What's in Madison's bag?

Madison has 3 diaper bags. A small Thirty-One bag, a medium Thirty-One bag and a large Graco bag. Here's what I pack in each bag to help me survive! I typically carry this small bag since I'm usually just in need of a few essentials. If she is staying with someone for a while, I will take the medium since I pack food and milk and some toys. The large is used for vacation or day long trips.

A few diapers, diaper rash cream and a refill pack of wipes. After a few diaper blow outs, the small plastic refill bin won't cut it. Sometimes if I'm running somewhere quick, I will take the small pack.

A change of clothes. I get a pair of pants to match her current shirt and the extra shirt and the extra shirt matches her current pants. That way if she messes up one or the other, I don't have to change her entire outfit.

A wet/dry bag. This is for soiled bibs, burp cloths, clothes or diapers. Ours came from Target for less than $10.

A bib and burp cloth.

A snack pack or container with Puffs or Cheerios and a sippy cup filled with water.

Disposable changing pads for public restrooms or other people's house.

A coat, hat and gloves if its cold. A sunhat if we will be outside.

I keep hand sanitizer in my purse and in the car.

If you fold everything and put them upright instead of laying down and your bag will be a lot more compact and you will be able to see everything!

For Madison's food(for babysitters), I have a thermal Thirty-One bag and I use an ice pack in it.

It fits a sippy of milk, a sippy with water and would fit a few bins with food/snacks.

What essentials do you carry?

I do not sell nor sponser Thirty-One. I just love their bags :)

How I keep Madison's closet organized

 Madison's room is a standard bedroom. It's not huge. Especially with a glider, crib, toy box and entertainment center/changing station in it. It doesn't leave any real wall room for a chest of drawers. Here's how her room is organized so we are able to fit all of her things!

Her closet

I hang all of her clothes except her pajamas. Pants are to the far left, then coats, short sleeves, then long sleeves. Any bigger sized clothes are to the far right, behind her current size clothes.  The 9 cubby bin was bought at Target and I love it! You can buy different colored bins or leave some cubbies open for bookshelf storage. On the shelf above her clothes are extra wipes, diapers and her diaper bags. To the left of the cubby is her hamper(not shown), her cloth bag for library books and extra plastic bags to take to the library. In the empty slot on her cubby is a spot for her library books waiting to be read. Then her night time diapers(she wears a size up) and her sun hat. To the right of the cubby is a pack of diapers and her travel DVD player/movies

A hanging shoe organizer hangs on the inside of the door to hold jewelry, shoes, socks, tights and hairbows.

Her pajamas go in two drawers in her cubby.

Blankets take up 2 drawers. In the other drawers are bed sheets and hats/gloves. A couple of bins are empty.

 I didn't want to waste money on a changing table. They looked unsturdy and cluttered to me. Plus I wanted something with more storage. I ordered the dresser that matched her crib but once we went to put it together, we didn't like the quality and we returned it. We found this entertainment center at a local furniture outlet and knew it'd be perfect. It has 3 drawers that hold bibs, burp clothes and brushes/toys that keep her occupied while changing her. The 2 doors also have a pull out drawers and a shelf big enough for books. Then the center shelves are big enough for whatever. On top is her changing pad, lamp, clock, wipes, sanitizer and a bin that holds lotion, diapers and q-tips. When she gets older, we will likely(or not) have a tv on the top and will have room for a DVD player and toys or books.

Instagram Friday

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Trying to clean out old clothes and toys to get rid of/sale. Disaster zone.

A good wife teases her husband with a pic of Slushie Heaven.

She loves looking out the window and I love this picture.

Bought some Goodwill "Bags O Fun" for some sensory boxes for M. More on those boxes later.

Some days I just watch her play from a far, where she doesn't see me watching, and I get teary eyed and take a moment to remember how incredibly blessed we are to have her. She is the love of our lives.

Successful toy. Ice tray and pom poms.

Linking up with

Busy play

Madison is all about putting items in things. Emptying toys out and then putting them back. She's all about hand/eye coordination and is very good at it! I made a Dollar Tree trip yesterday to buy some sensory activities(more on those later) and part of what I bought was an ice cube tray(2pk) and a bag of craft pom poms. She loved taking the poms out, putting them all in and then dumping them all out again. She was only occupied for about 10 minutes but it helped me get supper ready! This is a good color and counting game. It also helps identify shape(she calls them balls) and they can be done with anything pretty small.

