What's in My Bag? Toddler Mama Edition

So not glamorous, but here's what's in my bag.  

With a young toddler, there's less "stuff" you always need to carry so I try to keep it to the very basics for walking around (don't worry, there's a bigger back-up diaper bag in the car).  Snacks are a must - you don't want a hangry toddler or mama!  And I can't say enough good things about these "Highlights Hello" magazines - they're lightweight and indestructible.  We keep several in the car, diaper bag, and stroller - much easier to pack than boardbooks.  

Not pictured?  A little bottle of hand sanitizer (I forgot it in the car), a must for a curious toddler who tries to pick someone else's gum off the sidewalk.  Ew.  

Affiliate Product Links
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DIY Learning Tower / Kitchen Helper - Based on Plans by Ana White

Our little one may be happily playing independently but the second I go to make dinner she demands to be held and refuses to be put down, making cooking impossible.  To help keep her occupied but still involved I've been eyeing a learning tower / kitchen helper on Amazon for months now, but at $200 it just wasn't in our budget.  My sister-in-law had made a learning tower from a plan by Ana White and suggested I try to make one too.  I was unsure at first, I've never made anything more complicated than a birdhouse, but I decided to give it a go!  Read on for my lessons learned and know that you can totally make one too.  | This post contains affiliate links |

{ Note: the plans that I worked from were from Ana White and can be found HERE }

The first step to making the learning tower was buying the lumber.. which is easier said than done when you just have a little car!  Nevertheless, Miss M and I made the nearly hour-long trek out to Lowe's to pick up lumber, paint, and screws.  One thing I really liked about the Ana White plan was that it had both a shopping list and a "cut list" so you knew exactly how much of each kind of wood to buy and then how to cut it up.  I made a mistake at Lowe's though and ended up buying 6-foot boards instead of 8-foot..  I don't know if I read the sign too quickly or what, but it made me come up short for the project.  Thankfully we had some extra wood in the garage and I was able to fudge it.  

For our learning tower, I made some modifications - some were planned and some kind of happened as the project went on (partly due to the wood shortage).  For example, I decided against doing the arches on the top - as lovely as they were, we don't have a jigsaw so I had to nix it.  I also did the base of the tower a little differently and I didn't do the tip resistors (at least not yet), my sister-in-law omitted the tip resistors and has had no problems.  Our little one is pretty good with the tower (knock on wood), but for peace of mind I think we will do something to help prevent it ever tipping - most likely adding some scrap wood to make a lip that will fit under the edge of our counter.  Another thing I did differently was make the front and back top railing wider, the reasoning for this was two-fold - for one thing, it gave me more room to screw in the the top railings without the screws running into each other.  Another was that the wider wood makes it impossible for our little one to open the kitchen drawers in front of her (so key).

One criticism of Ana White's plan is that while it gives you a great outline of what to make and how to go about it, it definitely doesn't spell everything out - and for this detail-oriented person that drove me nuts!  For example, it doesn't detail how many screws you should use when attaching each piece or how to position the screws when you join sides together (this was a huge issue so they didn't run into each other).  Another big problem was that the plan had quite a few typos and some of the steps would stop mid-sentence missing the full explanation of what to do. 

I highly suggest cutting all the wood, labeling it, laying it out and really thinking through how it's going together. My biggest challenge by far was figuring out a good way to hold the pieces together while I pre-drilled and screwed them together. The wood the plan calls for is pretty thin (another downside of the plan), so that limited the ways I felt I could hold it without damaging it. I tried using vices and clamps to help hold everything together but they always seemed to be in the way so I ended up holding it in place anyway I could, even with my foot if necessary (awkward).

I also had to improvise on how to center the front and back side pieces against the wider side of the legs.  It turned out that a picture book we had was the perfect thickness and became a great spacer.  

To space the boards for the platform I placed some extra screws between them as spacers.  Once it was all attached together, I just pulled the screw spacers out.  

For paint, I used a high-gloss black enamel paint by Val-Spar and gave it two coats (though I probably should have done 1-2 more). I really recommend using high-gloss paint or stain so it can be wiped down easily after every use.

I wanted to add some personalization or decoration to the learning tower, but also wanted to keep it simple so that it would blend into the kitchen better. I decided against personalizing the tower since we're hoping to have more kids and I wanted to keep it "neutral" - so I settled for stenciling "ABC" on one of sides for a little decoration, using the Martha Stewart Monogram Serif Stencil Set.

Our little one loves her new learning tower and now feels like she can "help" when I'm making dinner.  This tower also makes arts and crafts a lot easier (here she's playing with some homemade playdough).  

Safety Notice:  It goes without saying, but always supervise your little one while they're using the learning tower and make sure there is nothing dangerous within reach (hot plates, knives/other sharp objects, stove, off-limit foods, etc).  Use at your own risk.

Product Links | Valspar High Gloss Enamel Paint | Martha Stewart Monogram Serif Stencil Set |

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Other posts you might enjoy:  

Our First Pampers Rewards - Free Gifts for Buying Diapers!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was way behind when I signed up for Pampers Rewards.. I think our little one was 10 months old when we started (oh all those months of diaper codes I could have used!). Since then I've been entering codes every time I can and saving them up. 

