Happy Friday!

one. We made it two whole weeks before throwing in the towel on the shared nursery. We really, really, really wanted this to work so bad and still hope that we can give it another shot in a few months, but the reality was Thomas was waking Caroline up too many times throughout the night. During the first year there are so many growth spurts and sleep regressions so Thomas’ sleep is just too unpredictable these days. He’d wake and cry for a bit and Caroline would get super upset which would result in both of us having to get up, each take a baby and rock them back to sleep. Then we’d do it all over again a few hours later. Since we’ve moved Thomas into his own room, Caroline has gone back to her 12 hours of sleep (for now anyway) and we’ve been able to let Thomas cry it out a bit which has really helped stretch him from 7 pm – 6 am. Any mamas with advice on timing for room sharing?

two. Since our main changing station is in Caroline’s room we’ll continue to change all diapers in there so I don’t have to stock both rooms with all our necessities. Because we have a LOT of “necessities.” I love talking to other moms about their must-have products, I thought I’d share some of my diaper station essentials today!

First up, we have the diaper genie and love it although these days we find ourselves bi-passing the genie with some of Caroline’s diapers and heading straight to our outside trashcan. There is nothing worse than toddler poop. My only complaint about the diaper genie is the cost of the refill bags. We’ve tried all sorts of cheaper bags including the Target brand (strongly suggest not wasting your money on these) and the cheapest good quality alternative we’ve found are the Nursery Fresh refills. 

Another most used item for us are diaper changing pads…because washing, changing and buying a dozen changing pad covers is annoying, expensive and time consuming. 

We also have the OXO Perfect Pull Wipes Dispenser which semi-perfectly dispenses one wipe at a time. I say semi-perfect because on occasion a few will come out with one pull but not nearly as bad as the long strand of wipes you get from the plastic dispensers. For $20, it’s worth it.

And a few of our favorite items we keep on the shelf include Mustela Physiobebe No-Rinse cleanser for quick wipe downs on skipped bath nights, the very best diaper cream ever – Triple Paste, Eucerin Baby for Thomas’ sensitive skin and Noodle & Boo Lotion for Caroline, Aquaphor for winter chapped cheeks and lots of DISTRACTIONS!

Changing Caroline’s diaper can be a full blown fight these days. The second we even mention a diaper change she turns into a ninja and a simple task of changing a quick diaper turns into either a negotiation or meltdown. Sooooo, it’s extremely important that we keep a fresh rotation of distractions available to both kids to make diaper changes as bearable as possible. Our current distraction line-up consists of Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes, Sophie the Giraffe, VTech Baby Phone and Bella Tunno Dream Bunny. 

Last but not least, odor eliminators for the aforementioned toddler diaper bombs. I recently received some products from Fresh Wave to put to the test in the nursery and I have been pleased with the results. I keep a tub of the odor removing gel on the shelf (out of reach from the kiddos), throw an odor removing pack at the bottom of my diaper genie, and freshen up the room with odor removing spray after each #2 diaper. You can find these products at Target!

three. I recently made the Pioneer Woman’s Linguini with Clam Sauce recipe and loved it. This meal is inexpensive, is thrown together quickly, tastes delicious, is toddler approved and fed us for 2 dinners and 1 lunch! So I recommend throwing it into your next meal plan!

four.  This week was so incredibly long. Thankfully I had the most amazing cheesecake to look forward to each night after dinner. I already raved about this on SnapChat but I’ll post it again because it is so dang good.

five. A few weekends ago we finally took the kids to Discovery Place Kids and I’m kicking myself for not doing this sooner. With the winter months keeping us cooped up inside it takes Caroline about 22 minutes before she’s bored, cranky and coloring the walls. Out of desperation one morning we packed the kiddos up and trekked out to Huntersville to the most amazing “children’s museum” aka a magical place of unending activities and rooms to explore. There’s a huge firetruck, a toddler sized grocery store, a mini deli, an underwater aquarium, the most impressive water table of all time and so much more. There was even a large area for kids under 3 that Thomas was able to play in. If you’re a mama in Charlotte, I highly recommend making a trip to DPK! Caroline could not contain her excitement.

Wanna join Darci, April, Natasha and I on the
Friday fun? You can link-up on any of our four blogs every Friday! All you have
to do is…