Livin My Best Mom Life

Let’s face it, being a mom is hard. We are always trying to do everything we can whether it be cooking breakfast, thinking of activities to entertain our children, giving them a bath, putting them to sleep, or just keeping everyone safe and alive. Throughout the past year, I have found a few mom hacks and ideas that have made my life easier. Why not simplify yours so can spend a few extra minutes doing something you love?

Below are some creative mom hacks that you can start implementing right away.

Food Hacks for Toddlers and Babies

Toddlers love to eat snacks, at least mine would prefer to munch on snacks sometimes rather than eat a decent meal. The Snack catcher by munchkin has helped prevent a lot of crumbs and food from falling on the floor. It also only allows the toddler to grab a small handful instead of shoveling the food into their mouth. Genius!

Cutting toddlers food can be time consuming. Use a pizza cutter to cut finger slice pieces. I use a pizza cutter at every single meal. I use it to cut toast, pizza, chicken nuggets, french toast, vegetables, fruit, etc.

How many of you have spent a ton of money on small bags of dried yogurt bites? Instead use this mom hack to make a ton of yogurt bites in less than 2 minutes. Buy a pint of baby yogurt (we use Stonyfield organic) , place it in a piping bag and start piping out small yogurt bites on wax paper. Put them in the freezer for at least an hour. My daughter loves to eat these especially when she is teething.

Silicone teethers are great if your baby is starting to teeth and has sore gums or is starting to try new foods. We not only put fruit inside of them, but ice cubes as well!

If your toddler is anything like mine, food goes everywhere when they are eating in their highchair. The silicone placemat has suction cups on the bottom that enable the placemat to stay in place. The food is sectioned off and is so easy to clean.

Silicone bib catchers are so practical. They catch literally almost anything the baby puts into their mouth. They are so easy to clean and hold up very well. I have used the same two the past 9 months.

Do you have a picky eater? Mine likes to live off mac and cheese. I sneak her veggies into her smoothies or buy spinach/ kale and broccoli bites from Aldi’s or Target.

Safety Mom Hacks

Does your toddler or baby love to open or explore inside your cabinets? I thought about buying the magnetic or screw cabinet safety locks, but moving into a new house, I did not want to damage the wood. For this mom hack, use thick hair ties to band together the cabinets! This works on cabinets that spin as well as pull out. This simple hack has helped with not ruining our cabinets and kitchen.

Have sharp table corner edges? Use pool noodles around the corners or fold and place blankets over top of the table so the edges are not as sharp and there is a soft cushion if they hit it.

table toddler hack — I know it doesn’t look pretty, but it has worked for us!

Is your toddler crawling out of the crib?

Our toddler started crawling out of her crib at 20 months. Instead of switching to a toddler bed right away because I knew she was not technically ready for one, we took out the springboard in the bottom. It lowered her mattress a couple inches, and she was no longer able to crawl out. This is still working for us!

If you have already switched to a toddler bed, safety is probably at the top of your list. Instead of buying products for the door, simply reverse the door handle so that the lock is on the outside. This allows only you to have access into the room.

Hygiene Hacks for your toddler and baby

Ever since my baby started sitting up and moving in the tub, I had a fear that she would clunk her head on the faucet. Welcome the skip hop silicone bath faucet cover. It covers the spout and is universally adjustable to fit most tubs. We have been using it for months and it makes me feel more relaxed knowing she can not slip or hit her head on the spout when we are in the bathtub.

Afraid to cut your newborn or toddlers nails? I was too and of course I read horror stories of others accidentally cutting their babies nails too short. I purchased an electric nail file that was soft enough for newborns. It made my life so much easier, and I did not have to worry about hurting or cutting her precious fingers.

I hope these ideas and mom hacks will help you in your everyday routines. If you decide to try or use any of these ideas, tag and share @livin_mybestmomlife to be featured.

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We recently moved into our new house in June. We were so excited to finally have found a house that was “move in ready.” It had everything that we were looking for: a dream kitchen with a beautiful island, an open layout, 4 bedrooms for our growing family, a brick fireplace, and new carpet. Luckily, being a teacher, I have my summers off. So, you guessed it; I started decorating and organizing as soon as I had the chance. I soon realized I wanted to paint the entire house to pull off a farmhouse theme.

Bye Bye Red Brick Fireplace, Hello Whitewash

One project of course leads to another. We painted most of our house in a grey scheme and being type A, the brick fireplace in the living room no longer felt like it belonged. The bright red color popped out like a sore thumb. I thought lightening it up would make it pop more against the grey walls. That was when we decided to whitewash the brick fireplace in our living room to give it a more homey and warm feeling. Home depot had an article on whitewashing brick that gave me some inspiration.

Side note: If you are looking for some great farmhouse gray, Amazing Gray and Repose Gray at Sherman Williams, is wonderful! Both of these colors are frequently used in newly renovated houses.

Get a Farmhouse Whitewash Look:

I searched the internet for white brick paint and ended up getting Giani Whitewashed transformations. I was so nervous and hesitant at first because once it is on the brick there is not really a way to take it off unless you paint over it. We decided we wanted the brick to show through a little and have a similar finish to a German schmear (usually done with mortar not paint) technique.

I am in love with the result, and everyone notices it when they walk in. This was such an easy inexpensive project and it only took about 3 hours from start to finish. To complete our fireplace, we added a 60’ mantle in dark chocolate from wayfair. Due to our original fireplace not having a mantle, we had to tapcon (if you are like me, you probably have no idea what that is! My husband took care of this part.) a 2×4 piece of lumber into the existing brick to mount so we could mount the mantle and slide it into place. Once our mantle was up, it needed some decor. Target Run?! Do not have to tell me twice! Any excuse I can find, you will spot me at target spending way more than I should.

Supplies Needed:

paint brush

scrub bush/ scrub daddy

Rag for wiping off the paint.

Giana whitewashed transformation paint

Water

Painter’s tape or masking tape

I bought just the can of paint because I had the other materials laying around. You can get the Giani brick whitewashed transformation in a kit that includes all the needed materials.

Steps to whitewash your brick:

1. First, prep the area by wiping down / brushing the entire surface area with a warm soapy solution as well as remove any excess mortar.

2. Vacuum away debris from cleaning, remnants, and dust

3. Create your paint mixture by mixing 1 part water, 1 part paint. We ended up using 2 parts paint, 1-part water

4. Start at the top of the brick by painting small strokes in one direction. (only do small area at a time see below)

5. After you paint on the brick, immediately start wiping away the fresh coat of the paint.

6. Repeat step 5 until the entire brick surface is covered and wiped.

Here is the whitewash brick transformation project before, during, and after:

Please ignore the clutter and the baby gate. Can anyone relate?! Our daughter always seems to gravitate to places she should not be.