Best Diaper bag EVER!!!

Like many other baby/children things I have owned and tried a lot of diaper bags.   I have found one that I absolutely love though.   Its the Boken bag.  Not broken  BOKEN.....  AMAZING.   I love that its made of light weight material, its almost like parachute material, or camping tent material.   This was a must have for me because I already pile enough stuff in my diaper bag.  I needed light weight.   They have neutral colors or bold if you prefer.   I had a hard time picking which color to get as I liked most of them.  I chose teal, isn't that color just incredible?  I love it.

 

This pack has so many pockets that are awesome for all different things.  The mesh side one I usually put toys or a sippy cup  so I can see into it.   The other side flap one I put garbage and wrappers so they can't escape.   The front two I have binkis, nursing pads, chapstick.  I put the things I get most in those front pockets.

   

Inside its a huge open space with some small pockets on the side. One pocket up in the back has a zipper and I put a disposable diaper in there for both diaper wearing kids. You never know when you are going to need those extra diapers.  The other mesh compartments on the inside I have small toys or snacks in there, nothing really important.   My cloth diapers fit so perfectly in the bottom part of this bag with the wipes slid down the side.  I can fit comfortably 3-4 cloth diapers with my Kinderpack carrier.  I usually have a muslin swaddle blanket in there too and there is still plenty of room to spare.   I think I have fit 8 cloth diapers and my kinderpack, and its still not terribly heavy.  I know amazing right?

   

This picture is of two cloth diapers, and the wipes down the side and a wet bag.  It pretty much feels empty with these essentials in it.   I don't know if you can get the feel for just how big it can be if you need it to be.   It has a zipper at the top so you can close it off if you need to.  I rarely do because its so deep I don't feel like I have to.  It pretty much keeps stuff in on its own.
   

I love how this diaper bag can be small and thin or big and bulky when I need it to be.  I mostly use the small handles for carrying,  I love that it has the clip on messenger bag strap for when I need it.  I got this diaper bag with the intent of using it as a backpack because it has those hide away backpack straps. The straps are a little bit padded but not much.  I have found that when I do wear it as a backpack its pretty comfortable.  The backpack straps "hide" away in the back of the bag and if you want them out you just pull them out and clip them in and your ready for backpack mode.  Super easy and quick.

 

It has the light gray color as the bottom or base of the bag and its wonderful for letting light in your bag when you are looking for something.  I thought it would attract dirt because of the light color but it hasn't.  I just washed mine for the first time since having it and its been close to a year.   It wears great, I love that it has the tear proof material that helps a lot.

This is by far my favorite bag.  I have had it almost a year and we had a small un stitching where the buckle for the backpack straps clip in and I sent a picture to Boken customer service.  They verified that I bought it from them and not a 3rd party, and they sent me a replacement and didn't ask for the original back.  So once I had the new replacement bag I was brave enough to try to sew the unstitching back up and it worked so now I have my original bag and my replacement bag for when this one dies..... if it ever does.  I hope not.  I love their customer service very quick to respond to emails.  

Above picture you can kind of see the hidden backpack straps. 

Below is the messenger strap hooked on.  

I would recommend this bag to anyone with a baby and even if you don't have a baby haha  It can be used for anything.  Plus I mean look at that color :)   I really don't think I will ever have a different brand of bag.  This has won me over and I"ll never go back to another.    The price is pretty reasonable I feel. It is $68 I believe from their website but I got it with a coupon deal for $50.  It has been well worth the $ I paid.  I would buy it again, but I don't think I will have to because it has been very durable. 

High school class projects come in handy 15 years later

As a mom of three busy little kids I look for ways to teach and entertain them.   When my daughter stopped taking naps and my son still was we would have "big girl time"   I would get out stuff we could only do when baby brother was asleep.   One of these things were these file folder games I had made back in high school in a child development class.

