When I was a new mom, one of the biggest changes was how much stuff I always had to take with me. My purses that previously held all I needed in life were not bigger than a piece of paper. After having a baby, I couldn’t leave the house to go five minutes away to the grocery store without taking a bag that made it look like I was going on an overnight trip. Packing the diaper bag became a part-time job in itself.
And if you did not pack the diaper bag every time, than the baby God’s knew this. If you didn’t pack a clean outfit- baby spit up over everything. If you forgot the binky- baby needed to suck. If you didn’t have enough diapers- well, you can imagine that. Probably every new mom does this once, and only once. Then the diaper bag becomes your reassurance. When it is you and baby out, and against the world, the one thing that can save you from every potential disaster is your properly packed, 25 pound diaper bag. (Yes, the diaper bag weighs more than the baby for several months.)
So three and a half-years after having my last baby, why am I still lugging stuff around? I don’t have a “diaper bag” any more- now I have reusable Envirosaxs, which can hold even more stuff than a diaper bag, and weighs more than my youngest child. Instead of diapers and clean little baby outfits, I am transporting books, toys, sports shirts, water bottles, soccer balls, jackets, boots, gym shoes, hats, snacks, and the list goes on.
I figured out something the other day. This never stops. I had it easy with the diaper bag. From here on out, the “diaper bag” only gets bigger and changes names. When the boys start playing sports regularly, then it will be a duffel, or sports bag. As they get bigger, the equipment gets bigger, and the “diaper bag” gets less and less fashionable. Last time I checked, Kate Spade doesn’t have a soccer duffel bag line.
I realized the diaper bag’s job is to train you that you can never, and I mean never, leave your house without some sort of equipment bag. I think the diaper bag should be renamed The Mom Equipment Bag. Because diapers are only the beginning. Your real job as a mom, is the equipment manager.