A Little Less Of Me

After a week of Paleo  I am down 4 pounds and I am feeling great!!! What What!!!! I would say 5 because when I weighed myself this morning I was down to 122.3 from 127, but I am afraid it was a fluke or water weight. I wish I had taken some before and after pictures, but for a frame of reference here is a picture from May when I restarted working out and running and i can already tell a difference from then to now. My upper stomach, arms, and legs are the areas I can currently notice a difference and of course the lower mama belly is the #1 area I need to work on, but give me some time and we will get there.

So 7 days of Paleo and I am feeling great! I will admit the the first few days I was pretty hungry and ate all day long, but everything I was eating was protein or fruits and veggies so I was still sticking to my clean diet and I still lost weight! I have learned to carry almonds and and apple pretty much everywhere I go just in case I get hungry and nothing is available that I want or can eat. Basically I look at my new eating habits this way. I will eat healthy and naturally as much as I possibly can, but I will not beat myself up for a Treat Meal (I don't want to call it a Cheat Meal because that sounds so negative) and if nothing 'Paleo" is offered I will make the healthiest choices out of what is available. I actually had two treat meals this past weekend with some of my favorite Alternative Pizza (Olive Oil, Mozzarella, Crushed Basil, Garlic, Fresh Tomato) Friday night and then Sunday morning whilst celebrating my girl's half birthday I enjoyed a New Orleans doughnut from our favorite Donut Shop. I felt fine after the pizza, but the after affects of Sunday's doughnut showed me why I have chose to eat clean. 

It is funny to me that I have created a Paleo Pinterest Board because I could honestly just pin everything to my regular boards because everything I am pinning is just normal food. There isn't anything "Diet" about it because it is foods we would eat every day and since we never have   bread with our meals except spaghetti I am not really changing how I eat I am just making a conscious effort to eat healthier. And now that Brent has been diagnosed with Acid Reflux I guess I need to start planning out all of his meals also.

I haven't really started my meal calendars again, but I plan to definitely make one for February. This week we are keeping things pretty simple with some ground turkey, fish, and chicken. Last night we started with Turkey Tacos or Taco Salad for myself. Tonight Brent grilled some of our TeamD special Italian Dressing Chicken. basically you marinate some chicken in italian dressing and grill it. He had a baked potato as his side dish while I made some home made sweet potato fries. i cut up 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, poured a little vegetable oil on them (We were out of olive oil), sprinkled a little salt, a touch of sugar, and some paprika and baked on 450 until crispyish. I would probably cook them low and slow next time because they got a little burnt, but I honestly like my food a little overdone (fish and chicken need to be dry. Strange I know).

Like I said before these changes haven't been difficult because these are 2 normal meals for us to eat. We don't usually have any bread with our meals except for some garlic bread on spaghetti night (I will save all of that for a Treat Meal). I have only had to review my snack and breakfast choices and I am enjoying the choices I have been making. Instead of freezer waffles I have eggs and a grapefruit or turkey bacon for breakfast and for my snacks I have been eating fresh fruits and nuts. I just made an AMAZING fruit salad last night by dumping all of the berries (black, raspberry, and blueberry), grapes, and apples into a bowl and mixed together some honey and lemon juice. It is AMAZING! Next time I want to try lime juice for a little change. I am also giving this Jillian Michael's Bloat Drink to see if it gives me and even bigger kick start. I am actually enjoying some right now and it is pretty tasty and is a nice substitute to my sugar free juice packets.

So here's to another week eating clean and getting healthy.
Wish us luck and pray we stay safe during tonight's big storms. 

Patience Is A Virtue

My dad used to tell me this all of the time and still does and let me tell you I am still not a patient person and neither is my child. She is also very stubborn (wonder where she gets that from??)

We spent most of the afternoon doing this and I know she isn't feeling good with 1 front tooth and a molar coming in at the same time, but I am absolutely exhausted and was ready for her to go to bed and I never say that!

Now if we could get past the potty training hurdle of saying she pooped when she has peed in her diaper and then freaking out because she is wet! So go on the potty kid! We are going through more diapers now than before potty training because she hates being wet. Oh well potty training problems right? 

Now I am just praying she sleeps through these storms that are about to roll through.