I also picked up a sugar shaker, a box of toothpicks and a bag of craft pipe cleaners. This takes some serious hand/eye coordination and she loves this more than the trays. This is a good cause and effect game. She knows if she shakes the shaker, toothpicks will fall out :) Of course with any small or sharp object, pay close attention so they do get stuck or try to swallow the items!

I will be blogging some more sensory activities soon! Please share your ideas with me! I love trying new things with her!

Linking to Serenity Now

Tips to save you time AND money!

Anybody that knows me knows I'm frugal. I say you're right. I don't like spending money on things I don't have to and if I can buy something on sale or clearance, I'm all about it! I hardly buy anything full price. Most of Madison's clothes come from consignment sales. I do buy her shoes and all but a couple of toys new.

While working in the kitchen I realized I do a few things that save me time and money that may be helpful to a few of you!

Tired of spilling food all over the place when trying to pour it into a zipper bag? Just stick the bag down in a big cup and fold the top over the sides of the cup. Voila.

I needed to marinate some chicken tenderloins for supper the other night. I put my marinade down in the bag and an entire pack of tenderloins fit on top of it without spilling out of the cup. No chicken juice on the counter or the top of the bag!

Want dry beans for supper but don't want to go through the hassle(or have the time) of soaking them for hours and hours and then cooking them for another 2?!

After picking out the pebbles and rinsing them under cold water, for every 1 lb of beans, add 6 cups of water to a crock pot.  Cook on HIGH 4-6 hours. Mine were done around 5 hours so just watch them. I added a beef boullion cube to the water. This was the first time I'd done this and they turned out pretty good!

Buy a batch of green onions every week? Cut off the roots and stick them in a container with water. They will grow new green part(the part you eat). This picture was taken when I put them in water and the next day about 1/4" of green had already grown and I needed to add water. It's now been a week and the green part is now about 4" long! I have done this before and did it twice before throwing them away. I'm not sure if you can do this over and over all the time but it's worth doing it a few times!

Now that you have a constant supply of green onions, chop them up and put them in an old drink bottle and stick them in the freezer. As you need them, just pour them out. They thaw instantly and you aren't wasting any of them! :)

Same thing with herbs. I bought parsley only to forget to use it in the recipe that I was supposed to. Oops. I didn't want to throw it away so I blanched it(dip in boiling water until it turns bright green-15-20secs. This step retains the color and flavor), let it cool then chop it and lay on a baking sheet. Freeze. I froze mine overnight. Then put the frozen pieces in a zipper bag. You can also freeze fresh(non-blanched) herbs by putting the herb in a blender with just enough water to make a paste. Pour the paste in ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, pop the cubes into a freezer bag. When a recipe calls for it, just pop the cube into the dish.

I will try to continue to do this as I think of things. What are some tricks you have?

Happy 16 months, Madison!

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She cut 3 teeth in her 15th month. Her lower and top left incisors and her upper right incisor.

Playing with bells at the library

Things she says new this month(her form of the word is in quotes):
Love you "Laa"
OK -"K"
"Keys"
"Clock"
"Cat"
Hello "Lo"
"Car"
Slide- "Lie"
Glasses- "Gla"
"Tree"

She says "Thank you" a lot more clear(like "Kank eww") and is using it more often without us telling her to say it. You can hear her say it twice in this video when she's handing me her toy(after telling me no..ha)

She's getting really good at putting shaped blocks into their holes, putting Legos together, putting her peg puzzle pieces in the right slot, sharing(or not) and telling us "no" when she doesn't want something. She only wants to be held on her terms and would rather walk most of the time. She is getting too independent for a stroller or buggy which makes shopping quite inconvenient.

She recognizes and calls out clocks, cats, balloons, cars and fish. She knows all of our animals when we call them by name.

She gets funnier and funnier the older she gets. She is also very loving. I love that she pats you on the back with you pick her up. She hit her foot recently and started crying. I picked her up to comfort her and she stopped crying and patted my back. I think she knew it hurt my feelings that she was crying more than it hurt her foot.

Some pictures of her throughout the month

Playful Thursday

In keeping with my resolution, I dusted off the camera to catch Madison playing.

We had our carpets cleaned so we weren't allowed to go to her play room but had brought a lot of her toys down to the living room to keep her happy. She woke up from her nap in a really good mood and really playing well on her own. Watching her play makes me so happy. I love seeing her figure things out or putting something inside/on something else. This girl has an engineers brain!

Sticky fingerprints

 She would rather walk beside her power wheel and push the button than get on and ride.

What happens when she is eating something sticky and then walks by Wilma and pets her... 

Yes, I washed her hands before taking this next one. :)