What’s in my toddler diaper bag

You know, I’m always amazed to find how many searches of “what to put in my diaper bag” or some variation thereof bring people to this blog. My original diaper bag post and my travel diaper bag post get tons of hits still months after I posted them. Now that A is a toddler, my diaper bag has changed a lot, so why not give the people what they obviously want and cover that too.

The best part of having a toddler is they require way less stuff than babies. Leaving the house used to take for-ev-er because there was just so much crap to haul. I was constantly restocking my diaper bag with burp clothes, clothes, diapers, and everything else under the sun. Now, I can just throw a few things into my everyday purse.

I carry the Michael Kors Jet Set Travel Tote as my everyday purse, so if you prefer a smaller everyday purse, you will probably not be able to do so, but if you are a big purse person like me, it makes it easier.

Diapers/wipes: I mean, this is still a given, except now I only have to bring 2-3 instead of 10.

Sippy cup: I pack an empty sippy cup for water if we’re going somewhere to eat or to a friend’s house. If we’re running errands I make sure it’s a very, very, VERY leak proof cup, and I put water in it.

Snacks: My favorite on the go snacks are Earth’s Best Happy Snax, Plum Organics Super Puffs, good old Cheerios, or any kind of fruit pouch. The best snack container? Tupperware. The kind with the screw on lid.

Small toys: I always pack a few of A’s favorite smaller toys. Right now it’s a small board book, her Sesame Street phone, and Elmo keys.

Not pictured: Hand sanitizer, tissues, lotion, extra lovie.

What I DON’T pack anymore: Burp clothes (no spit up, no need), extra clothes (unless we’re going somewhere for longer than 2-3 hours, she’s had a diaper blow out in the past 24 hours, or I know the weather will be bad), bibs (if we’re eating out I always order not messy food).

This is probably the “bare minimum” of what you need. Granted, this is for short excursions, such as errands or play dates. If we’re going somewhere for a full day or longer, obviously we pack more. But for the weekly trip to the grocery or Target or a lunch/dinner out, these few, essential items are all you really need for a toddler.

If I had a million dollars…

…I would do a lot of things, but first I think I’d hire someone to finish unpacking all these boxes for me. I’ve been staring at them for days now. Part of the problem is after work, I just don’t feel like unpacking, or unpacking is just logistically difficult. Obviously, after work I am getting dinner prepared or A ready for bed, and after that I am just tired and want to play Candy Crush until I inevitably lose all my lives. Both weekends we’ve been here so far, John has been out of town, so I can only unpack when A is sleeping. She is a TERRIBLY light sleeper, and I’ve woken her up a couple times trying to put things away .

Also, I really don’t know where to put a lot of things. I’ve never had an “adult” house to decorate, and I’m unsure where to start. Along side my professional un-packer, I’d hire a professional decorator. I have never had an eye for design, which is pretty obvious if you’ve ever been inside any of the places I’ve lived. Part of the problem is I’m cheap. I would like to be all Pottery Barn, but then I see the price tag and I’m like “LOL no.” I know you can decorate, tastefully, for significantly less, but that whole not-having-the-time thing really gets in the way.

What my house will never look like (Photo courtesy of Pottery Barn)

 

This is a problem because I need a lot more things to get this place looking good (right now it’s just functional). We got a nice couch and chair for the living room, but we need a media console and coffee table. I’d also like to get a low bookcase with room for storing some of A’s toys/books, and maybe a couple storage ottomans to keep DVDs and video games out of sight (and for additional seating). I’ve been checking Craigslist and a local thrift store but have yet to see anything that I like.

For the first time, I have a room I can actually dedicate to an office, which is awesome, because I’ll have a place I can call Hot Shot Mama HQ (instead of just, you know, my couch, where I am currently writing this from), and my new job is going to require some working from home. I just don’t know what to do with it. I’ve been spending a lot of time on Pinterest trying to find ideas. I like the idea of a Parsons style desk and a funky chair, but other than that I’ve got nothing.

(That last one is my dream office, if I had unlimited space/funds. I would love a desk for writing and a desk for other tasks. But I have neither so I’m going to try to marry things from the first three. I really like the oversized pin board in the first image, all the storage in the second, and the floating shelves in the third. Since I can’t have the epic desk from my dream office I will settle for the cool chair.)

Seeing as I am unlikely to fall into piles of money anytime soon, I really need to get over the not-being-good at decorating thing and just figure it out, because this house? Not going to decorate itself.

What’s in my travel diaper bag

My “What’s in my diaper bag” is probably one of my most popular posts on this blog. Apparently people Google “what’s in my diaper bag” a lot, and it sends said people here. (If you found my little corner of the internet from that post, welcome! I hope you stuck around.)

