What's in my Diaper Bag? (Toddler Edition)

More than a year ago, when Yuri was just 6 months old, I wrote my first-ever what's-in-my-diaper-bag post (you can read it here). I happened to be backreading when I stumbled upon that post. Ang dami ko palang dala noon! No wonder I got myself a huge diaper bag!

Now that Yuri is already 20 months old, I discovered I've been bringing a lot less stuff with me. Actually, compared to when Yuri was a baby, I've been bringing less stuff when he turned 1. Now that he's starting to be an independent toddler, I've been bringing  far less stuff. In fact, I got myself a small diaper bag to fit our more active lifestyle. Charot, kung maka-active! Haha!

Anyway, if you're curious, or if you have an infant and still hoping for a more streamlined diaper packing assembly in the morning, I'll show you what I usually bring when I go out with Yuri. Disclaimer: I still usually bring an even smaller bag for my personal belongings - AKA the mom bag. Okay, here are the contents of our toddler-edition diaper bag:

The bag: Carter's diaper bag, which is less than half the size of my previous Baby Couture bag

 Solid feeding essentials: Avent sippy cup, Richell snack cup, and spoon and fork from a set given by Auntie Melissa

I love our Richell feeding cup because it contains its own spoon! I bought it early this year from Zalora but found that they don't sell baby stuff anymore. 

 Must have: Extra shirt and a pair of busha pants which don't take too much room in the bag. These are important because (1) Yuri is a very sweaty kid and (2) you just never know when an "accident" will happen.

 Optional: We still breastfeed, and while Yuri very rarely nurses in public for months now, I still carry with me a nursing cover. Just in case.

Essentials: I've had the same clear pouch for more than a year now; it's from the Baby Couture diaper bag.

I bring with me 1 or 2 diapers (depending on how long we'll be gone), regular wipes, hand-and-face wipes, and Boogie wipes. I realize I'm now bringing more wipes than when Yuri was a baby!

 Essentials: Baby powder, either Human ❤ Nature or GIGA Baby mosquito repellent, and any brand of hand sanitizer (will try Human Nature next time)

Yuri and the Attack of the Insects! (Review: GIGA Baby Balm)

I always let Yuri play outside whenever the weather permits it. First, Vitamin D is good for him. Second, it tires him out and he sleeps deeply in his afternoon naps. Third, well, I just want to see him a bit tanned than just white.

However, I had to stop him from going out for a while. This is because a few weeks ago, Yuri got a huge insect bite on his leg:

I didn't know what caused the bite. Is it a mosquito? Is it an ant? Within the day and in the next days, he got several new insect bites all over his body:

What caused those big angry bites? And those are just a few of his insect bites ha! There were more insect bites sprouting in the next days. There were a few mosquitoes in the house, but they never bite Yuri because I always see to it that he uses an insect repellent (we use GIGA and Human Nature). Those insect bites didn't look like mosquito bites, either. However, Yuri was visibly bothered by them. Kawawa. :-(

I hate you, but it's not your fault this time!

As first aid, I tried putting on his eczema ointment. I'm sure it doesn't do anything to the insect bites, but because I didn't have anything else at hand, I was hoping it would relieve the itch.

However, it did not. While it did not harm Yuri in any way, using that medicated cream only made him smell like medicine. So the next day, I did my research and found out that GIGA, a store I frequent, sells a baby balm that could be used for insect bites. That Sunday, I immediately bought one:

Like what I said in my November Fun and Frugal Finds post, I like how the balm has a pleasant smell. It's not overpowering unlike medicated creams and Citronella sprays. This means I could use it without irritating our noses (I am very sensitive to strong smells).

More importantly, after just one day, I immediately saw it taking effect. Take note ha, that was less than 24 hours. The big red angry bites immediately reduced into these:

Dinner at Vikings

Warning: Photo overload ahead :-)

After months of its opening, I finally get to try Viking's! It was my mom's birthday last Saturday, and we were supposed to have a Saturday night dinner. However, the place was already fully booked, so we moved our reservation to Sunday night.

It's Monday morning now and I'm still too pooped to write! At least, it was morning when I began writing this post. That was before we had a poop accident here (Yuri's, of course) and I had to take a bath and found out I had to re-upload all the photos. Grrsssk.

Anyway I was sooo tired last night! We didn't even stay late, but mothers of toddlers would know. Since I'm still so tired, I'll let the photos and the captions do the talking:

Yuri's OOTD.  He was supposed to wear his long-sleeved Elmo shirt from my preloved loot here, but the weather last Sunday evening turned out to be hot and humid! You can even see the sun in the photos at home.

 Choosing which books to bring

 I just realized I was still wearing pambahay slippers here. Oops!

 Seated and waiting

 I'm happy to say Vikings has a lot of divider plates for toddlers and children! I found their plates cute. I wonder where they got it!

Munching on some "appetizers" while waiting for the others to finish "looting"

Potato chips, garlic sauce, cheesy lasagna

 Not my plate :P

Top 5 Apps I Can't Live Without

Okay, that's a hyperbole. Of course, I can live without these apps. Only I'm not sure if I would want to! My phone is a low-end Android phone (I just have to say low-end), but I enjoy it and make the most out of it. Here are my five most favorite and most used apps:

5. Quick Note

As an impulsive writer and list-taker, a note app is a must-have in my phone. Quick Note must be the nth notetaking app that I've downloaded but so far, it's the best. Surface-wise, it is clean and easy to navigate. The fontface is visually-pleasing and readable. It's also light and doesn't take up too much space in my low-tech Android phone.

What I like here is that I'm able to draft a post in my downtime, while Yuri is sleeping, or before I sleep.

