A day in my life… 6 kids & tired

So it’s been forever. Like so long that i didn’t even realize i have a draft waiting to post for you guys! I’ll finish that up and get it posted you guys will love the lactation (or not) granola cup recipe.

But to give you an idea of where I’ve been- I’ll keep this one short and sweet and then give you some future in depth posts to catch you up.

This is what just happened to me:

Got out of bed to shower. Why was I in bed and not showered? Little Man waited up until I was home from work (didn’t even get off until after 9) to fall asleep because he had to make sure mama was home. Then, after eating a late dinner (while he stole half my sweet potato fries) (loaded turkey burger recipe coming soon!) I brought him up to lay him down and Ms.  Mae woke up when moving her to her bed because she’s apparently had been asking for me to come home all evening and wake her up so she knew I was home (like I don’t have enough mom guilt already).

So I’m finally getting to shower (which now hubby is too tired to shower…… yeah) and turn my heated blanket on and heating pad so they’re preheated when i get back (yeah- my body is old). Then in the shower I do all my shower stuff, wash my face with anti- breakout stuff (because I’m almost 30 and HORMONES!) and get out of the shower. Get back in the shower realizing as a dry off that I somehow missed rinsing my whole left side. Get back off and dry off with the towel I had draped on the radiator to warm up, throw on clothes (also radiator heated) slather my face with anti aging moisturizer (because 30!!) and come up to my warm bed. Now i have to be up in 6 hours to stress all day tomorrow.

How was your night?!

Removing smells from jars

With going back to work came something I dreaded just a little less than leaving my little boy- the breast pump *insert horrific cry here*. I have high lipase (breastfeeding journey post to come, but you can learn more about high lipase via kelly mom ) so I scale my milk at work and store it in jars until I split into bottles for use or freeze it. I use mostly mason jars, but we have a collection of repurposed jars (mason jars I used for homemade salsa and pickles last year as well as store bought jars we’ve kept). Glass helps the milk not absorb other flavors, and is better for the higher temperature milk, however if your jars still smell like pickles and hot peppers- baby isn’t going to like it- so in 3 easy steps, I rid our jars of the lingering scents and tastes.

1. Fill a large stock pot with hot water and 1 tbs baking soda, and 1 Tbs liquid dish soap.
2. Soak jars and lids submerged in water for at least 20 minutes but longer for better results (I did 1 hour)
3. Thoroughly was jars- I through mine in the dishwasher for  extra sanitation, but a good hand wash will work.

The baking soda helps to absorb the lingering smells and tastes, while the dish soap disinfects any bacteria that could be adding to smells.

This also works on Tupperware! For plastic, double the baking soda and soak longer.

 

Movie theater popcorn

I know that I have left you all for quite a while but life has just gotten in the way and we’re REALLY making it up as we go now! Little mister made his debut 8 weeks ago and he is doing great, as are his 5, very doting, big sisters! I’ve started back to work, so every Saturday is now chores day and Sunday is family day! One of their favorite family day activities is family movies, on one of my more particularly lenient days, they came up with this masterpiece. With Halloween just around the corner, this is a good way to use all that free candy.

Now I always (since I was a little girl) put M&Ms in my popcorn- I love how the chocolate melts from the heat of the fresh popped popcorn, but the hard candy covering keeps it from getting everywhere. It’s the perfect sweet and salty blend.

So the girls went rooting through their candy bag in the pantry (a compilation of halloween, Easter, and Valentines candy all thrown together and not often touched) in search of M&Ms for their popcorn. Oh but they found so much more. We called this movie theater popcorn, because it’s all your favorite concession stand favorites in one. In addition to M&Ms, they added sour patch kids, mini gummy bears, and Reece’s peeces. They loved the surprise every hand full brought and the sweet and salty together. Try it for your next family movie!

(As a side note, I made mine with the Reece’s peeces and M&Ms only and was in love ~ still the lovely meltyness from the heat and just a simple sweet and salty combo!)

Diaper bag for two

With the eminent arrival of Little Mister looming just a few days away- I am trying to get everything figured out. With Little Miss Mae still being little, I still require a diaper bag for outings with her, but I really didn’t want to carry two (I mean, can you blame me? I’m already carrying two babies, I don’t need two bags too!), so I scoured Pinterest and came up with my own version of the ideas I saw.

I bought these little lingerie laundry bags at the dollar tree and I have to tell you I am obsessed with them. They come 3 to a pack for only $1 and I have used them to organize everything, from my crochet water balloons to his little socks and hats in his drawers so they don’t get lost. For this I used one for every function- one for diaper changes which have both size diapers, rash cream, wipes, etc all in one bag-so on your trip to the bathroom you just have to grab it! Then each of them have their own meal bag- Miss Mae’s is a little fuller, with punches, and bowls, and travel silverware, but I did include  one for little Mister with my manual breast pumps (which his bag is currently in my hospital bag instead of the diaper bag) a bib and some burp clothes- this will grow and adapt with him.

Then I have a bag with a change of clothes – one for Miss Mae and two for Little Mister, as well as socks and blankets. Finally I have a first aid/ care kit- it has bandaids, neosporin, baby Tylenol, sun screen, hand sanitizer, etc. all the stuff you might need on hand! I also have a final bag with mommy stuff (hygiene, nursing stuff, etc) I don’t have pictured. These bags stand/ stack perfectly in my bag to keep it well organized. I even printed labels for each bag off my computer to ease finding the right bag.