This is the class that you get to take the plastic baby that crys and acts like a real baby home for the weekend.  I had a blast in this class.  We made all sorts of fun stuff and I remember thinking I am going to save this stuff for one day when I have kids. Here I am 15 years later really using them.   My kids love them.  Some of them are still to hard for them but they will eventually be able to do them all.

I have probably 15 of these folders, and I think a lot of the fun in these is that there is a variety.  I might have to look into making some more.  They are pretty easy and I"m sure pintrest has some wonderful ideas.  Not that I need to add to my project list.  

Some of them are still a little frustrating for the young kids.  This one was hard for my 3 and 4 year old but I bet soon enough they will be bored with it.  

Who would have thought I would have actually saved them all this time to really entertain and teach my children with these awesome games.

Do you have anything you made when you were younger that you saved for your kids that you actually use?   Let me know in the comments below.  I am always looking for new fun ideas. 

Kinderpack to the rescue...again and again.

Do you have a baby product or item that has just saved your day multiple times?   I know there are a lot but one that has been a lifesaver ever since I got it is my  Kinderpack. I wish I had known about these when I had my first baby.  I have tried a few different carriers you can see that here in my Babywearing Journey post. 

 This is so comfortable and all of my kids love it. This has so many great features that the other types of packs don't have.  Like breathability, and it adjusts in so many different ways.  Its AMAZING.

All of my kids ask to get in the "pack"  

Kinderpack to the rescue while we were moving and fixing up the house because I could wear my littlest.  He would fall asleep and then I could put him in his crib.  This little guy has a hard time with teething so as long as I am wearing him he is pretty content.  

Kinderpack to the rescue when I am out and about alone with my three kids, This way I can carry one in the pack and hold the other twos hands.  Its much easier to still get out and have fun while daddy is at work.   Its hard to go shopping with three kids and I really avoid it if I can.  I usually go when my oldest is at preschool so I can wear one and the other sits in the cart.  

This isn't a kinderpack but its a carrier and it saves me at church.  Our church is right when this guys nap time is.  So babywearing usually wins out and he falls asleep in the pack at church.  I get comments all the time about it.  At first I was wary of bringing my carrier to church but then I decided to try it and he fell asleep like he always does and I actually got to listen.  It was well worth it, so I have taken it ever since.

Kinderpack to the rescue when my 4 year old just wants a turn to ride in the pack.  This doesn't happen very often but sometimes I let her get up in the pack. 

Kinderpack to the rescue when my 3 year old falls asleep on the way to the store and you really need him to stay asleep.  He slept the whole time we were shopping.  This is when I decided I needed a bigger one for him.  

Kinderpack saves the day when your family wants to go sledding but your 1 year old can't really walk in the snow.   He was all bundled up and warm so he decided to fall asleep. 

 This carrier is amazing and worth every last penny.  I would say I don't know where I would be without this carrier but I DO KNOW exactly where I would be

I would have fussy kids and wouldn't be able to get near as much stuff done as I do. I would be chasing kids around at stores.  I would be sitting in a chair with three kids in my lap all day.   

So I will continue to wear my babies and be able to get my "mom" duties done as well. 

Favorite Childrens books #1

When I was a kid I loved to read.  I remember being in a class in middle school and I would win prizes for reading so much.  The prize would be a new book, perfect right?   My mom would take us to the library every 3 weeks if I remember right.  That was the due date on our books every three weeks.  I would get a whole load of books and read them all.

I thought I would share a few of my favorites.  These books I found in a box when we moved. I guess my mom gave them to me when they moved recently.  I must have gotten them in elementary school, because they have my name written in them not so neatly.
Clifford was one of my favorites and now my daughter loves these books as well.  She loves animals so anything with animals she will read.  I love being able to read my exact same childhood books to her.

Another one I found in that box was this book, well this one is the nicer one we have gotten recently but I still have the original one.  It has a few layers of tape on the spine.  I remember thinking this book was so silly when I was little and when I read it to my kids now I still think so.  

I hope I can instill in my children the love of reading. I think so much good comes from reading.  Its harder and harder to get the kids to not be playing games on ipads or watch tv. I really discourage that.  I think its important to use our mind and read.  

