BIg changes in diaper bag land

I’ve hesitated to discuss this much as it seems like whenever people talk about stuff like this, or sleeping everything they said immediately turns to shit and they regret it.

Anyway you will all remember when I finally settled on a bag I stopped off at Target to purchase a couple goodies to go inside and one of them was this Spark by Skip Hop Changing Wallet.


You will remember I thought I was oh so clever because I could put Brandons diapers on one side, Codi’s on the other and squish the wipes between it then close it up and wala a great space saver in my diaper bag, and an easy way to grab out the diapers if I didn’t want to tote in the whole bag.

Well people big changes have happened!!!! I have made the decision (I am shaking with nervousness as I write this) to remove Brandon’s diapers from my diaper bag and instead place the wipes in the little netted area thus making a nice little changing station for Codi. Then if you remember I spoke about having one extra pocket left inside. WELL I decided to use that pocket to store undies for Brandon. YOU READ RIGHT THERE ARE NO DIAPERS FOR BRANDON IN MY DIAPER BAG! I was terrified to make this decision because to me it felt like I was just asking for him to become un=potty trained! So what I did was put extra undies in my bad and an extra pair of sweats for him in case we have an accident. There are actually two diapers for him behind the seat of my car in case of long trips or who knows what (like an emergency poop but no acceptable toilet around).

Now my little Skip hop bag is totally awesome and far more functional. I just hope that publishing that my two year old only wears a pull up at night to bed and not at any other time isn’t going to mean that he will suddenly start peeing all over himself and taking dumps on my carpet.

We had taken a bit of hiatus from potty training for a while when he was sick and my husband didn’t think he was old enough to train. But we went full blast again a couple weeks ago and so far so good. I hope it works out. We have had a few poopoo accidents but I fully think that is to be expected when he is so newly trained! So wish me luck!

I also wanted to take a second to direct you all to the Spark by Skip Hop brand at Target. The prices are ridiculously affordable and the quality is amazing.

They offer the changing wallet, which I think is genius and the diaper bag is also awesome and as far as I can see it is just as awesome as their overpriced Skip Hop bag on their website. You can buy both of these items for less then the price of a regular Skip Hop bag. So go now to Target, run, fon’t walk and pick one up now!

For the love of gosh its finally over

SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Gosh awful horrible Ju Ju Be arrived yesterday. When they said it was big, they really meant THIS BAG IS GOING TO WEIGH MORE THEN YOUR NEW BORN CHILD. Seriously its huge.


Bag from the side, doesn’t seem huge in this picture but it is, also fabric seems like it would stain.


One enormous mother fucker. When I say this is big I mean big, to give you an idea it will not fit in the basket on my jeep jogging stroller, graco travel system stroller or ANY FUCKING STROLLER IN BABIES R US. I tried people, its that big of a bad mamajama


The inside of this thing was ridiculous. It had so many pockets they stopped being useful. There were pockets on the inside, the outside, the inside of the inside, pockets inside pockets and truthfully it looked like they just tried to see where they could shove a pocket. THEN! As if the bag itself wasn’t awful enough the company is worse. I wan to return the bag, in fact I was going to exchange it for the Besmall bag until I read their policy. Turns out that in order to return the asshole bag I have to email the company and request a return approval number. Then ONCE I finally receive that I can put it on the outside of the box and send it back. They don’t do exchanges. Instead I would have to order the new bag, thus carrying two balances on my card and then just wait around for the refund on the old bag. I have had it. I’m sending the bitch back and that company can suck it.

