MOM HACKS
I love sharing mom-hacks with you guys because I feel like we can all learn something - and taking nuggets of wisdom from how other people do life can sometimes be just what you need to solve a problem!
My current favorite mom-hacks:
1. WAKE UP EARLY. I know, I hate when people write this too, but one of my intentions for the New Year was to wake up every day by 6:00 AM. It hasn’t happened 100% of the time, but I’d give myself a 9/10. I save Saturdays for “sleeping in” (7:30 am, haha!) but honestly can say that waking up before the kids and gathering myself has changed my days. I’m able to shower, throw some makeup on, put a load of laundry in and sometimes even sit down at my desk for a few productive minutes before the eggs crack open for the day. It get’s easier, you start expecting your alarm and now, dare I say, I even look forward to the early mornings?
2. THE CRIB. Ok this one I actually find hilarious, but equally helpful. My mom and I were chatting the other day about how nobody uses “playpens” (apparently that’s what they used to call them in the 90’s) — the concept of locking your one year old into a confined space so he/she doesn’t terrorize the entire house while you’re trying to do the dishes or make dinner or something of that regard. Norah’s pack & play and crib have only ever been used for sleeping soI decided I was going to throw her in the crib with a bunch of toys, some music playing and of course, a handful of siblings to entertain her. I’ve never been so productive in 15 minutes! HA! 1 year olds are destructive humans and just a few minutes of confinement can give you all the sanity you need to press through the rest of the day.
3. GROCERY DELIVERY. I can’t even begin to explain how much grocery delivery has changed my life - we use Amazon Fresh and it’s literally saved us SO much money, time and energy. I order groceries the night before and they’re fresh on the door before 7 AM. Plus, I can plan for what I’m making for dinner, not buy a ton of random extras and it skips the “unload from the car” step! HA!
4. CLEAN UP JAMS. The kids loathe cleaning up the playroom, so we make a game out of it (oldest trick in the book). Whoever is “kid of the week” get’s to pick the song, and we race the song to see if we can pick up all the toys before it ends. If we can (I’m pretty gracious here), everyone gets a treat to celebrate. Simple, but always effective.
5. HAPPY SLEEP. The girls have lots of bad dreams and sometimes worry about them before going to sleep. I made them each a “happy sleep” roller with orange essential oil (promotes happy feelings!), lavender essential oil (supports sleep) and topped with coconut oil. They can roll them on their little arms or their blankets whenever they feel worried about a bad dream and it allows them to feel like they’re making it all better with their happy rollers.
6. CAR SEAT TREAT. Winnie knows how to buckle her top buckles on her carseat but was just a little lazy about doing the bottoms. I remembered a little trick I did with Baylor when he was in this phase (capable but lazy), so I implemented with her and she learned to buckle her whole seat in two days. It’s simple - when you buckle, I have a candy for you. ONE SMARTIE. You guys, it doesn’t take much, but she was so damn motivated to get her special treat that nobody else got and she now buckles like a pro.
7. PRE-DINNER ENTERTAINMENT. I used to save crafts or coloring activities for empty times in the day, but now I keep everything reserved for that pre-dinner madness that has me reconsidering parenthood all together. I keep it all in a drawer in the kitchen for quick grabbing. We bust out our buddha boards, our sticker books, magic markers and whatever else is not a huge clean-up but enough of a self-lead project. The kids sit at the table and go to town while I’m able to throw together dinner before everyone combusts. We’ve also done games like candy land or hungry hippos, which are equally successful!
And if you’re curious - a few of our previous mom-hacks! HERE & HERE
Happy HUMMMMP DAY (the kids are loving that commercial again) :)