PS: I'm typing out this entry on Quick Note, which I will just share to my Google mail account.

4. Pocket

One of the biggest eaters of my time is reading. Because I work online, I'm very open to temptations of interesting blog posts and articles.

But instead of wasting my time reading, I just click on the Save-to-Pocket plugin of my Chrome browser. It is automatically saved in the Pocket app of my phone. Then, I can read as much as I like before sleeping.

By doing this, I will not miss out on informative and interesting reads without sacrificing worktime. The articles saved inside my Pocket app are usually about the following topics: motherhood and parenting, recipes, budgeting, trivia, and home & living.

3. BPI Express Mobile

I'm a loyal BPI account holder. Even though I only have an ATM account, I like BPI because of the services they offer to make my life more convenient.

For example, I receive my monthly salary via BPI. I can easily check my account using the app. When I need to pay the internet bill, I just transfer the amount using the app. I can also transfer money to other BPI users, which make online shopping hassle-free. To this day, I only buy stuff from sellers who have BPI accounts! (I learned my lesson when I got scammed.)

2. MoBill Budget

Finance Friday: Fun and Frugal November Finds!

This post kinda hits two politicians birds with one stone. I haven't done both a Finance Friday and Monthly Finds post since forever! So, apparently, I mixed them into one post since November was all about finding fun but affordable finds. This is fit for a Finance Friday post because I managed to find affordable alternatives to usual finds - which is something we must all strive to do.

Please remind me to practice what I preach. :-P

Anyway, I haven't bought a single thing for myself for so long, but I find that perfectly fine. To be honest, I get bored when I browse websites for women-stuff. Instead, I always, always, find myself navigating to the babies and toddlers websites and sections. I don't follow online shops for women's fashion anymore; I only get interested in baby-and-toddler stuff shops.

So it's not a surprise when everything I bought for this month (and the past months, as well) are for Yuri. Well, you can't blame me, can you? Toddler-stuff are much more fun to buy than women-stuff! Anyway, here are what I got for the month:

1. Milk

Okay, sorry for the boring first entries. I promise the more interesting stuff are below. Anyway, one reason I got addicted to reading mommy and parenting blogs is that I can easily get unsolicited tips on what to use for babies. I read that when the baby turns 1, babies can actually go straight to reading regular milk. Fresh milk is better than powdered milk, so I've been buying fresh milk for Yuri for months now. (We're still breastfeeding.)

Anyway, I have been buying Oishi Oaties milk regularly, but I want to try something else because that brand is kinda sweet. I want to get Yuri used to the taste of regular fresh milk, so I tried Cowhead. It tastes good like regular fresh milk does, and the best part about it is the pull-tab! I'm ensured that the milk is really fresh and not tampered.

Rating: Hit
Price: Around P70 or P80 

2. Juice

I have also been regularly buying fresh juices for Yuri since he was around 15 months old. I always try different kinds of juices, but I always see to it that they are all-natural and sugar-free.

I saw this Del Monte juice brand in SM a couple of weeks ago and was astounded that it was so cheap. I took one, of course. The problem is that I forgot to check its ingredients. At home, I saw that it was not sugar-free. Boohoo. Yuri still drank it, but I have to mix it with more water than the usual. Also, admittedly, it tastes better than the sugar-free juices. Duh? :-P

Rating: Miss
Price: P62

3. Itch Cream

Since Yuri got attacked by insects at home (will be talking about this in a future post) and got so bothered by his itchy bites (poor boy), I was on the active lookout for a balm that would ease and even cure his insect bites. After research, I decided that the best option would still be GIGA (our insect repellant is GIGA) since a GIGA stall was conveniently situated in SM Lanang.

I was pleased to know that it smells mild and does not sting at all. In fact, it reminds me of lana (Bisaya readers will know this). More importantly, Yuri liked it when I apply the balm on his itches, some of which had cuts on them na. After a day of using it, I was able to see immediate effects! I will review this in a separate post soon.

Rating: Hit!
Price: P150

4. Detergent

Since we ran out of our usual laundry detergent for Yuri, I began scouring the web (again!) for a better replacement. We've been using Breeze Gold, and while it's okay, I find that Yuri's clothes become too stiff. Of course, a natural option would be better.

I have already ordered from Human ❤ Nature before, but I've never tried their detergent yet, so I gave it a try. This didn't have a scent, as expected, but Yuri's clothes feel a lot softer now!

Rating: Hit!
Price: P199

5. Dish Cleaner

I actually first tried this during my first Human ❤ Nature loot, and since I was pleased with it, I ordered a bigger bottle together with the detergent. To read a more complete review, just head over to this link.

Rating: Hit
Price: P169.75

6. Disposable Bibs

I didn't really need disposable bibs because we have real bibs, but when I saw this pack on sale at SM Lanang (again), I got really curious. I wanted to open a pack so that I will know the material used for the bibs, but the pack wasn't resealable so it couldn't be opened at the store. I bought one anyway.

At home, I opened the pack and saw that the bibs were made of light and flimsy material. In hindsight, I should have known! Haha! Anyway, clueless me was expecting waterproof bibs and these obviously aren't. Still, they could be handy in case I forget to bring a bib.

Rating: Miss
Price: P60+ for a pack of 6

7. Board Books!

Ah, my current Yuri-related obsession: books! I bought these two after our most recent appointment with our pedia (see post here). I have bought two more books before, and I just had to add two more to our growing collection. As always, I have no complaint with these Cupcake books. The stories are engaging, the illustrations are beautiful, and the material is sturdy!

Rating: Hit (of course!)
Price: P70 (regular price), but one of them, the "Dazzle Duckling" book, was only P45!

8. Suspenders