Oh Happy Day

Today I payed off my credit card. Sadly nothing fun was ever purchased with this card except school stuff and large purchases that were inevitable and had to be payed. Now we can start paying even more on Brent's card (more school) and school loans and our tax return will go towards Brent's card. That means there will be no vacays for us this year, but that's life and part of being a grown up and the closer we can get to being debt free besides the eventual new cars we will have to purchase and our mortgage the less stress there will be on our little family. 

Pay-le-o

I have been reading up on how I could start eating even healthier than I already do. I kept thinking how can I not be losing weight? I eat so healthy (except at school where there are ALWAYS cakes, cookies, candy!) First off I know that my lack of exercise these past few months has really been hurting me and I can always eat better. A few posts back I think I mentioned starting Weight Watchers again, but I wanted to try something a little different. 

You see I am all about eating good healthy foods and I naturally eat this way most of the time. I don't crave sweets (except certain days of the month), I don't drink sodas, and I eat a lot of fruits and veggies so I wondered what else I could do to make my body even healthier. I don't like to "Diet" and that is why I love WW, but I just couldn't get myself started translating my points and each time I tried I always seemed to go way over, but This sounded interesting to me and kind of made sense and I pretty much already ate like this except for the occasional sweet or cracker so I thought what the heck.

Wednesday I actually gave it a whirl and I ate pretty good except for 1 thick and fluffy Eggo waffle. I was definitely not awake yet and after eating it I smacked my head like Homer Simpson saying "Doh" The rest of the day I ate Vegetable soup, salad, an apple, mixed nuts (they had peanuts, but for my first day I let it slide because I was all out of raw almonds which is what I usually eat ), carrots and hummus (not paleo), a few slices of Boar's Head lunch meat which is some of the best meat you can get and I will be eating on lettuce wraps, tilapia, corn on the cob, quonia, and lima beans (some sources say no legumes, but I would rather have legumes than any sugar!) That is a typical day for me anyways and the only thing I need to change is my breakfast choices and I need to find a substitute for my morning coffee like agave nectar or unprocessed Stevia so we will work on that.

Now life would be boring without ANY treats so occasionally like any well balanced lifestyle I will definitely have treats every now and then because life would suck and who wants to live a life without any pizza or cheesecake, but if I can choose to eat healthier on a more daily basis then I am happy. There may be a few times something slips in this week like a little more dairy or white potato because I forget and until I get a sugar substitute I will be having sugar in my coffee because like I said before we only live once and if you can't enjoy anything than life would just suck. I don't think coffee is an awful vice to have especially since I would rather have plain ole coffee over anything with whip cream and caramel (bleh!).

Basically I am getting rid of white potatoes and eating more sweet potatoes (I like those better anyways), Substituting Quonia for rice (Yummy!!), getting rid of sugars (Better for my awful teeth anyways), and cutting out carbohydrates which I don't eat much of anyways. I am really excited to get some almond flour and trying This recipe.

Yesterday was my real official first Paleo day and I believe I did pretty good/well whatever. Eating healthy is so easy if you just make a conscious effort and keep healthy foods in your house and in your giant Rachel Ray lunchbox. Besides the Splenda in my coffee (I refuse to buy expensive agave nectar until i finish this big ass bag of Splenda so for now my body can handle a little sugar substitute) and my hummus (I am finishing it off because no one else in my house will eat it and it will go to waste) I had nothing processed.

 Yesterday I ate
Breakfast- eggs for breakfast followed by my usual morning banana and strawberry smoothie (made with ice, honey, and water. I usually add a handful of fresh spinach, but I was out that day)
Snack- almonds, carrots, and hummus, grapes, apple
Lunch- tilapia, corn, lima beans (not officially paleo, but I am keeping legumes)
Dinner- chicken stir fry with broccoli and squash

Today I ate
Breakfast-Scrambled eggs with a grapefruit half followed by a fruit and spinach smoothie
Snack- Almonds, carrots and hummus, grapes, apple
Dinner- Taco soup (not officially paleo, but I am keeping legumes)
Dessert- Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Since starting my workouts again and even healthier eating this week I have already lost 1 pound and I have a ton of extra energy. I like eating Paleo and I look forward to being a better healthier me in this new year.

