Handy Dandy Tips for Mamas

I thought that today I would share a few of the hacks & tips I have learned since becoming a mama to these two fellas. They may seem minute, but they can be lifesavers!

1. Bags for Dirty Diapers
When I registered for Wells, I made sure to put this Arm & Hammer Diaper Bag Dispenser on my list. We use the bags to tie up dirty diapers (of the #2 variety) at home and also to bag up dirty clothes when certain incidents occur in public (#explosionshappen). The refills run about $5.00 for a 3-pack, which isn't awful...but you know what's waaaaaay better? A 4-pack for one dollar! #dolladollabillyall
Oh, yes - you can just visit the pet aisle of your local Dollar Tree, and snatch up the dog waste bags that fit PERFECTLY in the A&M dispenser. I was concerned for about a millisecond about how it looked to buy dog poo bags for my human child, but my inner frugal girl won that battle. If you want to be cute about it, they also have 3-packs with prints - I get the blue puppy paw prints when the 4-pack of black bags are out of stock :)

2. Toothpicks
Have a picky eater? Not for long. Okay, so this one may not always work, but it has worked the couple of times I tricked tried it out on Wells! He is not a picky eater per say, but like all 2-year-olds, he does have days where he isn't interested in eating anything nutritious. I read about this tip somewhere and thought I would give it a try. Just give your little eater a toothpick to pick up their food. It shakes things up a little bit and gets them interested in eating what's on their plate. I just grabbed a cheapo box of your standard toothpicks, but I think I am gonna get some little bento picks like these soon.

3. A Spice Container + Q-tips = Magic
If you're like me, becoming a mom has your memory/overall brain function all kinds of discombobulated. I buy things at the grocery store that I think I am out of only to realize once I get home that that was not at all the case - I'm looking at you, eight boxes of penne pasta in my pantry. So, you may have 3 opened spice jars of paprika (is that just me?) in your cabinet. Well, combine them and rinse out one of the now-empty jars; then gather some Q-tips. (You do need to make sure that the spice jar has slightly larger holes, or better yet, use an empty grated Parmesan cheese container). Then hand it all to your toddler - we first introduced this to Wells probably around 15 months old or so - and watch the magic happen. Show them how to drop the Q-tips into the holes of the jar. It will entertain them for way longer than you expect, and it helps them develop some fine motor skills. We took this little game to restaurants, and it always worked so well!

4. Disposable Placemats...the FREE Kind
I had also registered for one of those reusable silicone placemats back when I was pregnant with Wells. Aaaaaand I never used it. Cleaning it and then having it take up coveted diaper bag space was just not doing it for me. I decided that I preferred disposable placemats...specifically ones that are free. How do I score such amazing things? At the wonderful Chick-fil-a of course. Chick-fil-a has disposable placemats to use for kiddos when you dine in. One of the CFAs here puts the mats in the condiment/straw/napkin area, and you can take as many as you want. Not all CFAs do this (the one closest to our house provides them for kids dining in but does not have them out on display). When we are at one that has them out to grab, we do just that. Wells is now using plates wherever we go, but we will be using them for Grayer soon. We have a LOT of these little gems stored in our kitchen drawers right now - mostly because my sweet Grandpa has made it his mission in life to collect as many as possible for us whenever he stops in to a CFA. Ha! Love it.

What? You don't have 783 of these stuffed in your bag, kitchen drawers, and van glovebox??

So there you have it. Just some little tried and true mama tidbits. Do you have any great tips? Please share!!!