Target Diaper Bag Transition – from Baby to Toddler.

This has been my only diaper bag and now has transitioned perfectly into a toddler bag. I received this bag off my baby registry list from Target.

I LOVE it and I still get compliments on it.

****AFFILIATED LINKS **** -DISCLOSURE- PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT SOME OF THE LINKS IN THIS POST ARE AFFILIATED LINKS AND IF YOU GO THROUGH THEM TO MAKE A PURCHASE I WILL EARN A COMMISSION. KEEP IN MIND THAT I LINK THESE COMPANIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS BECAUSE OF THEIR QUALITY AND NOT BECAUSE OF THE COMMISSION I RECEIVE FROM YOUR PURCHASES.

I am a hands free backpack type of girl. I’ve always enjoyed backpack or crossbody purses. I think backpack diaper bags are great for babies AND toddlers because your hands are completely free. You are not having to tug at the tote constantly falling off your arm.

So how did a transition?

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO REVIEW.

This bag worked great for Milo as a baby. I could haul a bunch of stuff – diapers wipes, extra clothes, blankets, nursing cover, breast pump AND parts (I was an exclusive pumper – I pumped for 11 months! Click here to read my journey).

Now, since I am not having to carry all that stuff my backpack is light and I can easily fit other things in there.

I love that this backpack has two separate zip pockets on the outside. One is my pocket. I keep feminine products, chapstick, hand sanitizer, and other things in that pocket for myself.

The other zip pocket I use for quick grab things like car keys or pacifiers.

The inside of this bag is large and has a wide opening. There is a long pocket on the inside for Milo’s changing pad. However, since I hope to start potty training soon, I won’t be needing that much longer.

I have found that the long pocket actually works great for papers, crafts, or projects from church. It is the perfect paper storage if you need a place to put papers while you are out and about.

I currently carry and extra change of clothes, 4-5 diapers, wipes, face masks, disposable bibs, and maybe a toy in there.

I just throw my wallet in when we need to run an errand.

There are two pockets for bottles on the side of the bag. If he needs milk, I have a pocket for his milk and his water sippy. Those outside side pockets also work well to put your phone in for an easy grab.

I love this backpack and it works great for my family. I do plan to reuse this backpack when we have another little one.

Oh! One last thing! ;). This backpack has stayed perfectly clean except some minor crumbs on the inside. I have had this bag now for 16 months and I have never had to wipe down the outside!

If you guys have any questions just leave them below! Have a wonderful Friyay!

~ Gracefully Fashionable Britt

November 6, 2020November 5, 2020

Proverbs 31: A Virtuous Woman – Styled in apparel, words, and actions.

Hey guys! I am so happy to finally be completing my Proverbs 31 virtuous woman study. It has been a year since I last uploaded a blog about Proverbs 31. Milo wasn’t even born yet with the last one I wrote. Now he’s 16 months old!

Massive facepalm moment but I was busy about learning how to be a mom. Then goodness gracious hasn’t 2020 been everything but normal! 😉

But now, here I am, ready to finish. So today I want to blog about verses 25-27.

This verse is so short but has so much meaning behind it.

How many of us when we get up in the morning are like, “oh now let me put on my strength, and where is my dignity… the washing machine maybe!”

Now I understand that those are not physical items we can put on. But what if we tried to today.

Our strength is from the Lord.

What if we prayed every morning for the Lord to clothe us with His strength.

She is also clothed in dignity. Now dignity means “the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.”

Another word for it could be clothed in righteousness. Not our own righteousness of course, but Christ.

I recently have been trying to memorize the Bible verse Galatians 3:27.

When I think about getting dressed in the morning, how much more would it change my appearance knowing I was to be clothed with God’s strength and Christ righteousness.

Now, it might not change my clothes so much because I understand those days of sweatpants for stay at home moms.

But it would change my attitude towards positive thinking, knowing I have God’s strength to get me through this day. It would change my “glow” knowing I should strive to be a reflection of Christ to my son and husband.

Whew that little part is a lot to take in… I am still working through these realizations myself. But the verse doesn’t end there.

“She laughs at the time to come.”

Another version says she “rejoices in time to come.”

Some commentaries mentioned how this could be talking about the end time and her faith in God. I think it somewhat has to do with now.

Even if “time to come” means tomorrow, two weeks from now, 5 years from now, or the last days on earth, her faith is in God.

I strive to continue to build my faith to be like this verse.

I like how it says she laughs or rejoices in Proverbs 31:25. She is still showing womanly beauty with her smile, while showing confidence in her Lord to guide the rest of her days.

