. In today’s video I’m sharing a look at my phone, my favorite money and time saving apps, too.

I might even be sharing a few hacks to make life just a little bit easier for us.

You can watch online or down below to take a peek through my phone:

For more info on my favorite money saving apps, check out this post.

Also, for more ideas on how to use your phone for memory keeping, check this out.

If you’re interested in looking into Ibotta click this referral link.

I use the Samsung Galaxy S7. I plan on holding onto this bad boy until it falls apart, too (knock on wood). I upgraded a few months before our son was born. It still works great and takes a pretty decent photo.

I think the reason it’s lasted this long is the case I have for it. I went with this OtterBox case, which makes my phone a little bulkier than normal. BUT it still works and looks brand new, plus it has been through puddles, down steps, fallen off tables and so much more.

How To Block Your Time To Get More Done

Posted on January 22, 2018January 21, 2018 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

One of my biggest productivity secrets is all about how I schedule my time. As Moms our brains are working overdrive constantly. We may try to be focused on laundry, but our mind is thinking about an upcoming client meeting. Then as we’re sitting in the floor playing with our little one we’re thinking about the dishes in the sink and they’re driving us crazy.

That’s just what being a mom is all about – constantly thinking ahead and multitasking. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s hard to be present with our spouse and with our children when we’re always thinking about what else needs to get done.

Besides my Mom notebook that contains every little thing I have running through my brain, I’ve discovered a great way to get more done and be more present with my family.

Want in on the secret…?

You have to block your time.

Recently I started blocking time in my calendar and breaking my day into hour increments. It is amazing and works wonders for me!

You can watch the video online or down below:

Here’s how you block your time to get more done:

Instead of scheduling every single detail down to the minute, you dedicate a specific period of time to an area of your life. Like house work, career, family time, me time, and so on. Keep all of your to-do’s in a handy notebook so when you’re getting ready to focus on a specific time block you know what you need to do. You may need to spend the first 5 minutes of each separate block prioritizing what’s most important, but once you have a game plan then you can get started. Now you don’t have to jump from one area of your life to another, which means you can actually focus on the task at hand.

When the period of time is over, I close down and move onto the next area. It really helps my sanity.

Here’s how I block my time:

5:00 – 7:00 am is for getting ready, getting breakfast made and working on my blog. I like to make sure I’m showered, dressed and ready for the day then I’ll spend any other free time (usually an hour) on making breakfast, checking emails and making sure any blog post is ready to go live.

7:00 – 8:00 am is for getting Dent up and dressed, feeding him breakfast then heading out the door to drop him off at the sitter. Typically I get to work about 7:30 each morning, which gives me time to check my personal emails and make my to-do list for the day.

8:00 – 12:00 pm is for working. I focus my attention on my clients, appointments, preparing illustrations, and so on. I try not to think about blog work or anything like that.

12:00 – 1:00 pm is for filming any new content and then eating lunch. I run home on my lunch hour to film a new video (or two) and then I reheat leftovers from the night before to eat before coming back to work. Each morning (when I arrive to work at 7:30) I make my to-do list for the day. In that list is what video I want to record and make sure my talking points are ready to go. So when I get home I just have to sit down and hit record.

1:00 – 5:00 pm is for working again. I finish up the day with any meetings, networking events, and so on.

5:00 – 7:30 pm is for family time, playing with Dent and following our evening routine. As I’ve mentioned before we tend to eat dinner by 5:30 most nights and then we clean up the kitchen afterwards. Once dishes are done then we sit down to play as a family. Then it’s bedtime for Dent around 7:30.

7:30 – 9:30 pm is for straightening the house, doing laundry then relaxing with J on the couch, editing any videos, finishing blog posts and working on merelynne.com.

Chores For Toddlers {How To Know What Jobs To Give and Ways To Introduce Them}

Posted on January 17, 2018January 17, 2018 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Does your little one help around the house? We have a few ‘chores’ around the house that our little guy helps with. Recently I sat down to answer your questions about what chores specifically he does.

