health + beauty Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Heart of the Mama

the one about friday favorites 2.26.16

February 27, 2016 /

Happy Friday! It’s our last Friday of February, which means the days are getting longer, the chances of snow are steadily decreasing, and Spring is on its way. I am so excited and ready for a new season.

Tonight, I am sharing with you my favorite children’s “grooming” products. We have three girls, which means that we have products-a-plenty around our house. Our oldest daughter also has really sensitive skin, so we have to be choosy about what we use in her baths and as lotion. Our oldest daughter also has extremely curly hair. If we don’t stay on top of it, it can turn into dreadlocks very quickly. Combing her hair is a chore that all of us dread, and I recently went on the hunt for a new product to help her unruly mane.

Thankfully, I found two new products that have worked wonderfully for us, and I am here to share them with anyone else out there who has a child with beautiful, tightly coiled curls.

I also am including a fun new toothbrush and a comb that gets the job done.

1. Firefly Light Up Timer Toothbrush at Target. While on one of my recent ~~vacations~~ trips to Target, I found these gems in the toothbrush aisle. We are trying to give our girls the responsibility of brushing their teeth each night, but we also have to make sure that they are doing a thorough job. Our middle daughter tends to just put the toothpaste on the brush and lick the toothpaste off, and this process typically lasts 32 seconds. These toothbrushes are not only extremely inexpensive (2.99 for two!), but they light up for 60 seconds, which helps the children know how long to brush their teeth. They also have suction cups on the bottom which helps them to stand upright on the counter, making for less chance of collecting yuck.

2. Ouidad Curl Recovery Whipped Curls Daily Conditioner and Styling Primer at Ulta. I went on a mission to find a product that would not only help detangle Noelle’s kinky curly hair, but would also make her hair shiny, manageable, defined, and soft. My journey led me to Ulta where I found this product. I love it because it feels like a thick whipped cream went you dispense it, but it truly coats the hair and makes combing through it much easier when wet. She went to bed with semi-wet hair, but when she woke up, she had defined ringlets and beautiful curls that also smelled wonderfully! The price is a little salty, but a little goes a long way.

3. Ouidad Botanical Boost Curl Energizing and Refreshing Spray at Ulta. I also picked up this spray to help tame and revive Noelle’s curls once they have been slept on and frizzed out a bit. The poor girl gets very wiry looking locks after a night of restless sleep, so rather than do the old “wet my hand then scrunch up her curls” trick, I purchased this spray which truly defines her curls and brings them back to life.

4. The Wet Comb Detangling Comb. I know that this majority of this post is centered around taming unruly, curly hair, but this is a huge struggle in our house, and I feel like I have finally settled upon the winning combination. I bought this comb at my local salon several months ago, and it has been the only thing that consistently works on Noelle’s hair without causing trauma. I will not lie and say that it is a completely tear-free experience, but this comb glides through Noelle’s hair while wet better than any other brush or comb we have tried– and believe me, we have tried a whole bunch. This comb has also done the trick for our extremely tender-headed Charlotte.

5. Perfectly Gentle Bubble Bath by Honest Company. I have been singing the Honest Company’s praises for quite sometime. At first, I didn’t want to believe the hype that a bubble bath that costs twice as much as the bargain brands could actually be better for my kids, but, as it turns out, I should have switched a long time ago. As new moms, we almost always use the sweet smelling baby bath that everyone gives us as baby shower gifts. There’s nothing wrong with this stuff…unless you have a child with extremely sensitive skin…and then you realize you can’t use the stuff in the big yellow bottle. Once we switched to Honest Company products, Noelle’s skin calmed down, and her skin’s dryness and redness was greatly reduced. I really love this bubble bath. It has plenty of lather, smells like an orange creamsicle, and it is extremely gentle on skin as well as eyes. Create a bundle online to save money!

What are some of your favorite children’s “grooming” products? Any other tricks of the curly trade that I need to know about?

Have a fantastic weekend!