Looking Back At 2012

Now that we are well into 2013 I though it would be fun to take a look back at each month. This past year has been like walking through a dream and now that life seems to be returning back to normal it is almost like we have forgotten everything that happened. Everyone is on their way to recovery, but we still have a ways to go with a few added sprinkles on top. I pray that 2013 brings clarity and strength to many situations and I  know everything will work itself out.

2013 will be a bigger and better year I just know it and I welcome it!

January 

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Jump On Board Teachers Shout Out

If you are a teacher, mom, human, and you have a minute you must go check out my Awesome MIL's Teacher Pay Teacher site! She also has a super cute blog she runs with a friend called Jump On Board Teachers  you should definitely follow if you are an elementary school teacher who likes blogs.

If you are not a teacher you may not know how much work actually goes into lesson planning. Yes we have books that give us ideas, but almost everything we use we make ourselves and that takes a lot of time. From planning the lesson, to creating all of the projects, to creating examples and getting all of the supplies needed for each each activity takes me almost an entire week to prepare for the next week which means while I am teaching that weeks lesson I have to find time to make everything I need for the following week. In 1 week we do 5 "jobs" or afternoon activities that include math , art , writing, and reading activities, etc. and then almost every day we are doing some sort of activity usually an art project that goes along with our theme. That means in 1 week we are completing 10-15 activities and with 19 students that takes some time to  do.

Now that we have that out of the way enter the Teacher Pay Teacher site where you can find tons of Lesson plan Ideas and purchase already created Lessons which can make a teachers life much much easier! Now I would toot my MIL's horn anyways because I love her, but I truly honestly LOVE her lessons!! She only started telling a few months ago and she has already created 6 multi page lessons. And when I say her lesson are complete they have everything from cute original stories to write the room activities.

If you have a moment go check her out.

 MLK Junior Celebration

Winter Wonderland Unit

Hickory Dickory Dock Time Lesson

New Year's Eve Telling Time Lesson

Snowman 5 Senses Unit

Zoo Themed Valentine Literacy Fun

Better

I actually didn't run, but I may as well have. I tried my first cardio mix class and LOVED it! I loved how it wasn't a step workout or a kick boxing workout or an intervals workout is was all 3 mixed together! 

I don't care if I get skinny, but I do care that I feel good!

Hey There!

I don't do this for votes, but it is fun to see if people actually read the mess I write so if you want you can go to Top Baby Blogs and send us a vote!

Muwah!

Thanks

Roxanne and Kinley

Too Fast

I knew things had changed after asking my girl to sit down on the couch and she responded with a pretty resounding "No" as she continued to run and jump thinking herself oh so hilarious.  As shocked as I was by her answer I decided to give her a choice just like I do my babies at school. I calmly said "You have 2 choices. You can sit down or you will have to get down. Sit down please". She of course looked at me and laughed as she continued jumping so I nicely picked her up and placed her on the floor. She wasn't happy and she may not have completely understood my words, but she understood "I am not supposed to stand/jump on the couch and if I do I have to get down". That conversation right there people absolutely broke my heart because it suddenly made me realize my baby isn't a baby anymore and she actually understands what I am saying to her and can respond and make choices. Mama mind blown!! 

It is so strange how these milestones always catch me so off guard. I know she is growing up and soaking everything up like a sponge, but it is too much for this Mama to accept that her baby isn't a baby anymore. Now don't get excited about me having another baby anytime soon because that won't happen for quite some time no matter how many people keep telling me we need to hurry up and get on it before she gets too old. I am enjoying my time with my girl way too much right now and then just the thought of being pregnant scares the ever living daylights out of me. Plus I know myself and my limits and our family is doing really good with where we are at right now and we want to wait a little while longer.

For 1 thing I did not enjoy being pregnant one bit. I think I can honestly say I hated every aspect of it except the end result and I am not looking forward to doing it again any time soon. We actually had to rethink our #2 timeline because we always said when Mckinley was potty trained we would start trying again. We were thinking she would be 100% done by 3 so if we started trying by her third birthday we would have #2 a little before she was 4 which sounded great to me. Well as you may or may not know Mckinley has actually started potty training and we are no where near being fully trained, but getting them to go is half the battle so we are at least half way there and the child isn't even 2 yet!We honestly didn't expect her to start the potty process so early so we retract our previous statement because no one especially me wants to see this anytime soon!

