A baby "Busy Bag" and a new 'do

Max hasn't been the best napper lately, so my typical get-ready routine has needed to be tweaked a bit.  This means I sit with him on my bed while I do my makeup in a tiny little compact mirror and he plays with something until he gets bored.   

Over the past week, Max has been fascinated by my makeup bag.  He loves flipping the interior compartments over and grabbing at the different items inside.  Yesterday, he felt so accomplished when he found my eyebrow brush.  I'd put it back, and he'd find it and pull it back out again.  He even loves grabbing the closed bag and is mesmerized by the zipper pulls.  And he's not above trying to shove the entire thing in his mouth, either.

Since he's in the phase of trying to eat/taste EVERYTHING, I'm a bit uneasy about him continuing to play with my makeup.  So I decided he needed his own makeup bag.  Don't worry fellas (are there fellas reading my blog?), it's not for him to carry and organize makeup.  It's so he can have a fascinatingly durable and mesmerizing BUSY BAG!

I've seen Busy Bags/Boxes online in years past, but they've been geared more toward older kids and filled with crayons, markers, coloring pages, stickers, etc.  Of course we mommies of little babes carry around our ultimate busy bag, the DIAPER BAG everywhere we go, but how many of us would let our little babes go digging around in those things?  This makeup-bag-turned-busy-bag is the perfect size for little hands and can easily be thrown in that giant diaper bag and pulled out whenever baby is getting bored or needs some entertainment.  Baby can occupy himself while you wait at Costco for your passport photos (which I did yesterday), while you make dinner, while riding in the car, at the doctor's office, the grocery store...the possibilities are endless! 

Max loves to explore and investigate things.  A bag like this, with all of its compartments, is great for a curious little bug like him.  He can chew on it, squeeze it, flip it, flop it, shake it, hit it (that's a new thing he's doing now), dig in it.  It's perfect!  I stuffed some of his chewy toys and rattles in the compartments so he can find and grab them...and eventually chew on them...and later throw them on the floor (honing fine and gross motor skills--BONUS!).  I'm happy to announce that he loves it!  Everything he pulls out goes in his mouth, then gets abandoned in the interest of finding something else to put in his mouth.  It's a hit!

I found this makeup bag at TJ Maxx for $12.99.  I like that it's plastic-y and won't soak up Max's drool.  It's also easy to wipe clean.  Another cheaper option would be to use a pencil bag, but then you sacrifice the excitement of multiple compartments to flip and flop around.  You may notice that Max's Busy Bag is the same bag that had my makeup in it earlier in this post.  I couldn't find another bag like the original, so I had to sacrifice it for Max's benefit.  I got a new one for me at Target.  It's got two compartments, but it's not as fun as the one Max has.  But makeup bags don't need to be fun.  Just cute and functional.  This one'll do.

Are you going to make a Busy Bag for your little babe?  What will you put in it?  I'm still searching for something to fit in the brush compartments, so if you find something safe to store there, please share!

On another note, I got a haircut today.

Taylor Swift's haircut, to be exact.

 

Which means...

"I got bangs!  My hair is so now." (Name that movie!)

Now I just have to get used to having hair resting on my forehead...always an adjustment when I experiment with bangs (yes, I've done this before, but this time I let a professional cut my bangs).

And speaking of Taylor Swift, her new album is TOTES AMAZE!  Kinda like this sweater I also saw at TJ Maxx.  It's originally from American Eagle.

 source

But seriously, Taylor is somethin' else.  I've always liked her music and thought she was a brilliant song writer, but this was the first album of hers that I purchased.  And the first CD I've bought in years.  Money well spent, in my opinion.  LOVE!  Track currently stuck in my head: "All You Had To Do Was Stay."

Hope you had a splendid Thursday!