The "Easy" Life?

So Monday has found us all again...my Mondays are usually pretty busy as I am always putting my house back together from the wrath of Daddy and Baby.  This morning as I was doing my usual routine I began to think about all of the things I do in order to make my life easier, what I could do better or more of and what others may do that I am missing out on!  I thought I would "blog" about what I believe makes my role as Momma easier in hopes that I could maybe share a unique idea or even better receive and amazing suggestion that will just rock my world!

These Boys are MESSY!!!

My normal Monday routine usually consists of Laundry, prepping food for the week, making sure my car and diaper bag are ready for any "thing" that may arise, cleaning and re-organizing our common areas (living room, kitchen, dining room and "pub" area) and of course the normal day to day things that we all do (eat, shower, feed Aiden, tend to doggy, play, clean up, repeat, oh yeah and plan and prep dinner).  Seems easy enough right?  So get to the tips already.  Laundry...I usually sort my laundry on Sunday night...my husband likes to hoard his whites in his book bag or in the closet so it is usually a wild goose chase to track down everything...as each load gets done in the dryer, the next load goes in...I usually fold and put away as I go and never put clean clothes back in a laundry basket and always pair up my socks immediately out of the dryer...this helps me win the battle with the sock monster that lives in my dryer...all upstairs laundry (Aiden's clothes and extra towels/sheets) go on the stairs for when I make one of my countless trips up the stairs.  Sometimes my clean clothes will sit on my bed until naptime depending on Aiden's mood but I always put the laundry in the way so it forces me to fold it!  If Aiden is asleep I load the laundry but don't hit start until he wakes up...he is a light sleeper and his naps are already short enough!

Food is a big deal in our house....since Aiden is allergic to milk and eggs I can't just give him some of whatever I am having and I have yet to find age appropriate "baby" food that is milk and egg free...so I spend a good amount of time on Mondays prepping food for Aiden.  I "snack" bag safe crackers, triscuits, cheerios and blueberries, pre-cook gluten free pasta, cut up and bag strawberries, grapes, turkey dogs, grilled chicken, pickles, and apples.  Once I have all of this prepped I put it on one shelf which is "Aiden's shelf"...if it is on that shelf it is safe for my little allergy boy...all dry food goes in a pile on the counter because if your kid is anything like mine he always signs "eat" when I am elbow deep in dish suds with 2 pots on the stove and the dog standing at the back door barking and Aiden is shrieking while signing "eat, eat, eat"...clearly an emergency!  Speaking of food and emergencies, I try to keep a full cup of juice in the fridge at all times because once Aiden sees the sippy cup he does not want to wait for me to fill it up!  Aiden eats everything in his highchair with the exception of the occassional cracker...I have found that this contains my food on the floor mess to just one room and Buddy does a pretty good job of handling that!

EAT!!!

On the weekends we usually drive my hubby's truck so on Mondays I make sure that the stroller is in my trunk, I pack the diaper bag and set it close to the door in case of the need for a quick exit.  The carseat is always prepped and by prepped I mean the straps are tucked into the side so I can just put Aiden in while he is trying to wiggle out and buckle him without him sitting on the straps thus making the process next to impossible.  My purse is always next to the diaper bag and usually contains wet wipes, a hair brush for myself and Aiden, snacks to distract Aiden when we are out, a couple of toys, and a bib...sounds like I should just carry a diaper bag but trust me my purse is smaller and lighter than the diaper bag which by the way contains 5 diapers, wipes, change of clothes, EPI pen for Aiden, blankets, coat, tylenol, gas drops and a few other distactions for Aiden.

Let's Go Momma!

During nap time....after I tend to myself for a short while, I lay out Aiden's clothes for the day, a diaper, wipes and creme all on the bed so that it is all within arms reach when I change Aiden after his nap.  There is nothing like a naked baby bottom lathered with creme and the diaper is no where in site.  We keep Aiden's books on the bottom book shelf so he can get to them without our help and I keep the DVD player loaded with Elmo's world because although he really isn't into TV yet, there is something about Elmo's voice that can buy me about 3.5 minutes of sanity.
Some of this may seem silly, pointless, or even obvious however I am always trying to improve my system, buy myself more time, and make my life just a tad bit easier!  I am sure there are a few more things that I probably "swear" by but for now this is what makes my life just that much "easier"....what do you do???