As a stay at home mom, this one is a big accomplishment. My son is only 16 months and I already can tell he makes my temper flair some times. I can only imagine when he’s ten.

“She opens her mouth with wisdom.” Now, you don’t have to be a scholar of some sort to have wisdom. I was always taught wisdom comes from experience. That’s why a lot of older people have more of it. 😉

I pray as a mother, I don’t forget the importance of the simple words of wisdom. Words I say everyday can actually be pretty wise – “Brush your teeth.” “Clean up.” “Don’t touch the hot stove.”

All of those things actually have consequences. Don’t brush your teeth – cavities. Don’t clean your room – even bigger mess to clean later. Touch the hot stove – burn.

More important simple words of wisdom are – “Let’s pray about that.” “What does the Bible say.” “Jesus loves you.”

May I always remember the importance of simple wisdom.

“The teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

Another version says, “gives instruction with kindness.”

How many times do I bark instruction to my family? Too many times to count sadly. What if I just changed my tone and spoke with more kindness.

I know on days when I try I feel so much better, and my family seems happier.

So everyday before you are about to repeat yourself for the tenth time to your kids AND husband ( 😉 ) breathe AND speak with kindness.

I actually like the NLT version a little better – “She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.”

“She carefully watches everything in her household.” This is something I have been striving to do. I have really picked up an interest in traditional homemaking. There are several great YouTube videos and blogs with lots of great ideas.

But most importantly, I have been realizing my home is a blessing and a job. The Lord has blessed me with a home to take care of. While many of the chores are not my favorite thing to do, they are something that God has made me a steward of.

“Suffers nothing from laziness.” This is another thing I have been challenging myself with. I often tend to put things off because I want to watch a show, check Instagram, or finally have a moment to myself.

I have challenged myself to do as much as I can now. If I have 5 minutes – wash Milo’s sippy cups, if I have 15 minutes – the bathroom actually takes a shorter amount of time to clean than you think. 😉

Dust or fold laundry while you watch a YouTube.

By applying this to my life, my home has been easier to clean, and I am actually getting a lot of things accomplished.

I encourage everyone to write a schedule for yourself, check yourself to see if you are being lazy in anyway.

I understand as a mom, somedays you just need to lay on the couch and snuggle your teething toddler. But someday’s toddlers are the perfect companion to tag along around the house while doing chores. 🙂

I feel like I could write blog post on each of these verses alone. I hope we can continue to dwell on these verses the rest of the week.

Remember

Put on some strength and dignity.

Smile with confidence from the Lord.

Speak with wisdom and kindness.

Don’t be lazy. 😉

~Gracefully Fashionable Britt

October 30, 2020October 28, 2020

What We Eat in a Day – Vegetarian & Gluten Free with my 15 month old.

Hey guys! I wanted to share an update on how Milo has been doing since becoming a toddler. I know a lot of people struggle to figure out what their kid likes to eat. I feel like we have a more unique eating style since we are vegetarian and gluten free. I wanted to share ideas for breakfast, lunch, supper, and snacks! And you get to see a little bit of our day. 😉

CLICK HERE to watch my vlog of our day!

I normally wake up before everyone else. I eat an egg muffin around 6am before I start work. You can watch my video here, to learn how I make my muffin! It’s delicious. I make a dozen on Monday and they last all week. My husband and Milo eat them too!
Milo drinks milk in between 6:30- 7:30am.

We then eat breakfast around 8:30. Milo usually eats either an egg muffin or some oatmeal with some fruit puree mixed in.
I drink a smoothie. I mix one cup of blueberries, chop a banana, and add enough milk to cover the berries and banana. Next add some greens, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and peanut butter. Then blend!

Normally after breakfast we play inside, do some chores, and go for a walk. The trees have been beautiful here! I show some of the trees in my video above. 🙂
We eat lunch sometimes as early as 11:30 am or as late as 1 pm. I found the best gluten free veggie burger at Meijers, Dr. Praeger’s Mushroom Risotto. Milo loves them too! Today, he ate that cut up, some grapes, and some Cheeto like chips from Gerber.

I ate some chickpea tacos. These are super easy to make and lasts for a few days. I’ll leave blog post here with the recipe!

For snacks, Milo loves these peanut butter corn puffs from Target. I’ll link them here to check out! We normally add some fruit to whatever he eats for snack. Today, he had a banana.
Around 4 pm is momma’s second cup of coffee time! I try to relax for a little bit while Milo plays.

