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21 June 2014

five {optional} tips for smarter parenting

full disclosure: if this post smells like it's sponsored that's because it is. 

http://ooh.li/cc6f603
say WHAT?

I know. And so if you'd rather skip it ... I completely understand! But if you stick and click around ... I'll be your biggest fan.

Before you think I've gotten comfy sitting on my high horse about being some sort of parenting expert please know that I went to the store twice this week to buy toilet paper and came out with about nine things other than my intended purchase. I know you know but I have to reiterate that I'm not a pro on any front - parenting or other. So take these with a saltshaker or leave them altogether. Or - mixing and matching is always an option too. Here are just a few ways I've found that make my life a little tiny bit easier with small children underfoot ... all the time.

1. diaper delivery - A lot of you have told me time and time again that I should order our diapers online. After taking 8 trips back and forth and back and forth from the van to the house after a Costco run last week I finally decided that 7 trips sounded a lot more pleasant and that you were right. Just as I started to wave my white flag I got an email about writing a post about ordering diapers from this website. Happy coincidence! I ordered some packages at 3am on Wednesday morning (love you, Phoebe!) and they got here on Thursday around noon.

http://ooh.li/cc6f603

Awesome. They have free shipping on orders over $50 which is great for people that order a lot of diapers at a time ... like us. They also have wipes and sippies and bottles and all those fun necessities. I'm an idiot and completely forgot to use the coupon code WOWHUGGIES for $12 off my order but ... you should use it in my forgetful place. I even sprang for some princess pull-ups for Julia with the hope that nap and bed prep would feel a little less like a marathon. It worked ... for now.

2. Smoothies! If I'm not able to get a meal ready for the kittens in a timely manner (usually in the morning because I wake up when they wake up - I'm working on being an earlier riser) before they start melting and pawing around the pantry and gnawing on my kneecaps I can throw a smoothie together and into three cups with straws in about two minutes. The kids are happy sipping away and blowing bubbles (I pick my battles and this is not one of them) and I'm relieved to have purchased 5-10 minutes to throw an actual meal together. They love this fruity smoothie and I sub out the coffee for almond milk in this one too.

3. Smart Shopping - Or semi-smart. When I go to Costco I buy the massive bags of shredded mozzarella cheese, kale, and fresh bell peppers. As soon as I got home and have the time I chop up the bell peppers and put big handfuls of them into sandwich bags and then into the freezer. Same thing with the cheese and the kale - minus the chopping, obviously. The kale is then ready to go for smoothies, the peppers are ready for just about anything (omelettes, burritos, casseroles, etc etc) and the cheese doesn't get moldy sitting in a huge bag in the fridge for 15 days.

4.  Church Bag - We try really, really hard not to be tardy for Mass - especially when we hit up the speedy 30 minute hospital Mass because it's never good to walk in during the Gospel when you're just two minutes late. We've streamlined things slightly in that we have a bag that stays in the car with book, diapers, and wipes. No more rushing around asking if the kids picked out their books and asking Simon to find the disappearing act that is the three open bags of wipes. Also, if we are ever out and my bag is experiencing a bizarre clean diaper famine - we can borrow from the church bag. It's kind and generous like that.

5. Shoes - I recently and happily found some shoes that are not rain boots that the older kids can put on all by themselves.

http://ooh.li/cc6f603

Getting the kids out the door can take many moons but if I can ask Julia and Sebastian to put their shoes on que solo ... the process is slightly faster. I know these are super trendy and maybe a little bit ugly but they wash off easily and don't hurt Sebastian's W I D E feet which is a huge feat because every single shoe under the sun "huwts!!!" him and send him into a very unnecessary toddler rage.

Thanks for reading, thanks for clicking, and thanks for being the best readers on the w-cubed.

http://ooh.li/cc6f603

We lucky.

And if you have any time-saving tips for a novice like me ... I'm always all eyes. I promise to listen this time. Cross my heart and pretend hope to die.

32 comments:

  1. Buying some of those shoes right now!

    Phoebe gets cuter by the minute!!

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    1. Your boys will love them, Britt. I'm resisting ordering more colors

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  2. Ahhh! She's so dang adorable. My mother-in-law bought us an enormous box of diapers from Costco that I thought would last forever but little Stephen ended up going through 200 diapers in a matter of weeks so maybe I should look into diapers.com...

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  3. OOOOOhhhh I just want to squish Phoebes adorable little cheeks ;) My grand daughter is going to be 2 this fall and changing her diaper is like well trying to change a diaper on a moving target. Grandma (me) always has diapers at my house and I am going to purchase those slip on ones!!! and those shoes, swooooooon.

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  4. Every time you say "older kids" I crack up. Especially since I still refer to the 2.5 year old in our family as a baby. I think I may order a pair of those shoes for him.

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  5. If I recall correctly, with diapers.com you can mail in all the coupons you acquire and they keep track of them and apply them to your order for you which was always a Godsend.

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  6. How Grace helped out a Mama of a 21 year old special needs daughter who goes through wipes like water??? She wrote this post. Wipes ordered and coupon used. YOU are a rock star!! Thank you. Never knew about diapers.com.