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check these out, too

The one about how to donate your gently used makeup
March 21, 2018
the one about friday favorites 2.19.16

February 20, 2016 /

It’s been well over a month since I last posted anything. I wish so very much I could blame it on that month-long vacation I took to St. Thomas, but…no.

If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times. I get writer’s block. I go through phases where I am coming up with all kinds of things to write about, and then there are times when my brain is basically white noise, and if I were to write a blog post about it, it would read something like this:

psshhhhhtwaffffpshhhhhhhhrizzzzzzgahhhhhhrsshhhhhh

There are many days when I am convinced my brain has turned to mush, and then there are days when I can’t shut it off and I feel like I’m on a really cheap and unsafe carnival ride.

So, I’m a mixed bag of tricks right now and you’re going to have to accept that.

The hard truth is that I have many things I could write about, but most of those things are not what I should write about…at least publicly. I am exercising restraint. Go me.

But, I need something to keep me writing. Something regular and fun and light and just a weekly brain dump. When I taught 4th grade, I would give my students a piece of blank paper sometimes and just have them write down whatever came to their minds…regardless of the quality or seriousness or relevance to anything. I called it “taking out the trash.” After this exercise, most students were more engaged, had better clarity, and could focus on the “actual” writing topic. Other students used the “trash” exercise as a starting point for an essay about why cats don’t wear underwear. So there’s that.

It’s Friday, so I thought it would be fun to try my hand (fingers? keyboard? IDK) at my first Friday Favorites. I like to read the blog, Momfessionals, as well as my friend Tara’s blog, The Holcomb Home, and they do this cute thing with listing off their favorite things on Fridays.

I like Fridays. I like favorites. Why not?

I’m no Oprah, so I am not expecting you to run out and buy what I am favoriting, but it is always comforting to know how a real person feels about an item or product. And if you’re looking for a real person, I’m your girl.

So, without further delay, here is my first Friday Favorites post!

There’s no theme to this one. There might be themes in the future. Cupcakes could also be prescribed for weight loss, so anything is possible.

1. Moodstruck Precision Brow Gel & Pencil by Younique in Dark. I seriously resisted the Younique cosmetics movement for the longest time. All I ever knew about the brand was the fiber mascara that made your eyelashes super long. I had no idea that their true gems (in my opinion) were the rest of their products. I bought a set from my friend who was selling, honestly, to support her and just give it a whirl. I fully expected that I wouldn’t care for it, or wouldn’t reorder, and I would be back to my Target / Ulta finds in no time. I was so crazy wrong. The simple truth is that I am addicted to nearly all of their products, and this brow duo is one of my favorites. I have very weak and wimpy brows. Very. They are too light for my natural hair color. They are sparse, and they don’t extend fully over my brow bone, so they have the appearance of “stopping short.” Does this make sense? So I use these two heroes together to fill in the areas that are thin and sparse with the pencil, and then the best thing is the gel. It has little fibers in it that stick to your brow hairs, so your natural brows end up looking thicker and fuller but with a more natural appearance than a pencil alone. I seriously, seriously cannot leave my house without doing my brows now, even if I am wearing no other makeup. These sets come in light, medium, and dark.

2. Lustro Face Oil 3 by Beauty Counter. Here’s another brand I had no idea existed until I started seeing a few posts on Facebook. I have super problematic skin. It is sensitive, prone to breakouts, and I just have never seemed to find a product that would work to help it with all of its issues. I have gone through phases with skincare. Remember my coconut oil and apple cider vinegar phase? I actually think my skin looked the best it has ever looked in those couple months that I was doing that routine, but eventually I got tired of the mess in my bathroom, and I fell out of the habit. I have started taking more time to pay attention to the chemicals and ingredients in skincare because I know that your skin absorbs a lot of these toxins and that can lead to some serious health issues. So, when Beauty Counter started being advertised on social media as a clean and natural skincare product, I decided to try it. I already was not afraid to put oil on my skin because I learned with the coconut oil idea that restoring the oils in my skin would keep it from over-producing more oil that clogs my pores. There are 3 formulations, and this one (#3) is for irritated skin like mine. It has chamomile and ylang ylang to calm my skin, and it feels like a spa treatment when I use it. Also, I know the price is a little high, but I seriously use 2 drops each day, and that is plenty. I have no idea when I will run out of this stuff.

