I'm willing to bet this wasn't covered in any premarital counseling sessions on assumed division of labor in the household. We long ago decided that I would happily do all the laundry if Jeff took out the garbage, but we never discussed who would make sure we never left the house without a binky. Hint: it's me. It seemed a natural decision, maybe because a diaper bag is somewhat an extension of a purse. A big, heavy, crumb-filled purse. Now I'm not complaining about the task; I'm just pleading my case for why I'm often the last one out the door on our way to church.
The arsenal of goods needed to leave the house with a baby and toddler in tow is daunting. Is it just our kids, or do all newborns have a way of pooping so explosively that you need a ballistics expert to explain how poop could simultaneously blast its way up to the shoulders and down to the knees at the same time? Also, both of our kids were big time droolers and spewers, going through a dozen or more bibs and burp cloths a day. Now that she is a toddler, AJ requires a battery of snack options, each getting more and more enticing to be saved for more and more dire situations. So between the diapers, clothes, bibs, burp clothes, binkies, raisins, bananas, cheese, sunscreen, hand wipes, etc., something is bound to be left behind.
After leaving the house one too many times with insufficient supplies of burp cloths, I wrote out a quick diaper bag inventory list. This little 3x5” notecard allows me to quickly scan and restock the bag rather than relying on my often foggy mommy-brain memory. As a fringe benefit, it also allows other people to pack the bag for me. Last week, Jeff asked, “What else do I need to pack?” and rather than me listing off twenty different items, I just referred him to the list.
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