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  7. Ha! Would you believe that my local Kmart sells knock offs of those Native Jefferson's for $2 a pair?! We've been rocking them all summer long because they're so good for getting into water. Love them. Love them even more now that I know what an original pair costs, eek.

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    1. really??? good to know! I don't know if there's a kmart around here but if I see one I'll have to run in!

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    2. Kmart down the road from Costco at Lindbergh and Lemay Ferry

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  8. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH PHOEBE'S CHUBBY CHEEKS I AM DEAD DEAD I TELL YOU OF THE CUTE.

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  9. "Gnawing on my kneecaps".......you are hilarious!

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  10. iplay also has similar shoes for $14.95 on Amazon...they are the best....beach, pool, playground.

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  11. Your post got me thinking about what tricks save me a lot. 1) I make milk cups (though I might try smoothie cups now) and coffee the night before. I can appease everyone and my caffeine addiction in under 2 minutes. 2) My girlfriend gave me a bunch of books and music on CDs when her kids grew out of them, and said it made putting the kids down easier if she could sneak out quickly and hit 'play'. My kids got CD players for Christmas, and they love listening to a story read by someone other then me as they drift off to sleep. I especially love this the 60% of the time my husband is traveling and I put 4 kids down alone. 3) Ordering milk/groceries/diapers to come to the door. I am glad you are on that bandwagon!

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  12. Church bag = genius.....doing that!

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  13. We totally have a church bag. I load it with fruit snacks each week. Probably not the healthiest, but it keeps him quiet for 5 minutes.

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  14. The natives are great for summer! We wore a lot of Crocs at that age and had the Crocs with the warm lining. Tacky but toddler heaven. Now that they are a little bit older, these velcro high top Converse are awesome. The whole back comes down so they're easy to get on. Maybe for Julia? http://www.converse.com/regular/chuck-taylor-easy-slip-4-12-yr/617662F_030.html?CSID=PLA%7CGoogle%7CUnisex%20Slipon%20Shoes&KPID=617662F_030

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  15. Love the freezing food (we do it too, with anything we can) and I don't know why I have never thought to add diapers and wipes to our church bag with the books...that would be way smart. I'll have to check out the shoes (perhaps I'll try K-mart first now...) because our kids all have extra wide feet. I've clearly been frustrated about that often enough that now my oldest says very matter of factly, "these just won't fit on my chunky feet" so maybe these would...! and so easy to handle and clean!

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  16. We have Amazon Prime and so get our diapers delivered from them with the Amazon Mom discount. It really does make life a little easier and I only have one kid so I can imagine for you it would be life changing!!

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  17. My best/laziest recent parenting trick is to conveniently leave the ipad sitting on the couch where a certain 3-year old boy is sure to notice it when he gets himself out of bed at an ungodly hour every morning and heads downstairs by himself. He plays with it in silence until I'm ready to get up. lazy parenting ftw.

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  18. Perfect timing, I need to order some Huggies Overnight diapers so def taking advantage of that coupon code and delivery!

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  19. If you have Amazon prime, you can get Amazon Mom where you get an additional discount on items! You can also subscribe to receive items monthly, weekly, every 6 months etc. This is SO helpful to me!! I'm subscribed to get a box of Pampers Sensitive Wipes every month and it costs me about $9. If I was to go in the store (probably at the last minute because I'm in the middle of changing my baby and, "oh crap! I only have one wipe left!") it would cost almost $12. So I save about $3 AND a trip to the store. Win!

    Runt
    runtspickins@yahoo.com
    www.runtspickins.wordpress.com
    (If responding, please email or comment a blog post of mine.)

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  20. As a mom you may appreciate this link "Body After Baby- Shit They Don't Tell You."
    http://www.inallofhersplendor.com/2014/06/19/body-after-baby-shit-they-dont-tell-you/

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  21. The pictures in this post....adorable

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  22. Ok, you nailed it with this post. I have a 12 month old, so I'll take all the parenting tips you and all these other mamas can give. I will for SURE be using your church bag idea. Why is it always so hard to find wipes on Sunday morning?

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  23. Thanks for the shoe recommendation! I'm almost willing to spend the money on good shoes. Almost.

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  24. I love Crocs and tennis shoes with Velcro for the same reason - everyone can get their own shoes on by themselves. I also kept a bag in the car, as well as a small bin of toys that were only for the car, or the park, etc. They could choose something from the bin if we had to wait anywhere. When my big kids started play sports, I kept a "sports" bag in the car with driving and digging toys for the baseball/soccer field. Again, only for those things so it was new and fun every time. I also (still!) have a designated "pool" bag. All pool toys, sunscreen, goggles, etc. live in there, so I just have to grab towels and the bag and go. Makes getting out of the house in the summer much easier.

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  25. That church bag idea is BRILLIANT. I'll be implementing. It will be changing my life. Thank you!

    And I think I need to get on board with online diapers/wipes purchasing. I use cloth but certainly use disposables sometimes too, especially right now with a newborn... just can't keep up with everything. Why am I telling you this? I only have two, and you have four and seem to manage just fine.

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  26. I really love how honest you are rather than making it appear you have it all together! And I had to laugh out loud at your description of the kids in the morning pawing around in the pantry and gnawing your kneecaps off, lol. Love these tips, I really need to step my freezer game up.

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