You can watch the video of Chores For Toddlers online or down below:

Here’s the chores our little guy does to help out:

Laundry

He helps with taking the wet clothes from the washer and puts them in the dryer. Sometimes he misses and we end up picking we clothes up off the floor or from hanging half-way out. There are even times where he’ll take wet socks into the family room to show Daddy what he’s doing. But he tries and that’s all that matters.

Feeding the Dogs

We also have him help with feeding our dogs. J usually helps fill the measuring cup and then Dent puts the food in each dog’s bowl. Some nights it’s a struggle to get him to stop. He loves filling the bowls up and wants to keep doing it after the dogs already have the right amounts.

Putting the Dogs Away

With three dogs we have found it’s best to put the bigger one (he’s also the youngest one) in a kennel before we leave. The other two get a treat as we’re walking out the door. Dent’s job is to take a treat and put Bud in his kennel. Then as I latch the door he gives a treat to the other two dogs. They’re patient with him because sometimes he wants to give it to them in the kitchen other times he wants them to be in the family room.

Putting Away Toys Before Bed

With a little guidance our son can help put away his toys. He’s not perfect at it and sometimes he just gets them near the container, but he’s trying.

Sweeping and Swiffering the Floors

The broom and swiffer are his favorite toys in the whole house. So it’s no surprise that he loves to push the broom around. We prefer if he pushes the Swiffer because at least he can get some dog hair picked up.

How to introduce new chores

This part is always a little tricky for me. It really has two parts and they both have to deal with you as the parent, not the child.

First – be patient

Second – don’t expect perfection

Our little boy surprises me daily with the things he helps with, picks up and brings to us. He really does love helping others, it’s so apparent. So for us, it’s all about being patient to teach him what we want and the outcome. Then it’s about being okay with mistakes.

Do I like having dog food spilled on our kitchen floor? Of course not. But he’s learning. Some days are better than others, but with each spill we teach him patience to make sure the job gets done right.

When we think he’s ready for a new “chore” we contemplate how to break it down. For instance, with feeding the dogs. The first step we did was fill the measuring cup and take it over to the right bowl. As we were over the bowl then we handed the cup to our son to fill, but our hands stayed on it. As he got more stubborn and able to figure it out, we handed the cup to him to fill the bowl once we brought it over. Now, he’s able to take the bowl from the container and fill the bowls (or mostly fill) them all on his own.

It’s all about progression, not perfection.

So if you have something you want your toddler to help with or learn then figure out how to break it down into steps. Start with the easiest step first then work your way backwards. If they make mistakes, then take a deep breath and know it will be okay. Like I said in the video – if the mess is big enough then we’ll sweep or mop afterwards. But for the most part we just let it happen.

What chores does your little one do? Leave a comment letting me know! I would love to add a few more to his list.

Q&A About Me

Posted on October 6, 2017October 6, 2017 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Recently I shared this Budget Q&A video where I talked about how much we spend on groceries each month, do we meal plan for every night and how much we spend on eating out in a month (plus more!). However, I started thinking that I haven’t really shared a lot about me… who I am, why I love budgeting so much and my passion behind living a debt free life.

Well have no fear! I finally put together a quick Q&A all about me. I know I’m not much different than you – I’m a mom who would do anything for her son to succeed. I work hard every single day helping clients with their money goals. So take a look and find out a little bit more about who I am.

Easy Hair Ideas for Moms

Posted on September 22, 2017September 15, 2017 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Affiliate Disclosure: please note that when you click links and purchase items, in most (not all) cases I will receive a referral commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link.

How do you wear your hair most days? I have a few tried-and-true methods that I rotate through. I like changing up my look for work. I think it’s a little something extra I can do when it comes to my appearance for client appointments. To me, hair is an extension of the day’s outfit so I like to make sure it looks somewhat presentable. Plus, I was never one to shy away from a bold hair look. Even though I probably should have had a professional’s opinion on some of my looks back in high school, but that’s for another post!

