Wednesday, July 9, 2008

"Hey, I've had them for two days...and they're still alive"

This is the exact quote that my husband, Matt, said to me on Tuesday night at his mother's house when I arrived and learned that he had used up the emergency bottles and had no more diapers for the boys. It made me chuckle because I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. I mean I can't even kill a houseplant in two days and you are talking to a chick with two black thumbs (yes, indeed I have killed a cactus).


Before I start this story, I am by no means throwing my husband under the bus, more like having a laugh as his expense. He has been more than fabulous with the boys and is more than capable to take care of them. And someday very soon, he will be the boys' preference since I am sure he'll be the "cool parent" letting them eat candy and throw balls in the house :)

Let me back up a bit...Matt had decided to take the boys to his parents house on Day 2 of "daddy daycare" not because he is overwhelmed at watching them, but because it is obnoxiously oppressive here in MA and his parents have a bee-utiful brand new pool. I definitely couldn't blame him because a) a day by the pool is better than most any day AND b) he has built in help when going over there!

So the comedy of errors begins with the diaper bag. This is something that I have packed and ready to go on a moment's notice. It contains:

- one change of daytime clothes (rompers for the summer)

- one change of sleepers

- one change of onsies (in case it gets hot OR in case the boys have not two but THREE blowouts) for each child.

- 4 spit rags

- 2 receiving blankets (can be used for a multitude of applications)

- 6 Diapers (for 3 changes each)

- Container of Wipes

- 4 Emergency Binkies (there is not a worse thing in this world than a lost binkie)

- 2 Emergency Bottles (with powdered formula)

- 1 Emergency bottle of water (for above emergency bottles)

- 2 Emergency bottles of 2oz pre-made shelf stable formula (in case they run out of emergency full bottles of course)

Now I know this sounds like a lot of stuff, but it really isn't for two infants, and even more so, it is only packed for a 2 or 3 hour outing and not meant to be used for an entire day away from home. And it has tons of back-ups for the back-ups, but it still isn't meant to replace a well-packed "All Day Bag" that is usually filled to the gills with double of the above mentioned items. Well, poor Matt really didn't realize this and pretty much just took the bag, as is, to his mother's for an entire day away. Well needless to say, he used up the following items before I arrived:

- 5 of the 6 diapers

- Onsies

- Emergency Bottles

Of course this doesn't sound too bad, but the things he ran out of are the things that are the necessities of babies...food and diapers. He admitted to a blonde moment by only packing two bottles each, which is good for 6 hours if you are lucky. But in our experience we have learned that even if we are out for only a couple of hours we pack two bottles...if it is a longer outing we at least pack 3, cause you never know when the boys will be throwing of their schedule. So needless to say the Mother In Law formula stash was broken into along with the emergency bottles. Now, when I envisioned the use for said bottles it was not while at his mom's house because he had a blonde moment...it was for when we were stuck in horrible traffic or something on our way home and the boys were screaming and past due for their bottles. But hey, the term "emergency" is subjective.


Needless to say, yes my baby boys were still alive when I got home. Wet & out of emergency food, but still alive. Andthey have been since I started work which is great for me...since I did spend nine months and all growing them, I'd at least be able to keep them around for longer than any of my silly houseplants.

And now Matt knows what it's like to not go to the bathroom for the entire day...and he can appreciate that's all I wanted to do when he came home from work. Now it's his turn, knock yourself out honey...the bathroom is all yours!

1 comment:

Valerie said...

Funny! I'm still trying to figure out the whole diaper bag thing. Luckily we haven't had to go out for a long time yet.