At 6 pm we have supper. I got this idea off Pinterest and tweaked it a bit to make it vegetarian and gluten free.
Cook some sweet potatoes for about an hour. While the potatoes are cooking, saute an onion with some butter and water in a pan. (I like my onions to get brown 🙂 ) Then cook some of the Quorn meatless Pieces in the oven, while the potatoes are cooking. (I get these from Kroger). Next cook some green beans.
Add them all together or however you prefer.
My husband and I actually love to mix Ranch Dressing with some barbeque sauce. We then mix this sauce over our chicken!

We love to end the evening as a family in the living room. Our house has the most perfect view of sunsets. It’s such a special time to play with my little toddler and look out the window and see a beautiful painting in the sky from God.

I hope this blog post and video inspired some new meal/ snack ideas for you!

Happy Friyay!

~Gracefully Fashionable Britt

October 2, 2020

Perfecting your Daily Routine as a 2020 Mom of a 15 month old!

This idea came to me a few weeks ago. My 14 month old son Milo, was going through so many changes – teething, growth spurt, learning new things, and a little bit of crazy. I thought we didn’t really have a “routine.”

I saw on Pinterest all these pins about a 14 month schedule. “You should have a schedule, every child needs a routine, a schedule is they key to happiness with your toddler….”

And I tried several of them AND Milo liked none of them.

I was feeling like a failure of a mom, my kid isn’t normal… something must be wrong.

My husband always tells me, “Milo is Milo, he is not everyone else.”

Finally it clicked with me.

I am going to perfect mine and Milo’s unscheduled days.

And now that I have… we actually have a routine that works for us! I am typing this while Milo sleeps during his SCHEDULED nap time!!!!!

Here is how I perfected my daily routine –

I just followed his lead.

Click Here to watch the video!

Our schedule:

7:00-8:00

Mommy & Milo – wake up/ breakfast

9:00-10:00

Milo – play inside

Mommy – do things that I can keep an eye on him ( empty dish washer, laundry, tidy up, make a phone call, get ready)

10:00 – 11:00

Mommy & Milo – Walk outside/ play outside

11:30-1:00

Milo- NAP !

Mommy – get as much important stuff done that I can OR have lazy mommy time 😉

1:00-2:00

Mommy & Milo – lunch

2:00- 3:30

Mommy & Milo – “free time” (play together, read, run errands, maybe go outside again)

3:30 – 4:00

Mommy & Milo – snack time

4:00 – 6:00

Mommy & Milo – “free time” ( try to take a nap if needed, mommy’s 2nd cup of Joe time!)

6:00-7:00

Mommy & Milo – Supper Time

7:00-8:00

Mommy & Milo – Family time/ Bath time

8:00 – 9:00

Milo – Bed time

This schedule is made completely by Milo, I stopped trying to fit into everyone else’s schedule. I just tried to follow his cues and I noticed over a few days, he started doing things consistently. He made his nap times and when he wanted to eat.

I try to plan my day, chores, and goals around his schedule.

I have learned that I can actually clean the kitchen pretty good in the morning, I can easily throw a load of laundry in the washer and dryer and maybe fold it by night. 😉

I can do important computer work while he naps. I can exercise and get some vitamin D during our time outside.

I can make phone calls and work on my planner while he plays. I can have some me time in the afternoon and drink some coffee when daddy gets home from work.

WHY I know this schedule is working and how to stop doubting myself:

Milo is happy, he is growing, he is learning. He is not yawning all day, he is not fussy. That is how I know it is working.

I still doubt myself at times, but Milo is happy. We have been having very good days since following this schedule.

Milo is not perfect and my schedule is not perfect. It works most days but it still does not work EVERY day.

SO what is the key to perfecting my daily routine?

Flexibility.

It took a couple days to get this schedule figured out. When we did, we had 4 good days of consistently following this schedule. Then, we had an “off” day. I had to shift my normal activities to another time.

When I have to switch my schedule I do get a little grumpy, but then I try to remember –

I am a mommy first. God has given me Milo and Milo is my most important thing to take care of for that day.

So I shift my schedule, I try to get done what I can, and I move things to my list for tomorrow.

I hope by sharing my schedule, it can be encouragement to those of you who also have a little one who doesn’t seem to follow everyone else’s schedule and to remind us mommas that perfecting our routines as moms is simply loving our little ones at all times of the day.

~Gracefully Fashionable Britt

August 30, 2020

Quarantine 2020 Haul – Amazon, Old Navy, & More – For Momma & Toddler

I wanted to share with y’all a haul of things I bought over Quarantine. My state, Indiana, was on lockdown from March until May. We have continued to have certain restrictions, even now. Over that time, there was my husband’s birthday, Easter, Spring, Mothers Day, and so many other moments that were changed due to covid. My thoughts and prayers are for anyone who has experienced this virus or has lost a family or friend.