Potty training is such a huge milestone in my book and that got me thinking about other milestones my girl has achieved and since I am not doing a great job keeping up with her monthly posts I thought it would be fun to document where she is right now before she is a year and a half!

Mckinley at 17 Almost 18 Months
We are still rolling along with this whole potty training thing. I try to stay on top of # 2 since I love not having to spray out too many diapers anymore, but I am not pushing #1. If she goes she goes and we celebrate each time she sits on the potty. We sit, wipe, flush, YAY! I don't want her to ever feel like pottying is a "bad thing" by pushing her if she isn't ready and just like everything else we try to follow her cues for when she is ready for the next step. She does a pretty good job telling me when she has to go poop (bend over, grab crotch, yell I POOP!) and I scoop her up and we run to the potty and most times she will do this when she just has to tee tee (Yup we say tee tee and i may or may not have said this when I have had to go). I usually just say "It is time to go potty" or "let's go potty" and she usually enthusiastically runs to the bathroom where ever we are, but every now and then usually in the morning she just does not want to go and will fuss, but it is usually pretty easy to get her in the bathroom and sitting down. Now actually getting her to go potty is sometimes another story. Sometimes she has already gone in her diaper/trainer, but we sit anyways just because. We actually just got her new Best Bottom Training Pants which we are using with our Small Best Bottom Liners and we are absolutely LOVING them! They make the process of going potty so much easier because we don't have to take her diapers on and off. I am itching to buy another pair or 2, but we will wait until we are really 100% training. We are also loving our Arm and Hammer Potty Seat that goes on the actual potty because she can't get down on her own. Maybe once we get her Trainers and she can pull her own pants down we can pull out the ole Froggy Potty again.

We don't do potty treats, but our sweet babysitter likes to make my life miserable fun by sending home suckers in Kinley's bag so she gets one every now and then for special treats and what's better than toilet time with a lolly.

We no longer have a high chair and have officially moved into a booster seat at the table. Mckinley is doing pretty good eating off of her divided trays from Target until she is done eating and starts sliding her tray all over the table. She is also doing pretty good with using a fork to feed herself, but she usually gets tired of it or wants to eat faster than it allows and starts shoveling the food in with her hands. The spoon is another story, but we have our Squooshi Reusable Food Pouches which make those foods much easier to eat.

Mckinley is 100% my child when it comes to her demeanor, eating habits, and her speech. What can I say my girl is a talker. Brent and I sat down the other day and wrote down all of the words/phrases she consistently says.   She will repeat pretty much anything you ask her to say now, but these are the words she actually says.

Hot
Cold
Up
Down
Please
Ball
Yes
Okay
No
Doggie
Shoe
Sock
Hat
Car
Achoo
Paci
Daddy
Mama
Grandpa(we are still working on this one)
Ya Ya
Jen Jen
Julie
Milk
Water
Bite
Cheese
Sit
Hey
Elmo
Cookie
Nose
Eye
Counts 1, 2, 3
The letter Q when we sing the ABC's
Open
Stuck
Boo
Splash
Mine
Shoowee (not really a word, but she says it a lot)
Stinky
Uh oh
Thank You
Go Night Night
Brush Teeth
I Poop
All Done
Where's Daddy?
Tee Tee
Itsy Bitsy
Kiss Kiss

 That 's about 50 words she says on a daily basis! Not bad for a peanut.

She is still a fantastic eater and sometimes I side eye her at her food choices at particular times of the day. For example, the other night for dinner she had black beans, shoe peg corn, creamy garlic pasta, edemame, and a bite of steak and after barely touching her delicious waffle this morning she begged for black beans! She is still iffy on chewy meats because she doesn't have the molars just yet to chew it, but she loves those Perdue lightly breaded chicken strips and chicken patties and her ground turkey meat so we can always find something for her to eat. She would eat a spicy black bean burger over a real burger any day, but as long as she is eating a healthy balanced diet I am happy. Usually what ends up happening is whatever Mama or Daddy is eating she wants and I am not complaining because she has greatly cut my portion sizes which I think is the main reason I have lost a few lbs. so I am not complaining about my good eater.

