My 5 Favorite 1-year-old Mom Hacks

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When I first became a mom, my perception of how smoothly it would go and my reality were vastly different.  Even though I had a relatively “easy” baby, I still wasn’t prepared for all that could happen.  As I’ve navigated this rough terrain, I’ve been fortunate enough to stumble upon some great “mom hacks” to make things just a little bit easier on myself.  Mom hacks are amazing.  Some of them don’t seem entirely practical, but for the most part, googling “mom hacks” can yield some amazing results.  Here, I’ve compiled a list of my top 5 favorite mom hacks, specific to having a 1-year-old.  I hope that you can find something useful!

1. Grocery Delivery or Pick-up

I’m a weirdo. I love grocery shopping!  I love walking up and down the aisles.  I love lazily taking my time to stroll about and find things I could use.  I love to look at every brand of the item I’m trying to purchase to get the most “bang for my buck”.  However, going to the grocery store doesn’t always fit into the calendar these days.  Also, when you’re rollin’ on a budget like my family is, the temptation of having everything in front of you at the store can be hard to cope with.  So, I’ve now become obsessed with grocery pick-up. I’ve done this at two stores: Hyvee and Walmart.  Both places have been exceptional for me.  I just download their app, search for items on my list, add it to the cart, pick my pick-up time and viola! Grocery shopping done! All I have to do is go pick it up in that hour time frame I chose.  They even bring it to your car and load it up for you.  You literally get to just sit there and have a few minutes of browsing Facebook on your phone.  It’s downright magical. Plus, I can’t complain about not overspending by getting only the things I need from my list instead of all the extras that make me “ooh and ahh” when I’m at the store.

2. Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime has been an absolute life-saver for me.  They have just about anything your little mommy (or daddy) heart could desire.  Also, it’s almost always free delivery!  Often times you can even get your items a little cheaper if they have some with damaged packaging (see the “used – like new” option on your item).  On top of that, prime comes with other awesome stuff.  My favorites are the prime music and the prime photos.  You can get unlimited cloud storage for your photos without having to pay any extra.  Are you kidding me?  Backing up those precious moments is so important to me. You can just download the prime photos app on your phone and it will backup everything in your phone’s photo gallery for you.  It’s freaking genius!

3. Pre-Packing Snacks

If your child is anything like mine, snacks are life.  My child will straight-up have a screaming fit if he’s hungry and you can’t get a snack into his mouth in 0.2 seconds.  OK, this is a bit of an exaggeration.  He’s not quite that bad, but the kid does get hangry.  Anyways, having little snack baggies ready to go with goldfish, organic cheese puffs, pre-cut cheese sticks, etc can be an absolute life-saver.  Applesauce and veggie pouches are a must in our household as well.  I also like to keep healthy breakfast bars and yogurt tubes around.  Having these items to grab quickly for your kiddo either on the way out the door or while you’re trying to finish cleaning up the kitchen and they’re starving is an absolute life-saver.  You can either pre-pack them yourself or buy them individually packaged.  Whatever works best for your family and budget! Don’t forget to pre-pack some healthy snacks for yourself too!

4. Invest In A Video Monitor

I don’t know how our parents did it without having a video monitor.  I love ours!  I personally prefer to purchase a video monitor with no wifi capability.  I’ve heard the horror stories of strangers hacking in and screaming at children and I’m like “No thanks!”.  My video monitor has been essential to help my son’s sleep.  I’m able to tell if he’s whining in his sleep or if he’s actually sitting up and whining because he’s fully awake.  When I want to check on him in the middle of the night, I can just peek at the video monitor and see him peacefully dreaming away.  It also helps me to know if when I hear him stirring I need to go get him up or give him 5-10 minutes to fall back asleep.  This is a must-have in our household.

5. Special Toys for the Changing Table

As my child got closer to the 1 year mark, diaper changes became more difficult.  I would struggle trying to coordinate changing the actual diaper and keeping my kiddo entertained.  Animal sounds and singing songs just weren’t enough for my guy to sit still. So, I started keeping some special diaper change toys by his changing table.  He only gets those toys during a diaper change so they’re more “special”.  But, if you change diapers as often as I do, you’ll have to make sure you regularly update the toys at the table. If all else fails, I’ve found that handing over my phone with a Fisher Price app open on it will get us through a particularly power struggle filled diaper change.

There you have it folks, my 5 favorite mom hacks.  What are some of your favorite mom hacks?  I’d love to see them in the comments below!

Much love and productive vibes,

Momma Caped Nerd ❤

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