Garmin vivofit

I used to be a very active person before I had kids.  Its just harder to make time to do the same things.  One thing I have found that helps me stay active as a mom is my Garmin Vivofit.   I had a fitbit to start with and it was good.  It worked ok for a month or so then it had problems charging and it just got annoying after a few months.  It wouldn't charge in this charger thing.  It was really really annoying to have to mess with it every 5-6 days.  I hated to take it off to charge it, and it didn't have the time on the face.

So I searched out some more options and came across the Garmin vivofit.  I was already familiar with  the Garmin brand from my marathon watch,  the forerunner.  I loved it but it was huge you couldn't wear it as a normal watch.  So I knew the vivofit would be great.  It had the time and it has a one year guarantee on the battery life.  I don't have to take it off and charge it and fiddle with the little charger plug thing that never worked with my fitbit.  Hallelujah
It does have a few differences with the app.  It doesn't have the water tracker and I loved having that on the fitbit.  Most people have a fitbit so I can't connect with them and have challenges with people.
I love how it has the time and date and I can see how many steps and so much more.   It has been wonderful and I recommend it highly.  It helps me to be more active because I can look and see how many steps I have taken or not taken and say ok kids lets play tag or lets go on a walk.

One thing that garmin does have that when this one dies I will for sure buy is the band that has a look like a normal watch.  

This is how it hooks now and its ok but I have to wear it upside down or it gets caught on kids and just pops off.  So I want the watch style so it won't pop off randomly.  Besides that I love everthing about it.  It also tracks your sleep and tells you how long you were in deep sleep or light sleep.  I love how it will tell you about what time you were up out of bed.  I have a baby and my toddlers still wake up sometimes so its cool to go back and look and see what time I was up with them and for how long.  I know its probably not exactly right but it gives me a good idea of how my night went.  

Here is the app page for the steps.  You can see that I haven't gotten a lot of steps to day at all. I have been busy working and driving.   Boo.  You can also see how I have only hit my goal of 10,000 steps once in the last like month haha.  I"m lame.  I know.  I really like the tracker, so I can see how active or not active in my case I am.  

Overall I love it and would recommend it way over the fitbit just for the battery part alone. 

Cloth diaper review #1

I seriously love cloth diapering and now my sister is also cloth diapering her little baby.  Its fun to be able to talk and share stuff.   I love it when I find out someone I know cloth diapers, it makes it fun.  The other day I was at church and we have a "mothers room"  where the moms go to nurse their babies or change diapers.   I was changing my son and a girl saw my diapers and said " you use cloth diapers?!?"  I responded "YES!  Do you?"  she said that she used to.  Its fun to find new cloth friends.

It seems like every 6 months or so we switch up our cloth diapers for various reasons.   I love trying new kinds of diapers and I know I can always resell the ones I don't like so its a great deal. I wrote a post about my cloth diaper journey you can check it out here... You cloth diaper?!?!  I wanted to review the diapers I am currently using so people can learn more about the different kinds. I know I loved to read all about it when I was researching them out.

 This is what we have been using lately and they have been working wonderfully.   Thirsties duo wrap covers  this is a size 1 that I am using on my 1 year old.  They are thin but work great.  I usually don't like velcro on diapers because they get worn out faster than snaps but for little babies I like them.  All of my newborn covers are velcro.   These are double gusset so they keep everything in.  The only thing I don't like about these thirsites duo wraps are they have white trim and they stain very easily. I wish they would trim them in the color that matches the diaper.  Thirsties also has this gathering in the front that helps with front leaks.  It just helps to hug the skin better than a flat front. 

These thirsties have gotten better since I first started using them they now have thicker velcro and they hold up so much better.  I love how thick and sticky they are.  That was a much needed improvement.  They also have gotten cuter prints then they used to have.  I'm a sucker for new cute prints.  