We are kind of sort of in 18 month clothes, but the curse of the shortness means we can still fit in most 12 month pants and we might still rock 1 pair of 9 month jeggings because they look like little hipster skinny jeans and yes I know we aren't hipsters, but they are just so cute on her fluffy bum. My mom called me the other day to ask me to go through a box of smocked dresses to pull out some jumpers to bring with us when we came over in case she wanted to change her when she was keeping her. Needless to say my mother doesn't care for how I dress my child, but if her choice in Easter dress says anything I am ok in my decisions and my girl is always clean, cute, and comfortable with a big giant bow to top it all off.

I just cut Kinley's bangs for the third time the other day while she sat on the potty and Daddy was holding her hands down which caused a few shrieks, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. We actually already had her first haircut at Ya Ya's house a few weeks ago and yes we saved the baby mullet she cut off and yes Ya Ya you were right it does look much better since we cut it.

Sleeping sucks right now. It is very hit or miss and some nights I feel like we have a new born again. Ok it's not as bad as a newborn, but when you are used to sleeping all night and then your child starts waking up once or twice a night you feel like a walking zombie. I would rather just stay up all night then have interrupted sleep. I know all of this is because she has molars coming in and she goes back down after a little milk or water, but I need my good sleeper back. These teeth need to hurry it on up and come on in. I can actually feel a big ole molar on the bottom right and I am not looking forward to next week because I know we won't be sleeping for a few night. Thankfully we have a brand new bottle of infant pain reliever and Hyland's tablets and gel ready and waiting for any middle of the night screaming fits.

I can't believe we are so close to the One and a Half mark! She will be closer to 2 than 1 in just a few days!!!!!!!!!! That is just too much for my brain to process right now. Even though I will be sad to be celebrating this milestone it will make it a little better since we have decided we will be celebrating all 1/2 birthdays by a visiting our favorite Donut shop down the street. Mckinley actually had her first doughnut yesterday at Dunkin Donuts when they gave her her own little jelly filled munchkin which she took a bite or 2 of and then promptly started throwing around, but it was pretty cute seeing her holding her own mini doughnut.

No matter how sad I am that my baby is quickly turning into a real grown up person I am getting pretty excited to start planning another birthday. And I am so glad I already found my Inspiration Piece to work from

and Kristi at Best Impressions Paperie has already started working on the invitations and they are ABSOLUTELY PRECIOUS! I am so glad to have these 2 things out of the way and since this year things will be much simpler I have most of the hard work done.

Man writing all of this down makes me realize how much my girl has changed from this time last year to now.

Oh my wild child how I Love and adore you!

Time To Dance

I haven't been around very much, but that is a good thing. Life has seemed a little more important than blogging these days. I have really been enjoying this stage with my girl (except maybe last night when I banished her into the bedroom with her Daddy) and cooking has actually become enjoyable so instead of taking 100,000,000,000 pictures  (I am still taking 100,000,000,000 pictures. I am just not stopping to post them) I have been working on being present in the here and now.

Shockingly my house may not be any cleaner or organized with all of this new found time, but there have been many more dance parties around these parts and there should always be more time for dance parties.

Squooshi Review

We have never been a squeeze pouch family since I made all of Mckinley's food when she started eating it. I  just always liked the idea of knowing exactly what was in her food and I hated the idea of all of those plastic wrappers, but I loved how easy and portable they seemed. Then the day cam when I came across Squooshi Reusable Food Pouches and the heavens opened and the angels sang! You see my girl LOVES to eat and she eats almost anything and everything, but she really LOVES soups, yogurt, and apple sauce and if you are a parent you know these are foods that aren't easy to self feed, but now that we have our Squooshi bags I don't have to sit and feed her every single bite or hose her down after a meal. She can do it all by herself!! And with her growing need for independence this is a very big deal.

I actually contacted the Squooshi company and expressed interest in finding out more about their products. A few days later I was enthusiastically contacted back about how excited they were for us to review their product and our Squooshi bags were sent. Now I know there are other reusable pouches out there, but what really drew me to the Squooshi product was that they were created by a real live mom and designed by her dad. I mean come on how cute is that!! I would love to work with my dad, but I am not a genius baby product inventor so I will leave the creating to them.