3. BB Flawless Complexion Enhancer by Younique in Bisque. Here’s another Younique product that I cannot, and will not, live without. This BB cream is something special. As I mentioned in #2, my skin is problematic and sensitive. And it goes without mentioning that I am lazy sometimes (all the time) and don’t always remove my makeup before bed (GASP!). With other foundations and BB creams I have tried, if they sit on my skin overnight, I wake up to breakouts and irritation like crazy. However, what I have found since Younique also uses natural and quality ingredients, my skin is not harmed if I leave the makeup on while I sleep. In fact, the BB cream is so moisturizing that I think it helps my skin look better. I go back and forth on wearing foundation or BB cream, but I find that I gravitate more toward a lighter, more sheer coverage that I can build and add to with concealer in my trouble spots. I like to see my skin from underneath my makeup, and this BB cream works wonders for me. It is also extremely smooth to apply and has pretty amazing coverage for my temperamental skin. I can only imagine how much I will love this stuff in the summer. And also? It lasts forever. I have worn it every single day for probably 6 weeks, and I am not close to being out yet. I already have another one waiting in my drawer though…

4. Pogo 40 oz Water Bottle from Target. I know the picture says 32 ounces, but Target sells one of the best and only 40 ounce water bottles I have found. I suppose you could say I have been on a bit of a wellness mission since the start of the new year, and one of my goals is to drink what amounts to a shit ton of water each day. I hate refilling my water bottles multiple times, and I also do not like the idea of consuming water from “disposable” water bottles. From what I hear, recycling those things does actually very little to help our environment. So, I happened upon this amazing water bottle on one of my rare trips to Target (ha!). There are so many things I love. The price ($10). The fact that it is slender and can fit in my car cup holder. The mouth piece is narrow and not one of those where you have to unscrew the entire lid to take a drink. There is not a straw (straws seem to be more work to clean and can get gunky really easily). The lid has a rubber component that forms a complete seal around the mouth piece, and so it really is VERY leak proof. This water bottle gets turned upside down in my bag multiple times a day, and I don’t have leaks if the lid is snapped on completely. It is durable and can withstand many drops and toddler Hulk Smashes. I also enjoy the finger loop for easy carrying. I can fill this baby up twice a day and consume 80 ounces of water in no time.

5. Go-Dry High Rise Compression Leggings from Old Navy. I know what you’re thinking. High rise leggings? For the love of The Lord, what are you trying to sell me on here? Follow me for a moment. Have you ever been in the middle of a workout or simply bending down to get something you dropped and the waistband of your leggings collapses under the pressure of your muffin top? Well, if it hasn’t happened to you, consider yourself lucky or just too skinny to be my friend. I, for one, love the high waist feature of these leggings. It holds everything in, I don’t have to worry about anything flopping out or rolling over, and I feel more confident during my workouts. I wear these leggings to bed. I wear them for exercise. I wear them out in public with dressier shirts and boots. They are thick, versatile, flattering, and the bomb dot com.

Disclaimer: Yes, if you clicked the Younique links above, you will see that you are taken to my “presenter” site. I signed up so that I could get the discount on my own products. When it gets to the point when you are placing 3 orders a month and hiding boxes from your husband in your closet, you might as well cut yourself a little break. I do not share these products with you to force you into ordering anything. I simply am sharing them because they are my favorites.

Alright! How did I do? What are your Friday Favorites? I am dying to know.

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check these out, too

The one about how to donate your gently used makeup
March 21, 2018
the one about that someone

January 6, 2016 /

Wow.

Where have I been the past two months?

