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Bra bag to wash and dry baby socks in.

Lansinoh pump adapters go onto GLASS Avent natural bottles

For my opinionated toddler, I pick 2 shirts and and ask him which he wants. He thinks he's choosing, and I don't have to refold every shirt in his drawer

Yogurts, cheese sticks, juices, carrots, basically any fridge snack he can have whenever in the fridge drawer. He can reach it and I don't have to stop what I'm doing to get it for him

Tiny brush-and-dustpan thing. The three year old has a thing for cutting paper into tiny little pieces on the floor. Now I can finally ask her to sweep that up

Zipper bags for pencils and crayons. All the original packaging is missing, but this keeps them contained.

Soups and veggies in meatballs. The six year old is going through a picky phase again, but soup has been non-negotiable here for years, so he's still getting a somewhat balanced diet that way.

My kids love oatmeal but we have little time in the morning so the process of cooking and cooling it took too long. Instead, I still make it in the microwave but don't put much water in there. Then I throw in ice cubes. It cools it down and makes it the correct consistency in no time!

So this is strange but it works!

Hack #1 post c section survival:

When my son was 2.25 my daughter was born. He was still in a crib and I had a c section. My mom suggested I turn the side against the wall into the toddler bed rail so I could pull the crib out from the wall so I wouldn’t have to lift him. Worked like a charm. Did the same for my daughter when DS2 was born and she was 2. Again, worked perfectly.

Hack # 2: crib to bed transition

The switch from crib to bed has been so so easy. NEITHER of my naughty rebel children have ever got out of bed at night. Never. Not once. Since they are used to have their bed like a toddler bed for a few months (see hack #1) when I flip the bed around so now the rail is outward facing, they are so used to the bed already, nothing changes. When they wake up in the morning they call for me. Highly recommend. I’ll be doing the same thing for my last one even though I won’t need to because of a c section.

@LCTBQE: I didn’t watch the haaka video above but the big thing for me was learning how to adjust suction. I do the thing to flip the top part back before putting it on but I find it loses suction as it fills, so I squeeze out air to increase suction again. I have had a few MAJOR spills on the bed and floor if I forget to pay attention and it falls off, sooooo annoying. But the increased suction also means I get more than just letdown so it’s not so thin plus I fill up a bottle faster (without any actual pumping ... just constant low grade suction I don’t really notice). Of course YMMV on what is comfortable and productive. But it’s so easy for when you’re home and only one piece to clean! I keep in fridge between uses if using multiple times per day.

Santa got DD a rechargeable shark vacuum for Christmas. Win.

I gave my toddler dried cranberries from my salad, and she called them "gummies". I didn't argue. Now when she asks for gummies or candy, I give her dried cranberries. She jumps for joy. My husband thought it was mean, but I thought it was brilliant.

When it comes to medicine...

Infant/bottle stage- put the medicine in the bottle or just the nipple and add a little BM or formula that way you know your baby finished it before giving them their usual BM or formula ount.

Once your kiddo is old enough to handle the syringe themselves let them. LO has the best time giving himself medicine. Use Crystal Light to flavor medicine. I let LO squirt it in the measuring cup and he got a kick out of that part too.

Diapering...just get two pads for each floor of your house. Keekaroo all the way. For the few times a little something got on the pad we were happy to be able to disinfect without having to throw in the wash.

Cover up any machines in LO’s room that emits blue light. It’ll help them sleep more soundly. I used rolled up onesies to cover the humidifier and air purifier light. The cute IKEA nightlights that look like critters can be pressed to to just emit the red night light.