About a week after contacting Squooshi I skipped to the mailbox and found this awaiting me.

And inside were these Adorable little guys! I couldn't wait for Mckinley to test them out and I immediately gave them  good wash with warm soapy water (after snapping some pictures of course) and filled one up to see how the little lady liked her new bags.

For our first attempt with food pouches we went with No Sugar Added Applesauce and it was definitely a hit. Next we attempted some home made Roasted Tomato Soup. I let the soup get lukewarm before pouring a little into the bag because I didn't want it to 1. burn the girl and 2. melt the bag and it worked perfectly!

She absolutely LOVED the freedom of eating applesauce on the go.

Tomato Soup! Yum!

My favorite part of our Squooshi Pouch is how portable they are. We usually send 1 to daycare everyday and if we will need a snack while out running errands we always throw one in our snack bag because everyone loves some applesauce while shopping at Target right??

Now the only problem we have had so far is that we have found that dancing too vigorously whilst holding and eating out of a Squooshi pouch can make for a messy wall and carpet! What can I say my girl loves to dance and when she gets going there is just no controlling her! Seriously I can't find anything wrong! They are easy to fill, they don't leak, are portable, easy to wash (we just use our bottle brush which fits perfectly down in the zipper end and I like to use tiny little bottle brushes to clean the caps and the neck of the pouch),  and Mckinley loves saying Rwarrrrrrrr every time I pull out the Lion bag.

We love our Squooshi Pouchesand highly recommend you check them out if you:
Make your own baby food
Are always on the go
Like reusable products
Have a food pouch addict and feel like you are spending a fortune on purchasing them every other day
Want to make your life easier

Thank you Squooshi for letting us try out your awesome product!  

Me

Tomorrow I will take a little time for me. Not mama time, but Roxanne time. I intend on getting my moneys worth out of this renewed gym membership. For $39 a month I plan on hitting my old friend up at least 3-4 days a week. Whether I am joining a class or running/walking on the treadmill I will be adding this back into my routine. 

Oh how I miss that extra burst of  energy you get as you are walking out all red faced and sweaty. This has been a long time coming and it is sad it has taken me so long. Now that I have stated this on the internet I have to actually do it!

Step I at 9:30 I intend for you to kick my butt but I will be there!

It's The Coolest

Please imagine me saying this in my best Adam Sandler voice.

You see I have these friends (yes y'all are considered friends in TeamD's household) and they own a pretty cool company that I kind of like called Anna & Eve. They sell some pretty super awesome products that we have been using since Mckinley was only a few months old and I don't put my stamp of approval on many things, but let's just say I am ready for them to come up with some new stuff because everything they make really works. We first connected with Anna & Eve when I came across The Swaddle Strap as a desperate first time mama. The Swaddle Strap is the most ingenious and baby Houdini proof swaddle that is perfect for babies who do not like their feet swaddled, get hot at night, or can escape from even the tightest late night swaddle session. Imagine being able to change your child's diaper in the middle of the night without un swaddling them or completely undressing them! I know! Your mind is blown right now! I honestly truly believe that the Swaddle Strap is the reason Mckinley started sleeping through the night and saved this poor tired Mama's sanity.

Mckinley has always been a stubborn persistent child, hated sleep sacks, and needed her arms swaddled because she would fling them around and wake herself up all night long, but from the day we swaddled her with the Swaddle Strap she started sleeping for hours at a time. I wrote more about it here, here, here, here, and here if you want to know a little more about it and why we love it so much.

But enough about The Swaddle Strap because they have finally come out with their second product called The Life Changer and it will literally change your life!!!It's a darn traveling changing station that holds everything you could possibly need for a day's worth of diapering even cloth diapering! 

I have been meaning to write this post since the day I received my Lifechanger, but this Christmas break has been INSANE! between celebrating Christmas 6 times (In laws, Husbands extended family, The 3 of TeamD , My parents, My extended family, and lastly with my Dad's side) and a little lady who loves saying she needs to potty every 5 seconds and then wanting me to sing Itsy Witsy (Itsy Bitsy Spider) and Inkle Inkle (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) 20 times I am worn out, but I am finally ready to spill the beans.