How have I gone two months without returning to this little space to write, document, and download my thoughts and feelings on motherhood and womanhood and other various ‘hoods?

It’s like the movie The Hangover. Something happened. I don’t remember what, or how, or who. All I know is that I am now awake, and I’ve lost a tooth. Ok, I lied about the last part. I have all my teeth, but my Kindergartner is working on her first loose tooth, and I kind of can’t deal with how grown up that means she is.

I have actually tried to write a few different times. I have tried to write about the holidays and the magic and the stress of it all. I have tried to write about sentimental feelings and even feelings of sadness and unworthiness. I have posts saved as drafts in hopes that I would either return to finish them or gain the courage to post them. In reality, they sit, unfinished and unspoken. A silent record of the past several weeks of my life.

The holidays. They happened.

And now here I am!

Call it a goal or resolution or whatever you like, but I am most certainly wanting to get back to writing more regularly. It feels so good to unload my brain and it also feels so good when I know that someone else can relate to what I just verbally vomitted all over the inter web.

While I don’t have much of a written record of the last couple weeks of 2015, I can tell you that I actually spent a little of that time reading books. Crazy, right? In the day of Kindles and Nooks and people spending their time doing anything but reading, I actually was able to carve out some time to read a couple of wonderfully inspiring and influential books.

It sounds silly, but these books have actually empowered me as I begin the new year. There’s something about reading someone else’s thoughts as words and feeling validated because you have those thoughts, too. Suddenly, you’re not alone. You’re not crazy. Well, maybe you are still crazy, but at least you know someone else is your same kind of crazy.

I’d like to think that’s why you’re reading this. You’re searching for someone to match your crazy.

I’m sure I’m your girl.

These two books, For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards by Jen Hatmaker and The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You by Jessica N. Turner filled my heart with wonderful, affirming words and advice that will carry me through this next year — a year I hope is positive, happy, and rewarding.

On New Year’s Eve, I was talking to Luke about 2015. We were going through the highs and lows of the year…our favorite memories…our worst moments. He had so many highlights to claim and be proud of, and I struggled to come up with one. This is sad for a few reasons. For one, it’s sad because “nothing” super amazing happened in those 365 days, but mostly it’s sad because I didn’t “view” the past year’s highlights as what they were — highlights. I had a hard time remembering any of the joy I had experienced. I saw 2015 as the year I didn’t run the half marathon. It was the year the girls painted Disney World in puke.

2015 was also a year of extreme emotional stress for me. I took on too many commitments. I became a chronic and habitual yes girl. Being afraid of what people would think or say about me if I said no to a request became a monster I could not get escape from. By the time my day was finished with making everyone else happy, I would be frazzled, beaten down, and borderline unbearable to be around.

In my last post, I wrote about the half marathon I stopped training for. This was a pretty big turning point for me, because the rest of 2015 basically turned into a blur of stress and anxiety. One yes after another, and eventually I found myself unable to sleep through the night (which had nothing to do with the fact that my 3 year old still doesn’t sleep through the night most of the time). I would wake up in a panic, making to-do lists on my phone at 3 a.m. or sometimes just waking up for good at that hour so that I could have some more time in my day.

I stopped eating. Ha. Not really. I stopped eating real food. With no time for breakfast, I would grab Starbucks daily. Most of the days, lunch was fast food of some sort or nothing at all. I lived off of Diet Coke, so much so that Luke had to bribe me with an overnight getaway just to give it up for one month. I always managed to come up with some semblance of a balanced meal for dinner…because, of course, I actually cared about what my family was eating.

Between the lack of sleep and poor food choices, I noticed my hair was dull and thinning in spots. I was sick more in those few months than I had been in a year. I weighed the same as the day I delivered Shiloh.

So why am I oversharing all of this with you?

Because somewhere, someone needs to read this.

Somewhere, someone needs to know that all those things you’re yessing to are eventually going to suck the life out of you. With no time to exercise…no time to eat real, nourishing food…no time to read empowering books…no time to have meaningful conversation with friends…no time to soak up the little moments with your children…no time to simply be still and know…you will eventually run out of steam and make yourself sick, crazy, or downright miserable.