Seeing as it’s still such a popular post, I thought I would do it again with what I packed in my travel diaper bag on our flights. Packing a well stocked diaper bag for air travel is extremely important, as there really is no way you can “restock” in a terminal. If you run out of something…you are kind of screwed. On the same token, you don’t want to pack so much you feel like a sherpa, because running through an airport with a baby is already exhausting enough. There’s a happy medium where you feel well prepared but not over packed. That happy medium kind of depends on your baby, but here is what worked for me and my eight/nine month old.

First things first, here is the bag I used on both flights:

It’s the Shi Shu Style Everything Tote, and It. Is. Awesome. The bag itself is huge and has six generously sized pockets on the inside, so it’s easy to keep organized. It has a wide opening so you can shove a lot into it without it feeling overstuffed, and it still fits underneath the airplane seat in front of you. The straps are long enough so it’s a comfortable bag to carry over your shoulder for extended periods of time.

(A word about price: Apparently, this bag retails for almost $100. Suffice to say, I did not spend this much money on it. I got it from babysteals.com for $30. I’m sure you could find something similar for much less than what this retails for, but if you can find this bag on sale like I did, it’s a great bag. Baby Steals still has some available in one color scheme!)

Secondly, I kept things organized inside the bag with clear zippered bags. I got these from Amazon, but anything similar will work. I packed diapers/wipes, toys, and snacks in separate bags so I could easily grab what I needed. Everything else got packed in the pockets.

And now, for the contents:

1. Aden & Anais blanket: Always have one in my bag, traveling was no exception. A pretty much passes out on planes, so it was helpful to have to drape over her. ETA: This was also handy to spread on the ground at the airport so A could play during layovers.

2. Various wipes: I brought wet wipes to clean off pretty much anything I knew A would be touching since planes are notoriously germy. Boogie Wipes are a product I would probably cease to function without (I may or may not use them myself when I have a cold), and they were super necessary on this last flight since A had a little cold. And of course, regular baby wipes (which I actually used in a travel case, but the regular container was closer for photography purposes).

3. Diapers: I packed 5-6 Target brand diapers (I have better luck with these than most name brand diapers with leak control) for these flights. I figured 1 for before take off in New Orleans, 2-3 for layovers, and 1 for after landing in destination city. This formula worked pretty well for A. I either used all the diapers or had a couple left over, but never ran out before I reached where we were headed.

4. Toys!: I didn’t pack all of these for both flights, but a combo of them were used for each flight. My thought process was to pack a variety of toys, some she loved, some she hadn’t played with in a while, and one new toy, on each trip. The two things these toys had in common: Compact and quiet.

5. Things to keep/stay clean with: I never leave home without a few burp clothes, a couple bibs, and a change of clothes (for me and A). Traveling is no exception.

6. A’s lovey: Pretty self explanatory. If your kid has a lovey, make sure you have it. I don’t think she would have napped on the plane without her Aden & Anais security blanket.

7. iPad/charger: I brought the iPad for two reasons: 1) I have a few apps for A on there which keep her occupied when nothing else will, and 2) I use it as my e-reader now, so when A napped on the plane I could read. I am in constant fear of my phone dying while being stranded in an airport, so I always pack a charger in my carry on.

8. Stuff to eat: I packed Plum Organics Super Puffs, Cheerios, and Baby Mum Mums for A to snack on. Not pictured: Baby food pouches; she can suck the food right out of them so it’s not messy. I also packed myself a few snacks, like granola bars and trail mix. I packed A’s formula in the Avent formula dispenser. Not pictured: Bottles.

*Now, a word about bottle feeding and flying.

Bottle feeding on plane kind of sucks. First you have to actually pack bottles, which take up beaucoup room in your bag, then you have to worry about fixing the bottles in the airport. Then you either have to rinse bottles in the airport bathroom (gross) or carry around dirty bottles in your bag (less gross, but have you smelled formula recently? It doesn’t smell better the longer it sits there). The TSA says you can go through security with a “reasonable” amount of prepared formula, but I never could find out from anyone how much a “reasonable” amount is. On the Boston trip, I actually bought really cheap bottles from Wal Mart (3 for $2.87, you really can’t beat that), and threw them away after A used them. I would have done this for Indy too but I didn’t get a chance to go to Wal Mart before we left. I really liked this “disposable” bottle method over using our regular bottles on the Indy trip.*

Not pictured: I packed a baggie of liquids with hand sanitizer, lotion, and Infant Tylenol. I am by no means a proponent of drugging your kid, but I did give A some infant Tylenol before our flights. I was not only worried about ear pain, but I knew she was cutting her teeth on both flights.

That’s our travel diaper bag in a nutshell. It seems like a lot of stuff, but it actually all fit well in the bag and didn’t feel too crazy. And it all got used, which is how I really know I didn’t overpack. Next week A and I are road trippin’ to Florida to spend a few days at the beach with my two older nephews, so I’m excited to see how my new travel experiences translate to a different method of transportation.