We had a whole list of to-do’s while in quarantine and of course it did not get completed. ;). I did however do great at online shopping and I wanted to share my quarantine haul with you!

Click here if you want to watch my Quarantine Haul Video Review!

My first find is this cute face mask. I’ll link it here! My husband actually got one as well. It fits him great and me not so much. If I have my hair down and wear it over my hair it kind of works. It does however make a great headband!

Affiliated Links -Disclosure- Please keep in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliated links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases.

Let me share with your the rest of my finds!

Old Navy Striped Dress.
Walmart White Denim Jacket – SO COMFY – highly recommend!
Leopard Old Navy Dress
Old Navy Black Dress
Sedona Cardigan – one of my new favs!
Pink Lily Leopard Dress
Pink Lily Jumpsuit
Old Navy Jumpsuit
Amazon Denim Jeans
Men’s Rain Jacket
Amazon Denim Jacket

Other fun finds!

I hope these finds were fun to look over and can help you pass some time if you’re still on lock down.

~Gracefully Fashionable Britt & Cute Little Milo. 😉

July 31, 2020

How to Exclusively Pump in the Car – Tips & Must Haves!

One of the joys of exclusively pumping is you will most likely have to do it at least once in the car. I exclusively pumped for 11 months and I had to pump in the car 4-5 times while on a 4 hour road trip.

Exclusively pumping in the car is chaotic, at times stressful, and a team effort when traveling long distances with a baby. BUT, I am so thankful that my body was able to do it for 11 months and I was able to completely breastfeed my son till he was one. (Yes, exclusively pumping is still breast feeding. 😉 )

CLICK here to watch my video about exclusively pumping in the car.

Also check out my other pumping videos!

CLICK HERE for MY PUMP JOURNEY – EXCLUSIVE PUMPER, OVERPRODUCER, BREASTFEEDING MOMMA.

CLICK Here for DAY IN MY LIFE WITH 3 MONTH OLD! – EXCLUSIVELY PUMPING

So, let me share with you my 10 tips for Exclusively Pumping in the car.

Scheduling is key! Try to plan your pump around your babies nap. Whether that be at the beginning, middle, or end of the trip. Also try to schedule where you only have to pump once while in the car.

2. Pump in the back seat.

For my family, we often travel to Tennessee which is four hours from our home in Indiana. I often chose to sit in the back to be with my baby while my husband drove. Also you have a little more privacy back there!

3. Have a cover!

I just used a cover I was given. It is a cover you use to cover while breast feeding…. And you are breastfeeding… just in a unique way! Also this made me feel more comfortable covering myself.

4. Separate your pump parts!

I would have one big bag for everything. Then, I would use ziplock bags to separate. One for pump parts when we reach our destination. Another one for pump parts in the car.

5. Always double check that you packed ALL you need.

One time, coming home from the Hamilton play, it was late at night and I needed to pump as soon as the play was over. I had packed everything but the strap to strap around myself and hold it all on. I was so disappointed! So I had to ride home holding both pumps to me as my husband drove. Talk about a great way to end our date night. So not only do you need your pump parts but don’t forget:
-Strap!
-extra batteries!
-cloth to wipe off
-coconut oil! – Yes always use! Trust me 😉

6. Try to relax.

Bumps are going to happen, breaks are going to be slammed, babies will probably cry. I remember once it was getting too chaotic for me. I looked down and saw I had a pretty close amount to my usual, so I stopped. Consistency is key while breast pumping but if you are stressing out its okay to stop early that time.

7. Have cup holders cleared!

As soon as I got done, I would hand one bottle to my husband and he would put it in the upfront cup holder. I would use the cup holder by me to store the other. After I got everything put up, I would either store the milk in a cooler or set it aside for my baby to have later.

8. Pack a snack and water for your self.

Maybe treat yourself to something after!

9. Have an empty ziplock bag for dirty parts.

Zip it up and store them till you get to your destination.

10. You’re done! Yay!

Click here to watch my video, where I show how I pump inside my car. My Husband also shares the car adapter we used.

My husband shared these two car adapters as ones he would recommend!

****Affiliated Links **** -Disclosure- Please keep in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliated links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases.

Click Here for the 300W Car Power Inverter

Click here for the Tripp Lite 375 W Car Power Inverter

I hope these tips can help ease the minds of mommas about to travel. Just remember it’s going to be chaotic and that’s okay.

~Gracefully Fashionable Britt