For me, I’m all about ease and speed. I don’t want to spend too long in the bathroom getting ready in the morning. I only have so much time before our little one wakes up and then it’s time for a quick breakfast before running out the door. Here are my go to hair ideas for moms:

Messy Bun

Most days, my hair is in a messy bun like so. I found this great video tutorial on how to do the perfect messy bun. I’m lucky that my hair is long enough that I only require two hair ties and about two bobby pins.

Down and natural

Before my son was born I had perfectly straight hair. No need to ever straighten it! Like ever. Then with all the pregnancy hormones running through my body, my hair decided to revolt. Now it’s wavy in the front and curly (like whoa!) in the back. If my hair is down this is how I wear it 9 times out of 10. It’s very little maintenance, which is perfect for busy mornings.

Down and straight

On days my son sleeps in then that usually gives me just enough time to straighten my hair. I have so much stinking hair that it takes a lot of arm strength, time and patience to get this hair straight. I would say it takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to dry my hair and then straighten it. A lot of days my hair is straight are the days I washed my hair the night before so I just have to spend about 20 minutes or so straightening it. Here is a similar straightener to the one I use. I love it because I can adjust the temperature on it. It really comes in handy with all this hair!

Half-Up

Once I straighten my hair, I don’t typically wash it for at least 2 or 3 days. It sounds gross, but my hair doesn’t get greasy. I think it’s because it’s so thick and I have so much of it. Washing it every day actually dries it out and makes it frizzy, so I try to avoid that. But usually on day three I like to wear it half back since I tend to touch the hair around my face a lot more and then it starts to look a little oily.

Styled

Before my son was born I created this twisty braided half-up look. I really loved it and I have even started doing it a lot of mornings before work. It doesn’t take too long and it doesn’t have to be perfect.

What are some of your quick and easy ways to wear your hair? I am always looking for something new to try, especially if it doesn’t have to be perfect!

How To Streamline Your Life

Posted on September 18, 2017September 14, 2017 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

What does streamline your life actually mean?

Moms, we are busy all the time. The only down time we get is when we finally go to bed for the night, but it can easily be interrupted with a teething toddler. Us Moms get no breaks. So for me I feel like we have to get our stuff together so we can make it easier on ourselves, and our families. For me that would be streamlining every piece of my life.

We’re laying in bed and trying to fall asleep, but our mind is going a mile a minute. We’re replaying everything that happened that day – conversations, errands, tasks, feelings, and more. We start thinking about the next day and things we need to get done, but somehow we now realize we forgot to do something. So we tell ourselves to move it up our mental to-do list for the next day. Hoping that we remember, but knowing tomorrow is going to be crazier than today was.

Mom life is hard. Really hard.

As a mom we put way too much pressure on ourselves and hardly ever ask for help. Then when we’ve reached our limit we have a breakdown. For me, I know I’ve reached my limit when I feel like my house is suffocating me. I’m not sure what it is about it, but maybe it’s because I can immediately control my house. When I feel like every other aspect of my life is out of control, the house is something I can get in charge of.

Moms wear too many hats – mom, boo-boo kisser, chef, cleaner, manager, logistics, accounting, pet wrangler, gift buyer, personal shopper, errand girl, career woman, friend, wife, sister, daughter, volunteer…

Seriously, I could keep going, but you get the gist.

One thing that has helped me take back control of the hectic areas of my life is by streamlining my life. Now I will say I am not perfect at this. Some days are better than others. Some days are bad. Some days I feel like I’m drowning at work and come home to too many tasks to get done before bed.

But I wanted to share with you the few things you can do in less than an hour to really help you streamline your life.

Auto Pay

Setup your monthly bills to automatically come out of your checking account. Doing this doesn’t take too long. All you have to do is sign in online to your accounts, click the auto-pay or link your checking button. Go through the steps, tell them which date you want it to run (most of the time it’ll be the deadline, a day before or you can pick the date), and then setup the amount (minimum payment, full balance, full bill, or specific amount).

