Entries from December 2009 ↓

hooray!  we finally took the plunge this week and purchased a diaper bag!  there was much harrumphing about it on my part (sorry, honey) because I’d originally had my heart set on a DIAPER BAG diaper bag and not some other kind of gender neutral bag that could be co-opted to behave as a diaper bag for as long as we need it to, then put to good use when we no longer need it for that purpose.  this harrumphing of mine was born of long years of “oh, that’s so CUTE!” that I’d done over Peter Rabbit themed bags, then sleeker (but still specifically for diapers) more chic models, and more recently all of the cute diaper bag patterns that Amy Butler and others like her have created.   Plus, I’d found these awesome bags as I was poking around online.  COME ON!!  SO CUTE!! I’d always dreamed of owning and carrying one of these bags and this felt like just one more “dream” I had to give up.  Despite my grumbling, I could see the wisdom in not having a diaper bag that was so girly looking that J would refuse to carry it (or change the baby in public–can you imagine him carrying that Amy Butler bag into a men’s restroom at a rest stop on the toll road?  ha!), and so we went to REI with me stubbornly dragging my feet.  When we got to the bags, I had to admit (although, come to think of it, I may not have admitted this out loud to J.  sorry, honey.) that some of the bags were pretty cute and under normal circumstances I would have jumped at the excuse to buy one.  But we soon realized… we had no idea how big of a bag we’d want.  I was pretty sure I didn’t want something enormous (I have a tendency to fill bags up, no matter how big or small they are and that can get really heavy, really quickly), but on the other hand, I didn’t want a bag so small that the items would only fit in if you put them in JUST so with no room for growth.

We ended up purchasing two bags to take home and stuff full of baby necessities to see which one we liked better.  That made the decision easier.  I think we both leaned pretty heavily toward the same bag.  Of course, it was the more expensive of the two, but when we realized that we’d likely be carrying this bag a LOT for a number of years to come… the extra cost seemed insignificant.  In case you’re curious, this is the one we got.  It even has two outside pockets on the sides perfect for carrying bottles (my one secret, probably silly wish).

Now for the poll part:

For those of you who have children of the diaper bag age, what’s in your diaper bag?  ‘Fess up–are you the type who packs for every eventuality (4 extra pairs of socks, a snack for mom, baby Tylenol AND Motrin, 20 binkies…) or have you pared down to the essentials (diapers, wipes, butt cream–do you need anything else)?  Is there anything in there that you added after some incident taught you that you should carry it?  Would your list look any different if you were packing for a newborn?

I”m not necessarily looking for “you should definitely pack this” advice (everyone will have their own opinions and I’ll just get befuddled) but I’m curious to know what has worked for you.

For those of you who don’t have kids yet–leave me a comment if you’d like for me to publish a comprehensive diaper bag packing list when I’ve heard back from people.

p.s.  it’s oddly nice to realize that this particular dream is one that I probably would have had to give up no matter how a child came to join our family.  Hooray for non-adoption-specific angst!

the night before we were supposed to leave to drive to kentucky to visit my family for christmas, we got a call from C saying that she thought she was going into labor and was on her way to the hospital.  She’s only 27 weeks along, so there was panic involved all the way around.  We sat around for about an hour biting our fingernails and chomping at the bit and wondering if we were going to need to buy plane tickets.  Then, not wanting to be a pest, but wanting her to know that we were still there for her, I sent her a text message and she wrote back to say that the baby was fine and they weren’t sure why she was experiencing those symptoms, but they gave her some medicine and were keeping her overnight for observation.  She called a little later to reassure us again that everything was okay and i called her again from kentucky the next day and she was home already.  she’s supposed to just take it easy (maybe bedrest?  it wasn’t really clear to me.) for awhile and keep an eye out for more symptoms.

i think i’d feel better if i had a hospital bag all packed and ready to go.  eep!

“C” called this evening just as I pulled up to meet some friends for dinner.  I’d left messages for her yesterday and the day before that and hadn’t heard back and I was getting a teeny bit paranoid (why do I have to worry so much?), so it was good to get her call.  We chatted for about 20-30 minutes and I asked her about some dates in January when we’d like to come visit and she said she was looking forward to our visit.  She said she’d talked to her social worker at the adoption agency about how she’d really like to meet us before the baby comes because it might be weird to meet us for the first time when she’s in the hospital.  I agreed that it would be very nice to meet her before that and that we’re really looking forward to our visit.  I asked her if she wanted to have any input into the baby’s name and she told me the boy name she’s always loved and a few other significant names that we’ll add to the growing pile of possibilities*.  She told me about another upcoming doctor appointment she’s got and how she’s starting to get “a bump.”  it’s so different to talk about those things with her than it is to talk about them with other people.  I mean, if one of my other friends were pregnant and telling me that they were starting to get a bump (a belly) and that they were looking forward to an ultrasound where they could hear the heartbeat, I’d have to fight back residual jealousy issues.  It’s different when the baby that’s growing and heart-beating is the baby that may someday be MY baby.

I finally had to cut the conversation off so that my friends wouldn’t leave without me.  We promised to talk again soon.

*no, we’re not telling the names to you, dear readers!  just know that it won’t be Harry.  Those of you who know our last name will probably realize why that would not be a wise choice.  For a similar reason (and maybe for a few other reasons), I also don’t think we should use Monty.