Finally I went back online and looked at the Fleurville sling tote. The first Goddamn bag I wanted from day one! I remembered there was a store here that sold them but they only had three in stock, a pink one, a black one and a light blue one. After much thought I realized that buying a simple plain blue bag would probably benefit me, as my husband is really not going to carry around a flowery foo foo bag. So I called the store and some young kid answered. I was looking at the bag online and asked what they cost in the store. He said $162.50. My exact response was, “are you fucking kidding me?” He laughed and asked why I said that. I told him that bag retails for $150.00 on Fleurvilles website. He said that since, they don’t sell them regularly (I bought it from a gardening store ???) and since I caught them over pricing them he would take 30% off! I was like SCORE! That came out to $48.00 off making the bag, $122.00 with tax. That is far cheaper then had I bought it for $150.00 online and then had to pay shipping. You can bet your ass I ran right over and got it. The bag came with a bottle warmer, stroller straps, a shoulder strap and a changing pad. I threw out the bottle warmer and changing pad and I was set.


Later I went to target and found this cute little bag for $10.00 and decided it would work perfect as a medicine bag.


See! I put all the meds, thermometers and such in the bag along with a smaller trial size, baby wash and lotion. It worked out perfect and I even have room for more in there.


Then I wandered over the the baby isle of Target and discovered they now sell Skip Hop there. Skip hope created a brand called, Spark by Skip hop that is basically the same bags as their high end ones just a little cheaper. So this little diaper caddy was only $16.99 as opposed to the $30.00 normal one. In fact they sell the Skip Hop diaper bag for only $29.99 which if I liked that bag seems like a super deal.


I liked this little diaper caddy because it had a space on the left where I could store two rows of Codis teeny tiny newborn diapers and then a spot on the right where I could store Brandons super duper size 4 diapers. Then I can fold a pack of wipes in the middle along with the changing pad that came with it and snap the bag shut. I thought this was a great idea. This way if I’m ever just running into a store I can simply just grab this bag out instead of the full diaper bag and later when Brandon is out of diapers I can store Codi’s diapers, wipes and medicines in here and have one small little pack to tote around with me. I really felt like a genius buying this.


Huh, what, newborns aren’t really that small are they?


Let me get this straight, Codi’s diaper is the size of my sausage hands.


BEHOLD THE BAG! See the nice neutral color, plus the plastic exterior that is so uber wipable (I think I made this word up) I wanted to spill stuff on it just for shits and giggles.


The mom pocket in front, has a pocket that is the perfect size for my wallet, then on that fits even my ultra over sized phone, plus a handy little carabeaner (spelled wrong, whatever you can figure out what I’m saying) hook for my keys. I packed the bag into two stores and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to reach in and grab my wallet, phone or keys.

I used the pocket on the bag to pack an extra shirt for Brandon along with a juice and some snacks.


The interior of the bag has four simple pockets and a bottle pocket. I used one to pack two burp cloths, one for some bibs, one for hats and socks an the other is still open. Then I was able to fit in two full changes of clothes including pants, shirt and jacket.


Then I stuck in the diaper caddy and the medicine


It also came with tote straps stuck inside of it.


Stroller straps.

And finally the whole thing even zips shut!

I can’t say enough about this bag. I just love it. I think I’m going to grow to love it even more as I have it. It fits perfect under a stroller and it wasn’t to heavy to carry and i didn’t get bothered by it going through the stores. It also has a very comfy shoulder strap on it. So this is my diaper bag recomendation!

Mission still not fucking acomplished

Hey you, look over there to the right. See that nifty little count down thing there. Yeah that one, the blue one. Okay now read it. It’s okay pick up your jaw, I’m know I’m shocked too that I’m going to have a baby in exactly two fucking months AND I STILL DON’T HAVE A GODDAMN FUCKING DIAPER BAG! So heres the final verdict. I need a bag and I need it soon. Seriously people I only have two months to unpack and repack and unpack and repack and two months is not nearly enough time!!! We are in crisis mode people.