The auto pay feature is amazing! You no longer have to worry about sending in your bill on time, you don’t have to worry about finding a postage stamp or running to the store to buy some. If you have 6 bills a month that need to be mailed, you are spending close to $3 a month on stamps ($0.46 x 6 bills = $2.76). Don’t have to worry about buying checks or envelopes so in the end it will save you.

Auto Order

This goes along with the post I wrote about why Moms love Amazon Subscribe & Save feature. You can order almost anything you consume on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. We have ordered or do order diapers, wipes, dog food, dog treats, toilet paper, protein powder, ready to drink breakfast shakes, and more. All you have to do is go to Amazon’s website, find the items you use on a regular basis and then setup it for the Subscribe & Save feature. Amazon will give you a discount for ordering something automatically. Plus, if you order 5 or more items (separate items) in a month then they will give you an even bigger discount.

Once you figure out how often you go through diapers, laundry detergent, or dog food (or whatever you use then you can just let Amazon know. I like ordering larger and heavier items from Amazon because that means I don’t have to lug it into a grocery cart or into my car while wrangling my toddler.

Setup Reminders in Your Calendar

I am a huge fan of Google. I use Google for just about every aspect of our lives. It hosts our check register, to do-lists, and our calendar. What’s great about Google is you can share it with everyone in your family. So you know when you husband’s appointments are and he knows when yours or the kids’ appointments are. You can keep organized for dinners at home or nights you have plans out.

But what I love the best about Google is the reminder feature. You can setup a reminder for just about anything – dogs’ heart worm pills, changing the air filter in your house, doctor appointments, and paying a bill (if you aren’t able to do auto pay). You can even use the reminders for every day tasks – empty the dishwasher, start laundry (or switch laundry, which is something I tend to forget a lot), your kid’s medicine, finish a blog post, and anything else you can think of.

You can read how I setup Google calendar to work for us, but you can really turn it into anything you want.

Google To Track Your Spending

Going along with how Google is used in almost every aspect of our lives, we use it to track our spending. Actually, we use it as our check register. It’s on Google Drive so no matter where I am or how little time I have in between errands or a toddler throwing a tantrum because he can carry around the grocery store’s broom (yep!), I can quickly log into our check register, add in the expense and update our total. Now I know how much I have in our checking account after all of our bills are accounted for.

E-Mail Over Paper

One of the biggest sources of clutter and just a feeling of overwhelm is all of the paper we get in our mail. By simply switching to online statements, you no longer are inundated with financial stress on a regular basis. We schedule time in our Google calendar to go through bills, make sure auto-pays are setup (in case we need to change the amount), update our monthly budget and so on. It doesn’t take long and by having statements online then I can simply do our weekly money date from anywhere.

Plus, some companies even charge $1 for sending paper statements. You could be saving yourself some money just by switching to online statements. You’ll get a monthly e-mail as a reminder letting you know your statement is ready to be viewed. Then you can schedule time to look at all of your bills at one time. You can create a plan to tackle each payment because you’ll be able to see the whole picture instead of just one payment at a time.

Use a Budget

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of budgets. I talk about them all. the. time. Once you find a template you like (you can check out the one I created) then it makes it so easy to keep up with. All you have to do is spend a few minutes each week updating and then you will know exactly how you’re doing. I know for us, not knowing our money situation is a huge stress point. I can feel the weeks that I don’t keep up with it because I start to feel like I am suffocating and every task is just too much.

You’ll worry every time you buy groceries or go out to eat because you just don’t know how you’re doing. So you tend to spend less, then run out and end up having to make a second trip to the store – so in the end you spend more. If you would just take a few minutes to create a budget and then consistently update it you’ll have a more relaxed mentality around money.

What are some tools you use to streamline your life? Leave a comment below letting us know!

