Photo was taken at Disney World in May 2010.

Please welcome Mrs. Jen M.’s family from Northwest Indiana! She really put some thought into her answers and she has some really great product recommendations for everyday traveling with toddlers!

Tell us about your family.

My name is Jen, I’m 30 years old.  I met my husband Todd ten years ago, and we have been married for almost 6 years.  We have 2 kids, Jonah (who was born on March 22, 2007) and Lily (who was born on March 2, 2009)

What are some of your family’s favorite activities to do away from home?

We are pretty much home-bodies.  We like to stay close to home and go on walks, go to the park; things like that.  Although we did just get back from a trip to Disney World that we are hoping can turn into an ANNUAL vacation trip for us.

Do you have trouble getting out of the house? Do you have a routine that makes getting out easier?

Adjusting to being a mother of 2 from a mother of 1 was a big challenge for me personally.  Just when I thought I had this mothering thing mastered was when my daughter came along.  

My time-saving tips include:

1. Always having extra clothes, diapers, and wipes in the car, JUST IN CASE!

2. If I have to leave early in the morning to get somewhere, I prep everything the night before. I always have in my diaper bag: Diapers, wipes, extra outfit for each kid, snacks, drinks, medications (in their own separate bag so it’s easy to find), and diaper rash cream.

3. Allow for some lee-way in the schedule. I always try to leave 15 minutes earlier than I need to. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

4. If the outing includes my husband, I give an extra 30 minutes since he is apt to ALWAYS make us late!

When out and about, what items do you carry that keep the family sane?

I have had my share of strollers during the 3 years I have been a mom, and each and every one of them was a life-saver. We’ve used a standard Graco Travel System Stroller in the past. We also have a Baby Jogger Stroller, and the Kolcraft Contours Options Double Tandem Stroller. But by far, my absolute favorite stroller to use on a daily basis, for short trips, is my Joovy Kooper! It is lightweight, easy to fold, easy to steer and push, doesn’t take up a lot of trunk space but is big enough to hold my 15 month old yet 30 pounds big baby girl. As far as diaper bags go, the diaper bag that I absolutely cannot live without now that I am a mother of 2 is the Ju-Ju Be Be Prepared bag, IT IS HUGE! It fits just about anything you could possibly want for an entire day trip (or longer).  As I mentioned above, snacks, diapers, clothes, drinks are all essential too.  But both of my kids have Blankies (a giraffe and a bunny, both by Angel Dear) that are essential to a successful and happy day out as well.

Do you have any parenting words of wisdom? What is your family mantra?

I try to remember, on those really bad days (cranky kids, teething babies, rainy weather that keeps us stuck indoors), that I am blessed to be able to spend my time with these kids. And it is not a job, but a privilege to be their Mother.

Featured Families are automatically entered to win a stroller valued at $250! Would you like to be interviewed for our Featured Families series? Send us an email!

My dear coNectar friends, I apologize for disappearing. My toddler has taken over and my todo list has been given the boot.

A Face Lift

Last month, I mentioned that coNectar would be undergoing a face lift. Well, I’ve completed the new design and I absolutely love it. What do you think?

Getting Readers Involved

Periodically, I will be featuring photos of families out and about. I’d love if you could submit a photo or two of you and your family out and about with stroller and diaper bag in tow or simply enjoying the sunshine.

I will also be interviewing families and featuring them here as well. Families who are interviewed will be entered to win a stroller valued up to $250! Right now, we are drawing every six months. Hopefully, we will be able to draw more frequently in the upcoming months.

If you are interested in being interviewed or being a part of the Out & About series, let me know by sending an email to conectar@strollerdepot.com!

Staying Connected
By becoming a fan of Stroller Depot on Facebook, you’ll be able to stay up to date with the latest happenings here at coNectar and Stroller Depot including our monthly product giveaways!

Speaking of monthly product giveaways. You can get our monthly product giveaways, sales, and parenting tips delivered straight to your inbox when subscribing to our monthly newsletter!

I will be tweeting from the Stroller Depot Twitter account, so it would be great to connect there as well!

And if you’d like to access coNectar via your favorite RSS feed reader, please subscribe to the coNectar rss feed. I’d really like that. *smile*

I think that’s it! Sorry for making your head spin! Here’s to the new changes at coNectar! I’m excited, how about you?

‘Til next time!

We’ve watched our two year old son go from gummy grins to cheesey choppers in less than 18 months. We couldn’t wait for the day that his mouth would be filled with teeth. One thing that never crossed our minds? The task that would come with brushing a toddler’s teeth. We’d grab him a cute toothbrush and some tasty toothpaste and everything would be all gravy.

Wrong.

He loves his big boy toothbrush and he loves his strawberry flavored toothpaste. So much so that he has to bite down on the toothbrush once he gets a taste of this fruity deliciousness.

We start with brushing his bottom teeth as quickly as we can. He gives us a smile and a “yum”. He’s such a ham. This is when he starts biting down on the toothbrush. This is now crunch time. We try everything to get him to open his mouth including tickling and flat out prying his mouth open. He begins to whine, sometimes we can sneak in a brush between wails, and toothbrushing time is over. Every day and night is somewhat of a struggle.

Because we aren’t sure if we’re getting every morsel of food when brushing, especially from his top teeth, we limit sweets and push water. Luckily, he loves water and hasn’t developed a sweet tooth or a cavity. His teeth are so precious, so whatever it takes to protect them, we will.

Edit: We let him brush on his own, but he’d continue to ask for more toothpaste for hours if we let him.

What are some things that you do to make toddler toothbrushing time easier? What do you do to encourage good oral hygiene?

At our last playgroup, our friend Jill brought over a Shrinky Dinks kit. She originally purchased the kit for her daughter, but she thought it would make a great activity for us moms to do.

We grabbed the color pencils, scissors, transfer paper, and design templates and let our creative juices flow while the kids played and colored together.

Here’s one of the designs I traced on to the transfer paper. I totally didn’t follow the color scheme on the template.

Our pendants fresh out of the oven!

Although the activity was meant for little girls, we really enjoyed it. It was something different. Something we could just giggle about. I’m so glad that we were able to craft together. I think I have a new found love for Shrinky Dinks! I’m looking forward to making more next Wednesday! Thanks Jill!

Do you have a kids craft that you enjoy?

I’m currently working behind the scenes to make coNectar a bit more visually pleasing and user friendly. I’m also working on a few fun features where you will be able to get involved.

Stay tuned…