Initially I was going to wait and get one of the big items for Miss M, but the other week I decided to trade some points in and get something small for her.  I saw this Little Bakers Cupcake set from Step 2 and thought it would be great for her to play with when she's using the kitchen helper I was making her.  Redeeming the points was very easy - just log in, choose your reward, check out, and confirm your mailing address.  Done!  

The cupcake set wasn't as rugged as I was hoping for considering it's from Step 2, but it is very, very cute.  The set comes with a tray, six cupcakes, and six interchangeable frosting tops.  Our little one can't quite get them on and off herself yet but she is really enjoying them still. 

And, of course the best part about it was they were free!  I didn't even have to pay shipping, which was amazing (note: some items you do have to pay shipping for).  I'm looking forward to ordering more free gifts.. just have to remember to keep entering my codes!

PS - I just stumbled across an account on Instagram that shares some of the free codes Pampers releases for promotions.  Follow @free_pampers_codes to help boost your point total!  

Want to see what else we got from Pampers Rewards?  Check out my other posts:  

• Our 2nd Pampers Rewards:  Little Tikes Shopping Cart
• Our 3rd Pampers Rewards:  Potty Training Chart
• Our 4th Pampers Rewards:  Melissa and Doug Tool Kit

Please note items available from Pampers Rewards are subject to change.  

Milk Can House Number - Add some country flair to your curb appeal!

My parents-in-law gave us an awesome old milk can and it took me a little while to decide what I could do with it.  After some thought I decided to use it as a country-inspired house number display.  | This post contains affiliate links |

The milk can had already been re-painted at one point and while the green paint and the rust spots definitely gave it a nice patina, I decided to clean it up and repaint it to make it a little cleaner and kid-friendly.  

First step was to clean up all the loose paint.  I used a wire brush, metal scraper, and rough-grit sandpaper to clean it up and make a good base for the new paint.  

Once it was ready I used Rust-Oleum Professional High Performance Protective Enamel in matte black and gave it two coats, letting dry about 24 hours between coats.  For the stencil I made a point to choose a font and size that looked like it belonged there - that maybe the farmer numbered all his milk cans and this was just one in the lineup.  The stencils I used were from the Martha Stewart Monogram Serif Stencil Set, trimming the letters down and taping them together with painters tape.  I had used the "o" previously for another project.. hence why it's brown.  

I used white acrylic paint to stencil it and filled the gaps in the stencil with a small brush after.  I think the milk can came out pretty cute and adds the perfect country touch!

Product Links
|  Martha Stewart Monogram Serif Stencil Set  |

Happy Fourth of July!

Wishing everyone a very safe and happy Fourth - God Bless America! 

We're taking it easy at home today and avoiding the crazy crowds in town, hope you're all enjoying your Fourth with family and friends!  

Nûby Review: Splash n' Catch Bathtime Fishing Set

Today I'm reviewing Nûby's Splash n' Catch Bathtime Fishing Set.  I was so excited to receive this as our little one loves "catching" everything in a net lately.  In fact, one of her favorite things to do is throw the mesh bag for her blocks (which is pretty small) on top of our black lab's back and shriek with delight that she captured her, it's pretty adorable.  | This post contains affiliate links and an honest review of products provided to us by Nûby |

The Splash n' Catch is recommended for ages 18+ months and comes with a fishing net and four colorful sea animals that can be linked together.  It's BPA-free and, according to Nûby also PVC-free, which is very important to us.  Miss M loves catching the animals and taking them in and out of the net.  She's also been playing with this toy out of the tub and has been enjoying putting all kinds of things into the net - small blocks, her snacks, a shoe, etc.  

This toy is great for developing hand-eye coordination and teaching your little one some colors.  The one small flaw of this toy that we found is our little one can't link and unlink the animals together on her own, but maybe with time she will be able to.  

The Splash n' Catch Fishing Set would also be a great toy to bring outside and use in the kiddie pool or water table and I know we'll definitely be bringing it outside this summer.  

Miss M loved putting her other bath toys in the net too (pictured are Nûby's Bath Letters and Numbers).  

- I received this item for review from Nûby but all opinions expressed are my own.  Please see our full Disclosure Policy for more information -   

Nûby's Splash n' Catch Bathtime Fishing Set can be purchased at various retailers including Kohl's and Amazon.  

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Yankee Magazine Instagram Feature

One of my photos is Yankee Magazine's latest #mynewenglandsummer feature on Instagram! 

Skiff Repurose into Sandbox (Hopefully)

This weekend we passed this old skiff on the side of a dirt road with a sign that said "FREE." I immediately thought it could make an amazingly cool sandbox for our daughter! 

We got it home and under closer inspection it is in pretty rough shape. The hull is cracked (not a big deal because we'll be drilling holes in the bottom for drainage), the wood trim around the rim is super-rotten, and there's some exposed rusty screws where one of the oarlocks has broken off. We're hoping we can fix the trim, get the rusty screws out, and get it clean, safe, and repainted - complete with a name.  Then we'll fill it with sand and make a cover to keep the neighborhood cat from conducting his "business" in it. 

So there's still a lot of work ahead!  I'm hoping we can make it work, it would definitely make the coolest sandbox around.