Are you that someone? Don’t worry if you are…because I’m that someone, too. I’m still that someone, because it takes time to build confidence and form new habits. I am only one week into this epiphany of sorts, and it takes an effort each day to change my old ways. I am a People-Pleaser by nature, so I know that I will never be able to fully let go of my fear that if I tell a person “No” or “I can’t” that they will shun me forever.

It’s a work in progress.

I’m a work in progress.

If you’re that someone, I invite you to try these steps to get you headed in the right direction. For the first time in several months, I have hope that I can overcome these obstacles and truly have not only a wonderful and memorable year, but a fulfilling and happy life.

1. Read the two books I mentioned earlier. They are quick reads. Make the time to do it. Use the time you spend on Facebook and Pinterest to enjoy the words of these women. You will come away feeling inspired, empowered, and motivated. You’ll laugh a lot, too.

2. Pick a mantra, and put it on a bracelet. I believe in mantras. When I was pregnant with Shiloh and on bed rest for 12 weeks, I chose “I can do hard things,” inspired by Glennon at Momastery. This phrase helped me to focus and get through a tough part of my life. I stamped the words on a leather bracelet and wore it even through childbirth.

For this phase of my life, I chose three mantras.

Be still. Choose joy. All I need is within me.

I found the inspiration for these mantras at Mantra Band. I love the color choices and daintiness of the bracelets, and there are zillions of motivational words and mantras to choose from. I wear my mantras daily, and they are a great reminder for me when I struggle.

3. Pull a Nike and Just Do It. Whatever it is that you’re wanting to do– read more, exercise, meet with friends, go to bed earlier…whatever you have been longing for and wishing to make time for…just do it. Write it into your calendar, arrange appropriate babysitting if necessary, and get it done. The first step is always the hardest, but after you do just one small thing for yourself, you start to think about other ways to be creative and efficient with your day to allow you to spend even more time doing what you love.

4. Be like Elsa and Let It Go. Let go of the guilt and feelings of being selfish. Mom guilt is a crazy, huge, real thing. We feel guilty for working. We feel guilty for going to dinner with friends. We feel guilty for calling in pizza. We feel guilty for spending money on ourselves. We feel guilty for hiring a babysitter so we can be alone or go on a date with our husbands. We feel guilty for not making the baby food from scratch. We feel guilty for every. damn. thing. Or at least I do.

It’s time to let all of that go. No one else is keeping score except you (and if someone else is, that person’s a real asshole).

I am a better, happier, more pleasant person to be around when I am taking care of myself. I am more calm. I am more patient. I am absolutely a better mother and wife.

I wish you a ~~year~~ life of letting go and doing it.
Well that got dirty real fast, huh?

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check these out, too

The one about how to donate your gently used makeup
March 21, 2018
the one about the almost

November 7, 2015 /

I woke up this morning in a sour mood. I didn’t sleep well for the 4 trillionth night in a row. As it turns out, sharing the couch with a 3 year old isn’t great for your back. Or neck. Or hips. Or anything.

I decided to shower early so that I could start my day on a fresh note. In the shower, I realized there was another reason why I already felt defeated prior to starting any of my daily battles.

Today was the day. Many months ago, I set out to run a half marathon on this date. There’s a large event in Indianapolis, and I had told my husband and anyone else who asked that I was going to finally accomplish a goal of mine and run a half marathon.

Well, today, that isn’t going to happen. Here I sit, in a towel (sorry for the visual), listening to my girls watch The Magic School Bus in the other room. Cheerios have already been eaten. Husband is off to round at the hospital.

This is me, not running a half marathon.

When did I set this goal? I think it was back in the spring. I looked at my calendar and picked an event that would give me ample time to train. Surely I could get it done by November 7th. That’s half of a year away!

I bought new shoes. I found running pants that wouldn’t slouch down with every labored step on the treadmill. I got those fun running headbands. I was all in.