So I was orginally going to buy this bag by Fleurville. First and formost its pretty. Which come on is very very important right. It has a lot of features and looks great on a stroller. But lets be realistic people this bag is just not big enough for all the junk I need to pack. The most important thing is that I need a matching medicine kit becuase I have to carry a full size bottle of Benadryl, and an epi at all times (stupid peanut allergies), plus infant tylenol, childrens Tylenol, Motrin and so on, and about 49830258 bajillion droppers because each thing has to be measured just right and Benadryl apparantly thinks that bottling their stuff with the same amount of active ingredient each time is just tooo fucking simple. Sooo I need a dropper that can covnert to 5ml and that works in Tsp and one that can figure out how much 25 ml is so I can convert that down to 5ml and oh my fuck do I fucking hate peanut allergies. Okay back to the important part here. THE BAG. Anyway after finding a medicine bag big enough to accommodate all that plus clippers, and thermometers and stuff, that barely leaves room for two different sets of diapers and a change of clothes (or two because my babies tend to blow up their diaper with each poop) well there is just not enough room in this bag. Sooo by by pretty bag.


SEEE LOOK HOW PRETTY AND SHINY AND WASHABLE I AM, TO BAD I’M A TINY LITTLE WHORE AND SHANNON CAN’T FIT ALL HER GOODIES IN ME.

You should also know that I want a bag that has a messenger strap but does not have one of those stupid messenger flaps that comes over the bag because i need to be able to just reach right in and pull out what I need you know. I need separate pockets for each size diaper, and space for my nick nacks and basically I’m just being a picky little bitch about my bag.


Enter the Ju Ju Be bag. Its ugly as shit, but wait, scroll down look at all those features. One of the neatest ones is I can make it zip all the way shut or adjust the zippers so the top stays open like I like. I can have tote straps, a messenger strap or stroller straps and it is all included. Go ahead and read about it down there k.
Look this description alone just screams out THIS BAG IS FOR YOU SHANNON. Two kids even…Wow!

OOoooo features.


But oh my gosh people look how wide this bag opens up. all the pockets and trinkets and stuff. Oooooooooo!


Then I will be buying the snack pack featured here for my medicine bag. It matches, plus it is tall enough to keep all the full medicine bottles upright, fit the epi pen and keep all the droppers in a neat clean area.

Soo what do you think. Do I ignore the fact that it isn’t very pretty and pay attention to the fact the it’s features give me a tiny baby bag orgasm or do I go for the pretty bag that is just going to piss me off in the end? Hmmmmmm?

Also, I’ve looked at all the other bags on the Fleurville site, the O Yikes, the skip hop (barf) and so on. If you are going to suggest something it better be able to beat this bag in size and features. It has to be at least 15 inches wide and at least a food tall, and it has to have a wide opening, no flappy thingies and lots of pockets. Good luck happy hunting.

Diaper bag tales

I’m in the market for a new diaper bag. I’ve had a few. I’ve had the Diaper Dude (non functional, cramped, no room, awful), and some other jumbo thing that was just plain to big. This time around I’m looking at this by 2 Red Hens

I like this for a few reasons. Its large, it does not zip close, so there is no zipper to get in your way or hinder reaching in and digging around, and it has a big wide gaping opening that you can clearly see into. This brand also sells smaller bags that you can put medicines and misc items in while still being cute…they are called Thighs and Legs. When looking for diaper bags I suggest you look for the following

  • Big openings like this one. Click on it and click on the view looking down LOOK AT ALL THE SHIT YOU CAN CRAM IN THERE AND SEE…LIKE REALLY SEE! I also love this bag because it comes with the extra bags for medicines and other things so they are easy to grab. Notice also the top doesn’t zip closed so you can see all the way in, unlike this one notice you can’t see what is on the ends of the bag because the damn zipper is in the way.
  • Sturdy washable fabric, straps and pockets. So many bags break after a few weeks.
  • Space. I have one diaper bag that after I put everything in it, it wouldn’t close and it was all piling out, not to mention I couldn’t see what was where.
  • Don’t be fooled by TONS OF POCKETS. So many pockets end up useless. Pockets labeled for wipes usually only fit the teeny mini pack of wipes…and when your a new mom and you kid does 4 turbo shits in one trip your going to need the jumbo pack of wipes not that silly little travel plastic pack. The pockets for diapers…yeah those hold about 4 diapers. I went through about 5 on a trip around town during the day and I didn’t remember to bring the bag in every night and restock it, I was shit out of luck at the end of the night. Is there one outside pocket that you can throw your keys, wallet and phone into? Don’t be fooled by cute inner pockets, I don’t know anyone who really wants to dig and search through the inside of the bag just to locate the damn pocket.