You might be wondering what is so special about this diaper bag and if you are like me and use cloth diapers you might have had a difficult time finding just the right bag for all of your fluff. Regular diaper bags just didn't have enough room or carry everything that I needed. I can admit it and I am ok with it, but I am an over packer. Always have been. Always will be. I must be prepared for any and everything that might happen and we ahve been very thankful I am kind of crazy many many times, but this makes packing a diaper bag with extra diaper components a little more challenging. I found a Vera Bradley tote actually worked quite well for us and was very easy to carry around. The only downside was that the tote bag was not created to be carried on a stroller and we have struggled with this.

Enter the Lifechanger into our life. Now if you know me you know I don't have many nice things and I count this bag as one of my most prized possessions because it is that cool! And if you know me you might know I am a teensie eensie bit of a germaphobe. Not wash your hands 5 times germaphobe, but not liking public bathrooms germaphobe. Enter my precious child and the public bathroom changing table! Then enter the day I had to change my precious monkey on the floor of a drugstore backroom because some chick decided it was more important to chill out in the bathroom playing on her iPhone while 3 other people waited outside. If only I had had my Lifechanger none of this would have been a  problem. Now that I am the proud owner of the coolest diaper bag out there I never have to worry about this problem any more. I also don't have to fumble with a fold out changing table. I can literally hold my girl on one hip, set my bag down, unzip it and have her strapped in and ready to be changed in 5 seconds flat. I wish I had more pictures of us in action using our Lifechanger, but alas I am usually changing my girls poopy pants and Brent can't come into the ladies room to snap a quick pic, but I did get some great pictures of how we use it at home. Per Anna's suggestions I keep our Lifechanger on top of our changing table and I like to keep my supplies for that day inside the pockets making it easy to reach and then if we need to leave it is all already packed up. And yes I can fit an entire days worth of cloth diapers in it plus all of my over packer stuff I feel like I might need (3 chapsticks, my camera, etc).

We also like to use it on the floor while at home. Mckinley LOVES the darn thing so much she will actually climb into it all by herself and lay down to be changed.

Here is my 1 picture I have been able to snap out and about using our Lifechanger. We visited Zoo Lights with some friends and I actually had people stop and ask me what kind of bag we had while I was changing Mckinley's diaper. I was very happy to tell them "It's called The Lifechanger and it is made by Anna & Eve thank you very much!"

What I love most about this bag is how easy it is to use and how comfortable I feel changing my girl in a yucky public bathroom. I have also come to find how many restaurants and other establishments cough cough STARBUCKS! Don't offer changing tables!!!! I will be writing a letter to one or more of these places letting them know how disappointed I am that they do not offer these and other amenities to people with littles. Your lucky I carry a travel high chair with me every where I go cough cough STARBUCKS! 

I love how easy it is to access everything I need even when it is closed. If I know I will need something handy like a cloth to wipe a snotty nose I just throw it right on top of the bag and all I have to do is unzip a little and there it is. I also love the 2 outside pockets. The little stretchy pocket fits some sippy cups, but I usually snap a separate cooler bag on any bag I carry because I like always having some water, milk, and a  snack or 2 or 3(over packer remember) no matter where we go. If you have ever been stuck on the interstate for over an hour with no extra bottles and very few diapers you would understand why I do what I do.

I love how the Lifechanger hangs so easily on every stroller we own (regular, running, umbrella) and I especially love the actual stroller straps which I was missing from my other diaper bag/tote.

I think the #1 thing I love and remember I am a girl is the super de duper de awesomely precious zig zag pattern my bag came in. I love it so so much and I feel really put together when I carry it and I know other Mama's a looking at me saying what a stylish and great mom I must be all because I carry this super cute bag.

I would highly highly recommend this product to anyone even if you don't use cloth diaper. I will be honest and say we did have to use regular diapers for a month or 2 before we learned how to rid our precious cloth in the Dreaded Yeast Battle of 2012. If you are a new or experienced mama and you are searching for a new diaper bag please pretty please go check out Anna & Eve and do yourself a favor and look no further then the Lifechanger you can thank me later.