The type A, list making planner in my brain had already concluded that there was no way I could unpack and repack a bag for the baby every single night. I’d need to pack for as much of the week as possible on Sunday or this would never work. So while Sundays started out pretty scary… we’ve become more efficient and less scared, and even have time to do things other than obsess about the week.
At first, I was spending the entire day Sunday packing, second guessing and rechecking the bags… while juggling diaper laundry, baby food making, the ever-present Sunday night teacher guilt, and oh yeah- quality time with my family. (You can imagine how much fun I was to be around on Sundays!) Once I realized the world wouldn’t end if the bags weren’t perfect though, the weekends started to develop a rhythm- and here we are 2 months in- having Sunday brunch without a side dish of panic. What are we doing? First, making baby food for the week on Saturdays (sometimes even Friday night) has been a game changer. I enjoy it more and don’t feel stressed about it. I’ve also gotten much faster! Next, my husband is the King of Cloth diapers. We’d use all AIOs and fitteds if it were up to me, but he’s happy to stuff our stash of pockets- so that’s how we fill the diaper bags. And that’s what seems to work best for our babysitters. Last, everything has to be ready by the door before I go to bed or I won’t sleep. In the morning, I just need to add the lunches to our bags, the freezer block to my pump bag and grab my breakfast. The King of Cloth gets up with the baby, gets him dressed and packs the car. I try to get in the car by 6:35.
In each diaper bag: 6 diapers, 2 nap diapers, 8-10 wipes, spray bottle, 2 wet bags, Tylenol, a back up outfit (including socks, because I have a fear of one particularly squirmy baby’s feet landing in poop during a diaper change), sleep sack, lunch bag.