What I'm Loving Now

Do you ever come across something during your days that has you all, 'this is awesome!'?  I definitely do not lead a glamorous life and I get excited over things like new socks and contact lenses.  Watch out now.

So I'm sure I'm not the only mom out there that loathes the dreaded fall-asleep-five-minutes-from-home car nap.  You know the one that basically ensures that your kid will not be taking that glorious afternoon nap and instead you'll be listening to your toddler revolt in their crib with faux energy.  You know what I'm talking about.  Harrison is not the best napper so I try to offer up major distractions if we're close to home and I can tell he's getting sleepy: my wallet, my water bottle, etcetera.  And when those are no longer viable options, I whip out a lollipop.  Yes, I give my kid a sucker so he won't fall asleep.  Winner over here but I figured if I was going to be giving him sweets, the least I could do was try to make it as 'healthy' as possible.  I came across these YumEarth Organic Lollipops by reading a fellow bloggers (The Honeybee) post (can't remember the one now) about these and I had to give them a try.  

They don't contain any corn syrup, artificial colors, and are allergen free.  You can find them online here but being that I was a tad impatient to give these a bad boys a try, I ran into my local Sprouts and picked up a couple bags and keep them in my purse.  The flavors are really yummy and at just about 23 calories per sucker, they're a good fix for the sweet cravings I have in the afternoon.

I'm not sure if this is the case at all Old Navy locations but the one I usually frequent has the most amazing/ridiculous/overwhelming selection of last minute purchases in the register line.  Makeup and makeup brushes, face wash, snacks, coloring books...you get the picture.  Last fall I was there and saw these awesome little lunch boxes made by Sistema.

One side is divided in two and is perfect for fruit and snacks but the best part is the sandwich compartment has a lid to keep it from touching the other side and potentially ruining your sandwich.  Because there's nothing I hate worse than soggy sandwich bread.  I've used ours a ton for recent trips when I knew we wouldn't be home for lunch today.  These compartments are small in size but hold a lot.  In case your Old Navy doesn't carry these, they can be found here.

Being pregnant and going to the store right before a mealtime is a seriously bad combination.  Like, watch out I'm buying a hundred dollars worth of off the wall random snacks.  But a recent trip actually had me walking away with some decent finds that have become a staple in the kiddo snack department.  When you have human garbage disposals who have bottomless pits for stomachs, having an arsenal of snacks wherever you go is a must.  Try reasoning with a 4 year old that you don't have any snacks on you and they just had breakfast an hour ago.  Cue whining and 'i'mgoingtodieofstarvation' reactions.  So not only did I find these awesome nuggets of awesomeness for me and for me alone (sorry kids...not sharing these),

I found these mini Lara Bars in a variety pack.  They also have a peanut butter chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie variety but I decided 'no' on those because chocolate chip equals chocolate mess in my car.  Not happening. They're the perfect size and reasonably mess-free.  I say 'reasonably' because Harry can make a mess out of anything.

Another snack staple for us are the awesome GoGo Squeeze Yogurt Pouches.  They're great for those days when we have to be out the door early in the morning and I don't want to give the kids McNasty's.  (Judge away...we got breakfast sandwiches there earlier this week but it had been a couple months since going there).  And they don't take up a ton of room in a bag and don't have to be refrigerated so that's a plus.  Selah particularly likes the banana flavor but the strawberry and berry flavors are a hit too.  Harry doesn't care as long as it's food.  He's a guy...he's easy ;)

Yes, these are all things that are pretty much for the kids but when the kids are happy, mama's happy...am I right???