I also use Grovia shells.  These are top quality I feel like.  They fit well and they are so cute.  They don't have double gussets but they have a mesh liner.  That mesh liner really holds things in pretty well.  I have been very pleased with these covers.  They are good quality and still trim fitting.   Grovia has inserts you can snap in but I feel like prefolds do a better job and are more versatile.  They are also cheaper.  

 My littlest one has some major stink issues with his pee, I don't know what it is. His diapers just got the ammonia smell so fast.   My older son never had this issue.  So I had to use flats with him to be able to clean and wash the stink out.  I have started to use prefolds to see if he was over that stinky stage and it appears that he is mostly.   I use grovia, diaper rite, and nickis bamboo/cotton prefolds.  I just pad fold them inside of the covers.  I really like diaper rites prefolds they seem to be softer and stay softer for longer.  They are all great quality so far.

I use the thirsties duo wrap size 2 on my 3 year old.  I wish I could use the underwear but he doesn't want to so we aren't pushing it.  I also use the rumparooz covers they are a little bit bigger than grovia I feel like.  I have loved the quality of rarz.

I use a size 3 prefold with him and it seems to absorb really well with him.  I have very rarely had a leak with a prefold and a cover for him.  We tried aio and other kinds and we had leaks.

This has been working great for us and prefolds and covers are easy to clean and fold back up.  I love how they are so simple and yet work so great.  

How I make butter out of raw milk

I grew up on a farm where we had cows, horses, pigs, dogs and cats.  We even had sheep and chickens for a while.   I love that I grew up like that and I feel like I learned a lot from my parents having us work hard.  We had to help take care of the animals and we had our outside chores we had to do.  At the time I hated doing my chores but looking back I realize that I want my kids to have similar chores and responsibilities.

We had a milk cow and we would help my dad milk the cow.  I know that my dad used to milk all by hand but by the time I remember helping with chores we had a milker that did most of the work and we just had to finish up after the milker.  I remember squirting the cats with it and thinking it was hilarious.  I have always been a big milk drinker and have loved it.  I remember my mom making butter and yogurt from all of the milk we would get and I never really thought of it much until I became a mom.  A lot of things happen like this haha  I wish i could go back for a day and remember how my parents did things.

I am part of a group on Facebook that has a raw milk car pool.  They go and get approved raw milk from a semi local farmer.  Its about a 45 min drive but still somewhat close.  I decided that I wanted to start getting raw milk.  My kids are big milk drinkers as well and I think raw is so much healthier and better for you.  Raw milk is just more whole so our bodies are better able to digest it.  There have been studies that say there might even be a chance that drinking raw milk will help with allergies and asthma in children.  Another benefit is that some people have been known to not be able to tolerate the pasteurized milk but are able to drink unpasteurized raw milk.  

I love it because I grew up with it.  I love that I can make butter from the cream we get.  It makes me feel like a kid again to have this raw milk in the house.  I will say that raw milk has a very different taste than pasteurized milk.  When I was a kid it would taste like a cow smells to me.  Now it just taste different, not bad.  I think it just takes time to get used to it.

I make the butter by skimming off the cream from the top of the milk.  After you let it sit in the fridge for a few hours it will separate and you skim it off and I put it in my blender.   It takes about 5 min to turn it into butter and it separates into butter and butter milk.  

Then I take my strainer and put a paper towel in it to catch the butter and squeeze out the buttermilk left in it.   I put it into measuring cups so I know how much it is and then I plop it out onto a plate or something and put it in the freezer until its frozen then I throw  it in a zip lock bag.

I then used my butter milk left overs to mix into pancakes or anything that you would use milk for that cooks or something.  It just is pretty plain after you take the butter out of it.

I have loved it so far and hope to be able to continue to get it.  I like thinking my kids are getting better nutrition from drinking more raw milk and whole food in general.

Why I need ME time...

Have you ever been in your house ALONE and feel so weird?