I began the training process. Slowly and steadily, I increased my distances for each run and found myself actually beginning to enjoy the process. It’s a strange thing when you go from hating each and every step and wondering if this might be the very last breath you take, to actually feeling stronger and better and happier as each mile ticks away.

But honestly? It got hard. Life got hard. I was only able to run in the gym because at least I had childcare there. And have you ever tried to train for a half marathon on a treadmill? A few problems arise. One, when you run as slowly as I do, the 60 minute time limit automatically shuts the treadmill off, even when you have a few more miles to do. And then there’s the fact that scenery never changes. Sure, the people come and go around you and you can change the channel on the nifty TVs, but there’s nothing inspiring or exciting about staring at the 19 year old with no cellulite half-assing it on the stair master while she texts her boyfriend.

And hauling 3 little ones into the gym with all their bags and snacks and demands is just a workout before the workout even begins.

(Don’t forget you have to haul them back out to your car when you’re ~~dead~~ done.)

But even though it got hard, I still managed to run nearly 7 miles without stopping. Yes, the girl who was called Trunks by high school baseball players while I was warming up for softball practice because my legs were so short and squatty (albeit quite strong) ran 7 miles and lived to tell about it.

However, the week that killed it all was the week that my daughter started Kindergarten and the week my husband completed his half-Ironman triathlon. Not only was the stress of the new school routine a difficult thing to work around, but my daughter’s Kindergarten teacher resigned two days before school was to start and I was overcome with the need to eat cookies and chips until it all got sorted out.

And then there was the packing and logistics and constant talking about Luke’s Ironman. With an out-of-state destination, there were lots of preparations taking place between making sure he had all he needed and also making sure our girls were taken care of.

And honestly? I was more than a little concerned he was going to drown in Lake Michigan during the swim and so off to the cookies and chips I went.

In a nutshell, I took that week of life off from the gym. And I never went back.

What it was, I don’t know. Actually, I do know. I watched all of these tremendous people complete this incredible physical feat at the Ironman, and instead of feeling inspired, I felt defeated.

I could never do anything like that.

I will never do anything like that.

Who was I kidding to think I could run a half marathon in the first place?

So I quit on my goal in August.

And I’m feeling it now today.

It would have felt so good to cross that finish line and prove to myself that I could do it. It would have felt so good to have my husband cheering for me, instead of the other way around (like it has been through all his half marathons, triathlons, and the full marathon he ran 5 years ago).

I am writing this because I am certain so many other mamas have goals they want to accomplish and things they want to do, but the fear of failing or fear of looking foolish or just the challenges of life continue to stand in the way.

And so they never try.

But take it from me. I’d rather be healing my sore muscles and aching bones than my heavy heart and bruised pride.

Here’s to new goals.

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check these out, too

The one about how to donate your gently used makeup
March 21, 2018
the one about how I hate packing lunches

August 13, 2015 /

As you know by now, my oldest daughter has started Kindergarten. The process of starting “official school” has brought about many changes in our household.

First, because she attends a private Catholic school, she wears a uniform everyday. There will be days when she can wear what she wants, but so far, each day has been a uniform day.

I know many who turn their noses up at uniforms, stating that they remove the individuality from the child and force them to look like everyone else. I get that, I do, but uniforms have made my life significantly easier and less dramatic.

My children have beautiful clothes. Really, there’s nothing they own that makes me cringe when they wear it (otherwise, why would we own it?). However, there are things that are best not to be worn to school. And those things, without fail, are the things my daughter would LOVE to wear to school.

Thank you, Uniform, for sparing that aztec-legging under the floral dress with the giant popsicle stain power struggle.

Another change for our house is preparing a school lunch for her daily. We are allowing her to eat a school lunch once per week, but the other days are lunch box days. The only problem with this is that I abso-freaking-lutely hate packing lunches. HATE.

