momlife Archives – Page 4 of 23

Car Sick Kit for Kids (PLUS Ways to Help Prevent It!)

June 22, 2021September 24, 2020 by Salty Jaymi

a caddy with supplies, text overlay says "What to include in your car sick kid kit"

Dealing with car sickness in kids can be SO difficult. But you can be more prepared by putting together a car sick kit for kids. Learn everything you need to include in your travel sickness kids (and a few more tips for helping to prevent car sickness in toddler and beyond!) in this helpful post from a mom with two motion sickness prone kids.

Some things in life are just hard. Like distance learning. Or remembering all the ingredients you need from the grocery store. Or trying not to lose your cool when your kids request the same episode of Paw Patrol for the 86th time.

But almost nothing about motherhood has been as difficult (and as outright icky!) as dealing with car sickness in kids.

I live about 600 miles away from my parents, which is about 200 miles from the airport. Which means it just makes sense to drive rather than fly. But that is MUCH easier said than done when you’ve got two kids who are prone to motion sickness.

At first, their travel sickness would stop us in our tracks. The first few times were a total mess, leaving us with a not-so-clean car and a six hour drive ahead of us.

But over the years, we’ve wised up and figured out exactly what we need to do in order to not only prevent motion sickness in our kids, but deal with the aftermath in case their tummies get too upset when traveling.

And lucky for you, you can benefit from our trial and error while we developed our own car sick kit for kids. We’ve got all the tools you need to get cleaned up and back on the road (without adding tons of time to your trip in the process!)

Postpartum Freezer Meals for a New Mom

February 23, 2021August 26, 2020 by Salty Jaymi

pregnant woman cooking; text overlay reads "10 meals to make before your baby is born

Need some fresh ideas for postpartum freezer meals? Check out our pro tips for stocking up freezer for before baby, with tried and tested recipes and an EASY hack to get your freezer full of meals your family will actually eat!

The newborn phase. Such a beautiful time, full of meeting and greeting your new little person, lots of snuggles, and so many firsts together. There are so many beautiful parts to life postpartum.

But let’s be honest- there’s also a WHOLE lot going on in your life. In addition to cuddles and magic, there will also be lots of messes to clean up, lots of physical changes going on, and a whole bunch of new things to learn.

The last thing a new mom should be doing? Worrying about getting dinner on the table every night, too.

If you’re lucky, your friends, family, or church will step up to the plate, bringing meals for you to heat and eat. If you’re less lucky, you might just find yourself on your own getting back to “normal” life sooner than you expected.

No matter what your level of support in the kitchen may be, making some postpartum freezer meals is a great way to prepare for your new life as a mom. And it’s a fantastic place to channel your nesting energy, too.

So whether you’re stocking up the freezer before baby arrives or looking for tips for making freezer meals for a new mom in your life, we’ve got you covered with these simple, scrumptious, and freezable meals from some of our very favorite food blogging friends.

The 7 Kinds of “Good Moms.” Which are You?

July 15, 2022November 21, 2019 by Salty Jaymi

a mom figuring out how to be a good mom with her daughter

There are so many ways to be a good mom. None will look exactly the same, and there’s no ONE good mother definition, but we think there are at least 7 types of “good moms.” Which are you?

I don’t know about you, mamas, but I can tell you this for sure- I am constantly worrying about whether or not I am a good enough mom for my kids. Realistically, I’m sure I’m doing at least ok. But then I see the way someone else is momming so hard, and I can’t help but compare myself.

I love to bake with my kids, read to them, and teach them new things. But then I see a mom doing some down-on-the-floor playing with her kids, and I think to myself, “oh, she is so much better than me. I hate playing pretend.” And then I’ll spend the next couple of days trying to turn myself into a totally different kind of mom so that I can be “good enough” for my kids.

But the fact is- there are so many different qualities of a good mother. There are so many different theories on how to be a good mom- and you can’t be all of them at once. You might as well stick to the kind of mothering you’re good at.

We’re breaking it down into the seven different types of good mothers in this blog post. Check it out for yourself, and see which one YOU are.

Preschool Lunch Box Packing Tips (+Lunch Ideas!)

January 7, 2022October 9, 2019 by Salty Jaymi

Sometimes, as parents, we make packing lunches for preschool WAY harder than it needs to be. But you don’t have to go over the top to get the job done! Check out our favorite preschool lunch box packing tips to make your life SO much easier.

As stay at home moms, we have been thinking about all the ways our lives would get easier when our kids started school. Running errands alone, having cleaner houses, not being solely responsible for their education- we were SO looking forward to having the pressure taken off of us.

And then we realized- the pressure doesn’t leave us. It just gets different.

Case in point- the pressure to constantly come up with new school lunch ideas for our kids.

Whereas a PB&J and a few carrot sticks on a plate would work at home, we now have to send our kids out into the world with carefully packed lunches that will A. Be swiftly compared to their friends’ lunches and B. determine how good we look to the teachers and supervision staff.

But mamas, we’ve got to say- all this pressure we’re putting on ourselves? We don’t have to do that. You don’t have to constantly recreate the wheel. You don’t need to be innovative and imaginative every day.

The saying “Fed is Best” doesn’t go away just because your kids are older now.

We have found that the best way to take the pressure off of ourselves is to invest in some tools that make packing lunch boxes WAY easier. Sometimes a few lunch box hacks (and the right containers!) can make all the difference in how your child perceives their lunch- and expands the list of what you’re able to send, too.

So if you find yourself looking for preschool lunch box packing tips, look no further. We’ve got the right tools to help you step up your game (without adding extra pressure to your life).

a preschooler's lunch box; text: lunch packing hacks for busy moms

5 Family Motto Ideas for Resilient Kid

January 7, 2022August 29, 2019 by Salty Jaymi

If our families have learned something in the last few years, it’s the power of grit and resilience. If you need family motto ideas to help instill resilience in your kids, check out these 5 ideas.

Resilience. It’s one of the buzz words of the morning, and we are constantly told how “resilient” our kids are. We want our kids to see that as empowering, and to develop a strong sense of grit.

“Grit” describes someone with strong character, courage, and resolve. When you say that someone has grit, it means that they have the capacity to overcome challenges, to keep going when things get hard, and to keep pushing to meet their goals.

So what IS grit? According to a recent Forbes article, the five characteristics of grit are resilience, tenacity, conscientiousness, endurance, and being achievement and excellence oriented.

Now, who WOULDN’T want that for their kids?

But it’s a little harder to teach grit to kids than other topics we usually cover with them. It’s not something that can be covered during storytime. It’s not a lesson we can complete and then mark off our lists.

Teaching grit means consistently emphasizing those crucial traits, over and over again, in a way that shows kids how important they are.

In our family, that boils down to a few family mottoes. We repeat these mottoes again and again. And though my kids are still little- age six and three- we’re starting to hear these phrases coming out of their mouths more and more.

With any luck- and a LOT of repetition- these ideas will stick, and become a part of their character throughout the years.

So if you need family motto ideas to help build resilience– and to change your family culture in the process- we’ve got some ideas that may help!

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There are so many ways to be a good mom. None will look exactly the same, and there’s no ONE good mother definition, but we think there are at least 7 types of “good moms.” Which are you?