So  you have small kids in the house? The list of things you will need is endless, but here are 30 things you will NEVER have enough of. EVER.

1. Wet wipes – these are like gold in any parents house and contrary to popular belief they can be used for removing all sorts of mess from surfaces. Kids are messy and dirty and stinky and just down right gross, so believe me when I say you will NEVER have enough. You will ALWAYS need more. Until they are at least 6.
2. Dummies . There must be a parallel universe where dummies and odd socks just all decide to disappear to. How is it that you buy a pack of three dummies, by the end of the week you have ONE left? It’s funny that, when you get down to the last one, you manage to guard it with your life for a year. The problem with having one is that when your kids needs it it’s at the bottom of the toy box or in the toilet and you can’t find it for over an hour. You will not only need a back up, but at least 3 more to avoid you going mad with stress at every bedtime. I haven’t yet taken this wonderful piece of advise. I obviously care for your sanity more than my own.
3. Nappy bags . to tightly secure all the poop. You don’t want a shit show on your hands.
4. Energy – even the most energetic people among us, will experience fatigue in some way or form. Energy can never RERALLY be recouped when you have kids. Instead every ounce of tiredness overlaps and accumulates.
5. Hair bands, socks and clips . See point 2. Learn.
6. Clean clothes . You will always be buying more and they will always be at the bottom of the laundry. soiled, stained, ruined.
7. Food and snacks– is it just me or do your kids never stop eating? Ok my first-born dint eat until he was 2 but he sure as hell is making up for it. To give those with fussy eaters hope, they WILL eventually eat you out of home. And every five minutes you will find yourself fixing them something to eat before they die because, well, they are starving!!
8. Juice – I swear sometimes the last thing I hear as I fall asleep at night is I want more juicy! I’m thirsty I NEEEEED JUICY!
9. Bottles and containers . like dummies and socks they too have found their way to the parallel universe. (Maybe the entrance to this mysterious place is outside my back door?) It’s a huge problem, where are we going to put the gazillion snacks they will need when we head to the park? EXACTLY.
10. Videos on your phone. Usually of themselves and they will never get tired of watching them. The more the merrier especially for long trips in the car.
11. Hands . if you have one child, two, three, eight? (Ok you need more than extra hands if you have 8, probably some Valium and a holiday? A little common sense too?) you will never have enough hands to help you do everything you need to. The most simple thing like getting into the car becomes a 25 step execution plan that has you in a sweat quicker that your morning shape class. And takes you twice as long.
12. Sanity . I need at least 5 doses of sanity to get me through the day. It’s especially crucial between the meltdown hours of 5 and 6. (See points 7, 19, 24, 29 and 30 for help in this regard)
13. Soap . they are dirty as fok.
14. Detergents . They mess up you house and spill things all over your clothes. If you don’t want your house and wardrobe stained, detergents are where it’s at!
15. Money . I promised myself I would only use fok once in this article: but seriously FOK, do they think money grows on trees? Apparently we did before we had kids. And to think we not even in the expensive phase yet.
16. Sleep . What’s that? Is it something you use at the gym? Bake with? Put in your food? It sounds nice. I would love some.
17. Underpants/panties . especially during the nappy training phase but generally throughout their toddler years. Sharting is like such a real thing.
18. Peppa pig episodes . Okay maybe its Barney or Telletubbies, but once they have discovered their favourite you are pretty much screwed.
19. Allergex/Stopain/Bennettes – Basically any of the legal sedatives you are allowed to get over the counter. You will use them. And you WILL need more.
20. Patience . It goes without saying, but il say it anyway. Patience is a virtue.
21. Babysitters . While we are blessed with grandparents there will always be situations where a babysitter is needed. If not, we will think of something, I assure you!
22. Toys – it doesn’t matter how many toys they have in their room, they will ALWAYS want more. Of course we tell them to make do, but the reality is that kids love new toys and the novelty of a new one is there to stay.
23. Nappies . they shit a lot. You can never have too many nappies in the house.
24. Of a sense of humor . a crucial necessity for any parent who wants to make it out of these years alive.
25. Blankets and pillows (for forts and make shift tents) We have lots of pillows (like 10 or more that we rotate depending on the severity of my husband’s neck pain) but even then (after we have combined them with the four they have in their room and the scatter cushions all over the house) we still always come out short when building forts on the weekend.
26. Balls . I mean this is figuratively too. You need a different kind of bravery and courage. The kind that enables you to wipe vomit out of carpets and protect your children from snakes . But you will also never have enough toy balls, especially if you are a parent of boys. The obsession only grows.
27. Towels– be it at the pool, beach or during bath hour, their towels always manage to absorb triple the amount of water than ours do even though they are half our size.
28. Personal space . What’s that again?
29. Friends to commiserate with – I would not survive these years if it weren’t for my friends and our weekly play dates and Whats App chats. Knowing that we can laugh over
30. Wine – Need I say more? It’s best you get it delivered weekly because we all know its going to be consumed.

It may be surprising how quickly I made this list but the thing that amazed me most is that despite all these things, the one thing I will always have more than enough of is LOVE. There will always be a sufficient (if not abundant) amount of love in my heart for the two little people who call me mommy.

Even during the darkest hours, the hardest parts of motherhood, my love for them is always sufficient.

Hi I’m Leigh! Did you enjoy reading this post? I really hope so and would love you to stick around a little longer! Please feel free to browse my blog for other articles or to keep up with all the latest news and to be the first to hear about some great competitions, come and find me me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also email me directly at leeloobaggins@hotmail.com or simply subscribe below and never worry about missing out!