For whatever reason, I just find the task to be daunting (first world problem, I know). I refuse to do it in the morning because we never wake up early enough to avoid the inevitable cluster that is the final five minutes before departure. Then, often times I am too tired to pack anything worthwhile the night before. Truly, it is a crapshoot if I am going to brush my teeth before I go to bed, so packing a lunch that is anything more than a box of Cheerios with a note that says “Love, Mama” slapped on it is kind of asking too much.

I decided to find a way to make packing lunches less of a chore. I took to Pinterest (duh) and found a few promising ideas. I decided to give one a try, and I am so happy I did!

I combined a few ideas and came up with something that has been an absolute life saver. I literally don’t have to think about packing lunches, and most of the time, Noelle can pack her lunch herself.

I purchased mini plastic crates from Target, 3/$3.99, and some plastic baggies. I determined that one bin would be for “Starches/Salty Snacks,” another bin would be for “Sweet Treats,” another bin would be for “Cheese/Yogurt,” another for “Meat/Protein,” one bin for “Fruit,” and a final bin for “Veggies.”

The bins that do not need to be refrigerated sit on my counter. They are stackable, so they don’t take up a lot of space. For the refrigerated items, I cleared a spot in my refrigerator and also used one of the crisper drawers in the bottom.

(I tried to take photos of this system, but my kitchen does not photograph well!)

I then filled the bins with 2 choices for each category. To start with, I placed appropriately portioned baggies of popcorn and pita chips in the “Starches/Salty Snacks” bin. For “Sweet Treats,” I measured out serving sizes of chocolate covered yogurt raisins and trail mix into snack baggies. Her “Cheese/Yogurt” choices were Chobani yogurt tubes or Babybel cheese. For “Meat/Protein,” I placed two pieces of salami in a baggie and hard boiled a few eggs. Her “Fruit” choices were baggies of grapes or strawberries. Her “Veggies” were baggies of baby carrots or celery with light ranch dressing cups to dip.

She can choose one option from each bin and pack her lunch herself. It took me approximately 45 minutes on a Sunday to baggie up enough food for two weeks’ worth of school lunches. It takes her less than 2 minutes to pack her lunch herself, and she enjoys the job. By giving her healthy choices, I know that no matter what she chooses, she is packing herself a healthy lunch.

Once all of our bins are empty, I will refill them with new options. She knows that I also won’t add more of one choice simply because she ate all of that one choice first. For example, she ate all of the baggies of grapes first, so I will not add more grapes until she eats the baggies of strawberries.

The one thing I don’t care for is the amount of plastic baggies we use in this system, but I am having her bring all of her plastic baggies home in her lunch box, except for the ones with sticky fruit in them, and I will try to reuse them a couple times before throwing them away. We try to recycle and be as environmentally friendly as possible, so there might be another way to replace the baggies. For now, this is working for us.

What I love about this is that it is cost effective (I am estimating each day’s lunch costs less than $2).

It is time efficient. As long as you have an extra 45 minutes or so on the weekend to wash and cut fruit and vegetables and bag up the other items, you can save yourself a lot of time and chaos throughout the week.

It is healthy. My daughter is obsessed with one day receiving a “real” Lunchable, but at $3 each and not the greatest nutrition facts, I just can’t justify it. This way of packing lunches puts her in control of “choosing,” even though I have done the guesswork for her. She feels like she is taking control of her lunch, and I am happy that no matter what she chooses, they will be nutritious.

It gets us off the PB&J hamster wheel. I love a good PB&J. I really, really do. But we simply were not thinking of anything else to feed our children, and I realized that there are other (and better) options out there. For a peanut butter fix, I can add peanut butter in small containers for her to dip her celery in, or we can save it for the weekends. A lot of schools are not wanting kids to bring peanut butter in their lunches anyway because of the allergy risk.

I have created a chart that I will be using when I am trying to think of new ideas to add to the bins. Feel free to download and use it, too! Just click the image and right click to save it! What would you add to the mix?

Now…if I could only convince her to sleep in her uniform the night before…

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