As a business owner and mom, I regularly commute between my home office and a rented office space. Sometimes I begin to feel like a baggage handler by the time I make it to the office. Believe me, toting a laptop computer, diaper bag, stack of files, lunch for the day and my infant son is no easy task. I am hoping it counts as exercise though!
The diaper bag I carry seems to have taken on a life of its own as it has grown to its capacity. It definitely holds more than baby items. It is my lifeline!
I recently went through my bag hoping to scale down a bit. Here are some of the items I found:
•Diapers and Wipes and other baby things (it IS a diaper bag after all)
•Cell Phone (doubles as a teether, but don’t forget to lock your keypad so baby can’t call Tokyo)
•Tylenol For Baby
•Tylenol For Me (or something stronger)
•Business Cards
•Energy Bars (sometimes lunch is a luxury)
•Telephone Headset (device that allows you to breastfeed, talk on the phone and work on the computer at the same time).
•Loose Change (usually left over from a McDonalds drive-thru trip)
•Crayons and a Coloring Book (to keep my 4 year old occupied while I’m on the phone with clients)
•Dollar Bills (to bribe my 4 year old while I’m on the phone with clients)
•Duct Tape (for emergencies only….again with the 4 year old and being on the phone with clients)
•Sandwich Bag full of Cheerios (for baby and sometimes the energy bars aren’t enough)
•To Do List (in case you actually find time to work)
In my attempt to scale down, I realized I just needed a bigger diaper bag. I see no reason to fight it. My needs will only increase as my son gets older and more mobile. Diaper bag designs will just have to evolve to work for me!
Right now I am thinking one with wheels would be good. I can picture it now: a huge diaper bag on wheels that will hold all of the above items, plus my files, my laptop and my lunch with an infant seat mounted on top for my son.
In all seriousness, diaper bags have come a long way since my daughter was born. I did end up scaling down a bit and began shopping for something a little more sophisticated. Something without a bunny design would be a great start! I was really pleased to find a great selection of fashion forward bags for moms. They are functional yet hip! The available fabrics are out of this world and you can find every style and size imaginable. I finally settled on a bag that fits both my mom and business owner lifestyles. I feel like a million bucks now.
Well actually, a million bucks is a bit of an exaggeration. The diaper bag was a tremendous improvement to my “look” but I will still need to do something about my ponytail and sweatpants. That will have to be a different article.