10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was Younger

Posted on September 15, 2017September 14, 2017 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

I wanted to switching things up a bit today. I am sharing a short video with the top 10 things I wish I knew when I was younger. Trust me when I say I could have kept going with this list… like whoa! I have learned a lot, I’ve made plenty of mistakes and I know it’s just the beginning.

Now not all of these things are huge mistakes I’ve made (some are just embarrassing moments), but it’s fun to see how far I’ve come. So check it out and let me know once one thing you wish you knew when you were younger. Leave a comment below!

What to Pack In A Diaper Bag for Your Toddler

Posted on August 25, 2017August 25, 2017 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Motherhood is one wild ride. So many changes happen in the first year and then when we reached toddler status the changes just kept coming. I’ve learned not to be so worried about the little things and to have more fun in the moment. One of the biggest things I’ve changed is the super heavy diaper bag that was weighing me down. It was such a relief the first time I carried this smaller packed bag out of the house. I can’t tell you how happy I was when we had everything we needed, too. Such a great feeling!

As our little boy gets older my diaper bag has changed from this stuffed tote for a newborn to a much lighter bag. I’ve realized I don’t need to carry all that stuff anymore and it’s so nice. Now don’t get me wrong as a new Mom I was very unsure about a lot of things (like a lot, a lot). It was nice having everything that could be possibly needed when he was a newborn. As I’ve become more confident with motherhood, I have been able to improvise on the fly. I’ve also learned that as mothers, we don’t need all the stuff in the diaper bag we imagined. It was a hard lesson to learn, but once I had the light bulb moment it brought a whole new perspective.

Now my diaper bag has changed quite a bit. No more are the days of leaning over and everything falling out. I recorded a quick video to show you exactly what’s inside and what I recommend to keep in your diaper bag for your toddler. Take a look at what I carry for our very active 16 month old.

The diaper backpack I have is no longer available on Amazon, but you can find a similar diaper bag here.

The thirty-one bag can be found here (I have an older version).

My purse can be found here (remember this was a gift from J using his reward points from work – not that there is anything wrong with investing in a nice purse, but with a small child and living on a budget it’s not always possible).

Some of Our Favorites to Include

Diapers
Wipes
Change of clothes
Sippy Cup that doesn’t leak
Book (similar set to what we have)
Small Toy (I prefer quiet toys for when we’re out to eat or in public places)
Snacks (Goldfish, crackers, Cheerios)
Snack Holder

What do you pack in your diaper bag for your toddler? Leave a comment below with the details.

Check out more posts about parenting a toddler, even help with being a new mom and overall the whole motherhood thing.

How To Balance Life When Your Have Kids and a Career

Posted on August 21, 2017August 21, 2017 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

I had been working on this post about how to balance life for a very long time. I’ve had the idea scribbled in a notebook for months. I’ve had a draft started, but not finished for weeks. Yet here I am completely changing the whole premise of this topic.

Let’s get real for a second – when you have kids there is no balance. Sure you can feel like everything is rocking and rolling for a few days, maybe even a few weeks, but it will come crashing down at some point. I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but it does.

For instance, I started this post off (then deleted it) talking about how to find balance you need to be a planner. You need to have a list of everything that needs to get done, be able to know when to delegate and when to say no, and you need help. But that was before our little boy spent the better part of 3 hours nonstop crying last night. No idea why. He just did.

I’m tired. I’m dragging and I sure know that today is going to be rough.

It’s 8 am and I’m already sipping on a Diet Mountain Dew (it’s my version of coffee). This post was supposed to be finished last night so it could go live this morning, but that didn’t happen. Because no matter how hard I try to plan, prepare and schedule my day – it doesn’t always play out like I hope. So instead of finishing this post last night, I sat in complete darkness holding my crying boy in my arms until he fell asleep.

And there is no place I would have rather been.

Truth.

So maybe work life balance isn’t a fine balance act. Maybe it’s having the ability to say no to some things so you can say yes to more important ones.