Some packing advice. Things you need for a newborn!

  • About 3 onsies, if you don’t believe me, believe my son who had to ride home in nothing but a coat one day because he spit all over his clothes and shit on his spare onsie and had nothing left to put on.
  • 2 pairs of cheap cotton pants…shit leaks out of diapers and onsies, your kid will crap on their pants and spit on them, BE PREPARED!
  • A good size bag of wipes
  • At least 6 diapers
  • 2-3 burp clothes
  • A blanket (spare one)
  • 2-3 cloth diapers, (these are the best for wiping, cleaning, rolling up for a neck roll and so on…they are cheap and come in bulk, they also fit well on changing tables if there is no pad handy, shut up and pack them)
  • A few plastic bags or those bags they sell that are powder scented so you don’t leave a stank ass shitty diaper in someones trash and stink up their house
  • Socks. LOTS OF SOCKS that match. If you can make it through a trip to the store and keep both socks on your kid you deserve a medal.
  • A hat
  • A small light jacket
  • Alcohol wipes for the belly button
  • Gauze and vasaline if you have a little boy with a circumcision
  • A medicine kit, with clippers, nose sucker, medicine dropper and thermometer
  • Some kind of baby wash and lotion, for emergency poop situations (I like to whored all of the free baby samples they gave me of lotion, rash cream and wash for the diaper bag they are the perfect size)
  • Rash cream
  • Spare binky (if you use them)
  • Small toy
  • Bottles
  • Bottle lines
  • Bottle water (for mixing formula)
  • Small plastic container with three servings of formula so you don’t have to lug that big ass formula container around.

This should get you pretty far. When your child starts eating the bag changes a little.

  • Single servings of rice cereal or oatmeal
  • 4 Take and Toss spoons
  • 2 small Take and Toss bowls (at restaurants you can ask for small bowls, just check to make sure they are clean)
  • Bottled water to mix oatmeal or rice cereal
  • 2-3 jars of food
  • Bibs (you can also buy a pretty large box of paper disposable bibs so you don’t have to carry home dirty bibs)
  • More socks
  • Sippy cups
  • Small containers or bags with snacks, like Gerber finger foods or Cheerios

I personally carry the bowls and spoons around just in case I go somewhere that fries in peanut oils, that way I know for sure none of his food is contaminated since he is very allergic.

Here is my final best advice for diaper bags. If you are registering for one at the store take it around the store and shove it full of stuff, places like Babies R Us don’t mind. Go grab a pack of rolled up onsies, a pack of wipes, a pack of socks and so on and cram it all in, see how it really works. Open it and see if you can easily see everything you have packed in it. Close it, see if it really closes. If there are side zipper pockets like this fill up those pockets and then see if you can still fit stuff inside and vice versa, I bet you can’t. Put objects in there like medicines and stuff and see if you can easily reach in and grab them. I can’t reach to the bottom of my Diaper Dude to save my life. Those insulated compartments are stupid. If you are bringing breast milk I suggest getting a small separate insulated bag that you can put freezer packs in and store your breast milk in these. Is it washable, and sturdy. Is it a design you will like over and over? THEN walk over the the stroller you are getting and open it, stick the bag in the bottom basket or hook it on, DOES THE BAG GO IN EASY WITH OUT SMOOSHING EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IN THERE? Finally, put the bag on all ways. Is it really comfortable? Can you lug it around a store with you forever or a market or on a walk or anywhere. Can you put it on while carrying a baby, try it out while carrying a stuffed animal or something.