I very rarely have ALONE ME time.  I wake up at 5 and work,  I don't really count that as me time because I'm busy working.  Then the kids wake up and we do our daily routines.   Nap times are nonexistant at our house well except the baby.    Then bed time is 8 and the kids are usually asleep by 9.  I finish cleaning up the house and then hit the sack because I am sure I will be woken up by someone in the night and I want to get at least a few hours of sleep.
Occasionally I get to go to the store alone and its nice. I find myself hurrying anyways because that is just what I do now.   The other day my husband and I had met at Aunt Darces house.  My husband was coming home from work and I drove down to her house.  He took the kids home and I went and got some food at Winco, my favorite store.  After I finished grabbing the groceries I found myself with my old running playlist blazing in the car and I was singing loudly.  I stopped and laughed because I hadn't done this in a long time and I loved it.  I missed singing loudly to my music that I no longer listened to except on that rare occasion I actually found time to run.  I realized that it felt good to be me still.  That younger me was still in there.  I don't know quite how to describe it but the me that I was before I was a Mom.  Its important to still have those quiet alone times.

I was home alone the other day, my husband had taken the kids to grandmas house and I had a meeting in 30 min.  It was so odd to have the house quiet and no one running around.   It was almost eerie.  I thought to myself what do I even do?  I have a list 3 miles long of projects I would like to do.
I really think for me at least that I need that ME time to rejuvenate and boost me up.   If I want to be the best mom I can be I need to take that time whether it be 5 min or an hour to be ME.    I find that if I just keep running and doing it all I start to lose some perspective and I begin to question the value of what I am doing.  I begin to feel ineffective, short tempered, and angry at everything.    In order to keep those feelings in control we need to take time for ourselves.  It can be something simple like just sitting and looking out the window at nothing.  I love to go sit outside and watch the birds or clouds.  Maybe read part of a book you have been wanting to read forever.   I find that most often I take a long shower and that makes me feel much better.

There are so many different ways we can take our time.  Just make sure that you take the time to do it so you can be ready to go and be the best mom you can be for your little ones.

Is there a real "leak proof" sippy cup out there?

Sippy Sippy which Sippy is better and best?!?!

All a mom wants is a sippy cup that doesn't leak and is easy to clean.  That is it...... How hard can that be?  Well I have tried quite a few trying to find the one that works for us.  Here are just a few and the things I like and don't like about them.

These ones are ok I liked that it didn't have any small pieces inside of it.  Its just the lid and cup part but I found that it got moldy after a bit,  and there is no way of cleaning it out after it has the mold either so you  just have to throw them away or buy a new lid.  Not very cost effective.

                                           

This one is pretty good it has a little plastic piece inside that is the valve part and it comes out so you can wash it.  These have held up pretty good for going through three kids.  I have had to buy the replacement valve part once.  They are easy to use as well.

These cheap ones I have loved.  They are so easy to clean and cheap.  They are supposed to be take and toss but I am too cheap to toss them.  They work fine for a few months and even longer if my kids wouldn't chew on the spout part.  The one bad thing with these is that they leak and sometimes pop open if my baby throws it down.  So awesome for older toddlers, and not so great for babies.

I had seen these and heard about them.  Then one of my friends had one and she showed it to me and told me how much she loved them.  They didn't leak and were super easy to clean.  So I said Hey I'm up for trying anything.  I feel like we have tried them all.   

They have this strainer part on the top that is covered with a silicone top and it suctions to the strainer so that is how they don't spill when you hold them upside down.  I found that to be very cool.   

It screws on so no weird spout thing that you can reach to clean inside.  Its easy to fill up and they hold quite a bit of liquid.   The only bad part I have found with these sippy cups is that when my 1 year old drops it or throws it (terrible habit I know) it will splash out with the force of the blow.   So it technically does "spill" for my baby.  My older kids it doesn't.  It also take some getting used to to learn how to suck out water of the 360 spout.   

I was so sad that these weren't as amazing as I was hoping.  I almost prefer the cheapo take and toss because they are easy to clean and cheap.  I am still searching for the amazing all in one best sippy cup ever I know your out there somewhere.  If you know where it is let me know, I would love to end my search for the best sippy cup.