My son, my family and my well-being comes before anything else. So on days like yesterday, I have to reschedule everything I had planned for the last 3 hours of my day, I have to go to bed later than I normally do and I have to wake up earlier than I thought was possible.

But to me balance isn’t doing it all and being perfect, it’s choosing what’s perfect for me.

I may not get it all done in the time frame I dreamed of and that’s okay.

You may not either and you have to be willing to accept it. There are a few things you can do to help you not feel pressure to do things you HAVE to do when things you WANT to do come up.

Plan your day. I use Google calendar to plan out my family’s life. Everything task, appointment, and reminder are scheduled in my calendar.
Keep a running to-do list. I am someone who will obsess over something until it’s done. I have found that when I write a task or an idea down, then I can turn my brain off and focus on what I was supposed to be doing.
Be okay with change. Days don’t always go as planned and you have to be willing to accept it. Let’s face it as Moms no two days are the same. And if you think they can be, then just spend time with a toddler because they will correct your thought process in less than an hour.
Build in buffers. For me that means going to be later or getting up earlier (preferably not within a 12 hour period, but that’s mom life). I also try to keep my lunch hour free to do other work. I work full time so when my lunch break comes I usually run home to write posts, record videos or edit them. This gives me some flexibility when my evenings or mornings don’t go as I hope.
Know your priorities. Sometimes we get wrapped up in the hustle of life. We get frustrated when we have to stop mid-thought to dig a toy out from under the couch just for your little one to do it all over again. At those moments, just stop and remind yourself every day they are learning something new and one day they will be able to reach for a toy under the couch themselves and that day will be hard. You may not realize it at the time, but it will be. When our little one could finally hold his own bottle, I was happy until the day came that I wanted to rock him to sleep for nap time and he didn’t need me to any longer. He could hold his own bottle and lay down on his own.

I may not be perfect with work life balance, but I don’t think anyone can be perfect when they’re a mom. No matter if you’re a mom who works away from home, works from home or in between. Any woman who mothers a child, runs a household and is making a difference will never have a perfect balance act. And at the end of the day when you watch your little one sleep you realize that it’s okay because they are more perfect than you could ever imagine.

Newborn Must Haves We Love

Posted on October 12, 2016October 9, 2016 by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

*Affiliate Disclosure: Please note that when you click links and purchase items, in most (not all) cases I will receive a referral commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link.

Our little Baby is going to be 6 months old tomorrow (what?!?!). I know he is no longer considered a newborn (cue the tears!), but having a baby doesn’t necessarily mean you’re always going to be on time with things now. Hence this post being so late!

He’s our first, so we had a lot of learning to do those first three months. It’s no lie we developed a serious crush on some of his stuff and wanted to share our newborn must haves. I wanted to share what we loved and what didn’t work out too great for us.

I tried to keep these newborn must haves within our budget so these are budget friendly items. The ones that seem a bit high are well worth the investment. I would recommend registering for most of these (if not all) for your baby shower.

For Sleep

Fisher Price Rock N Play – He loves to sleep in this during the day while I’m working around the house. He isn’t crazy about the rocking being turned on yet, but he does like the vibrations. I think the elevation is really nice and what he likes so much about it. Plus it’s light, so we can travel with it easily. I like to take it with me when I shower so I can peer out to make sure he’s okay.

DockATot – this purchase has been a lifesaver for us! He loves it, which means he’s sleeping great at night. We love it because he’s sleeping great, but also because we feel safe with him being in the bed with us. Plus, when we travel we just take the DockATot with us. He’s familiar with the DockATot so he goes right to sleep no matter where we are.

Tummy Time

Boppy Pillow – we use this for tummy time, feedings, and sitting up. It works great for tummy time since he’s cushioned all around. I love that case comes off and is machine washable. I like to wash it a few times a week just to keep it nice and clean since he puts his face on it.

