Diaper Bag Dump

With my first baby 6 years ago I carried it all. In a huge, sorta ugly brown corduroy diaper bag (thankfully not one with Winnie-the-Pooh-I still had a small amount of fashion sense in me!)

Why do they made diaper bags so ugly anyway? 

 "I have a little baby and so now I would really prefer to carry a giant bag with cartoons and pastels that screams DIAPER BAG" - said no mom ever.

Part of the reason for the huge bag was the dilemma of what to put inside.

I was a little clueless on what exactly I really needed on my person at all times to run errands. 

Because really, to run to the grocery store you totally need 3 burp cloths, 2 swaddle blankets, a bottle of tylenol, 3 changes of clothes + one shirt for yourself, 5 toys for a baby that can't hold anything yet and a nursing cover even though you will hide in your car should baby have to nurse in the 45 minutes you are away from home.

3 kids later all I really need is this: wallet, keys, phone (duh), 2 diapers and wipes.

These days I carry a large purse, lately a crossover is my favorite. I try to keep it organized to be efficient, but let's face it- most of the time this is what it looks like.

Exhibit A: the contents of my purse this morning after approximately 3 weeks since the last cleaning.

(no old rotten food or nasty sippy cups! I'd call this pretty tidy)  

I do carry some other items on a day to day basis including- 

a change of clothes for the baby (explosive diapers happen people!), 

wet ones for wiping nasty tables or shopping carts,

 a hairtie (someone ALWAYS needs a hairtie when you have 3 girls!) 

It's helpful to have some snacks- 

mostly for my 3 and 6 year old because they are eternally hungry at the most inappropriate times. Typically as soon as you are pulling away from lunch at Chick-fil-A 

they began clamoring from the back seat for a snack. 

It's like the humming of the engine makes them hungry. 

Here we are cleaned up and ready to pack it all in again.

Usually there's always a bright lipstick (for a quick put together look), EOS lip balm (#addicted),

 and mints (these work double duty as breath freshening + kid bribery)

bathroom selfie of my target clearance purse

Obviously trips to the zoo, or long days spent entirely out of the house require a bit more loot. Typically I keep a tote in my car with a change for the 3 year old (accidents happen) and some extra diapers, snacks and sunscreen. 

Today I'm linking up with these fine blogs in order to hopefully win a luxurious Lily Jade bag! 

Coconut Robot

Mom Diggity

Cedars and Tiny Flowers

and Babies don't Keep

Printable Chore Lists

My life is in need of some major organization lately! Do you ever stop and take a step back and wonder how things got so messy? I have a pretty good idea of when my order turned to disorder...it's was the moment a became a mommy! Since there's no going back, there's only moving forward with better organizational tools to keep life on track and hopefully keep me sane.

I've been searching the depths of pinterest and google for ideas to sort order from the disorder that is running a household of four, and my first stops were simple and pretty papers to keep me on track with cleaning.

In the past I always did laundry on Monday, Shopping on Tuesday, Cleaning on Wednesday, etc. But with 2 munchkins life sometimes gets in the way of that strict of a schedule. I've been trying to do a load or two of laundry daily to keep that overwhelming laundry pile at bay, and I've recently found that one day for all the errands isn't always feasible when one munchkin needs a nap and the other decides to pretend she is the spawn of Satan in Target. It's life. You gotta roll with the punches sometimes.

So this little list was born in an effort to keep things orderly and make sure they get done on either a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. When placed into a frame under glass or a simple page protector on the fridge, a dry erase marker is an easy and reusable way to keep track of tasks.

I'm currently using the teal chevron print because it matches my kitchen/dining room, but I was nice enough to put together some other pattern & color combinations for those of you wanting a FREE download!

Grey/Teal Chevron                       Green Chevron                           Grey/Yellow Chevron

Tan Damask                                 Yellow  Moroccan                                   Grey Damask