To kick off the summer I’m celebrating Backyard Games Week with a group of fabulous bloggers and sharing our ideas for playing fun games outside with your kids. We love to spend time outside playing our yard, and as soon as it is warm enough we break out two little inflatable kiddie pools
A quote hangs on the wall in my friend Betsy’s kitchen that inspires me and challenges me in this role of mother. I wasn’t able to find a source, but I love it so much a created a little free printable for you below. The statement, “Children have only one childhood” is such a great reminder that they are only little once, and then the magic is gone. I want to enjoy it, soak it up, let them be little and revel in their littleness. I want them to be free and to explore and to get messy and to be wild. I want them to run barefoot and climb and jump and discover. If there is a child in your life to love, you hold a responsibility to their childhood to let them experience. You don’t have to force it to be magical. Childhood is magical on its own. Don’t rush them, don’t overschedule, don’t make them grow up too fast. Protect them from harm, but give them freedom. Let them be little, they only get to do it once.
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. The only way we can stick to our grocery and dining out budgets is by planning out our meals. We are always on the look out for quick, easy meals that the kids will actually eat, and we love to try to recreate our favorite restaurant meals at home. We all love the new Tyson Panko chicken nuggets from Sam’s, and they make a perfect kids’ dinner when paired with healthy fruits and vegetables. The Bear is big on dipping, so we experiment with new dipping sauces for our kid friendly meals. Jed whipped up this fabulous zesty addictive orange sauce to pair with our nuggets. It is quick and easy to make at home and tastes very similar to that of our favorite chicken restaurant. I will warn you – it really is crazy addictive.
We like to keep our birthday parties simple and frugal around here, but we always want our kids to feel celebrated on their special day. Obviously they won’t remember their first birthdays, but we have photos for their baby books and traditions to build on. Today I’m sharing a few of our simple and festive birthday party ideas as well as some of the best from my fellow Ultimate Baby bloggers.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know we love to play outside. We spend as much time as possible playing in our yard, at the park, and exploring our world. My kids ask to go outside immediately after breakfast if not sooner, and they both recognize the sound of the door opening and come running. Playing with a baby outside can be a challenge because there are dangers to avoid and they can’t do what their toddler friends are doing. I’m sharing five ideas for playing outdoors with a baby, all of which are super easy and simple. You can read about our discovery garden ideas here. (more…)
After two babies we’re up to our elbows in baby gear at the Eby house. We tried so many great products (and a few that we didn’t love). Today I’m sharing my absolute favorite products for baby’s first year strictly based on what worked best for us. These may not end up being your favorites, but they were ours’ and we highly recommend them. Jed will chime in and share his thoughts on a few items as well. This post is not sponsored in any way, and all opinions are our own. It does contain affiliate links, and purchasing through those links costs you nothing but helps support the Bare Feet on the Dashboard blog and family. Our favorite cloth diaper products are not on this list, but you can read more about those here. You can read our ideas on saving money with a baby here.
My sweet Pearl Girl is already one, and I just now finished her baby book. I am the Queen of Procrastination. I found a handwriting style font I love and recreated my DIY baby book I made for the Bear with the new font. You can find my original DIY Baby Book with free printables post here. I ordered an 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook album
After almost three years using cloth diapers on two children, I’ve learned a lot. We’ve tried 14 different kinds of cloth diapers and found our very favorites. You can read my post about what I learned the first two years here, and my great cloth diaper trials here. Read about our cloth laundry routine here. Our cloth diaper preferences and routines have evolved as we’ve adjusted to two kids, potty trained the Bear, and moved in to a new house. Today I’m sharing our favorite diapers, our simple laundry process, and my favorite things about cloth diapers.
Breastfeeding was not easy for me, but I’m so glad I did it. I struggled with tongue tie, too much lipase, and recurrent mastitis, but still managed to have beautiful nursing relationships with both kids. Before having the Bear, I thought nursing would be so easy and natural. It is natural, but it isn’t always easy. So many of my friends have struggled as I did with feeding their babies, so I thought I’d share a few things I learned along the way. The journey we went through has given me much grace for others, so please don’t hear any judgement if your choices are different than mine. It isn’t there. Read more about our breastfeeding struggle here and here, and about all I learned about breastfeeding here.
We live debt free on a tight budget and don’t do debt or credit cards (thanks to Dave Ramsey