Fisher Price Play Gym – we received this play mat during one of my showers. It’s great. With three dogs running around we aren’t crazy about Baby being on the bare floor, so we put this down. It’s cushioned and has a play gym over it for when we lay him on his back.

Mommy Saver Lite App – it flashes shapes and designs that are mostly black and white, but they do throw in some colors. It also plays a pretty soothing tune while turned on. He is in awe of it during tummy time and it’s a great motivator for him.

Feeding and Soothing

Dr. Brown’s Bottles– I could go on and on about these bottles! I planned on breastfeeding so I didn’t do much research on bottles. But when that planned failed, we had to resort to using bottles with formula. After the first few days I just knew his little tummy was really hurting. We received some bottles during our showers, but I wasn’t sure if any were made to help relieve gas. I found these Dr. Brown bottles from other mommy bloggers and decided to give them a try. Luckily we received one from J’s aunt. It helped tremendously! Then I ordered more from Walmart and picked up in the store.

JollyPop Pacifiers – We were introduced to these while in the NICU. It really helped keep him calm during all of the poking and prodding. I talked to the NICU nurse and she recommended these due to their shape. She said it really helped soothe them, but wouldn’t cause any problems with how his little mouth formed around the pacifier. She gave us a few to take home and he really loved them compared to our other ones. Now I’m not going to lie after about the second month, he stopped taking a pacifier on a regular basis. We tried several other brands, shapes, and so on, but he didn’t like any of them. I still carry one that we got from the NICU in my diaper bag just in case.

Travel

Carseat Cover – This carseat cover is perfect for when we’re out and about. Not only does it protect him from the elements – rain, wind, sun and such, but it protects him from germ-filled people. Before I purchased this cover, people always were stopping to look at him. No one tried to touch him, but I knew it was inevitable. After the NICU I didn’t want any sick people getting too close to our precious boy. Now they can’t see him so out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

CuddleBug Wrap Carrier – I came across this wrap online and ordered one. It wasn’t as expensive as some other wraps I saw, which was a nice bonus. I like to wear this even around the house. If he’s a bit fussy then I all wrap him up and carry him while I work around the house. I can do laundry, dishes, cook dinner and clean all while he sleeps. It’s a bit heavier fabric then some other wraps on the market, so I’m not sure how it would go as the only means to carry him on a hot summer day.

Infantino Fusion Carrier – This carrier is great! It’s a bit lighter so during the hot summer days when we’re outside, I like to use this one. I took our little guy with me to work for the first 5 months (hello! waiting lists!) so I was able to wear him while I worked. It was such a blessing! Now that he’s getting older and bigger, it will transition to other positions. Since he has good neck control these days, he loves to be facing outward to see everything.

The So-So Newborn Must Haves

Little Me Swaddles – when we first came home from the hospital and NICU this guy saved us. He loved it how snuggled it made him feel. As he grew the more he hated having his legs bound. So we stopped using it after he turned 2 weeks old. He sleeps great without it, but I still take one with me when we travel just to be on the safe side.

Delta Children Sweet Beginnings Bassinet – We let him sleep in a bassinet when we first got home, but realized he never got very much sleep in there. So that’s when we upgraded to the DockATot. We purchased this one from Wal-Mart and I used it in the family room or when I took a shower. It’s on wheels and I can just roll him around the house, which is nice to have!

You can watch online or down below to take a peek through my phone:

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You have to block your time.

You can watch the video online or down below:

Here’s how I block my time:

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You can watch the video of Chores For Toddlers online or down below:

Here’s the chores our little guy does to help out:

How to introduce new chores

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Messy Bun

Down and natural

Down and straight

Half-Up

Styled

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What does streamline your life actually mean?

Auto Pay

Auto Order

Setup Reminders in Your Calendar

Google To Track Your Spending

E-Mail Over Paper

Use a Budget

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Some of Our Favorites to Include

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For Sleep

Tummy Time

Feeding and Soothing

Travel

The So-So Newborn Must Haves

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