Nappy emergency

I'm beginning to understand why moms complain about all the equipment they need to prepare to leave the house, even before the baby is drinking anything besides milk.  It's not the things you need that take all the space - it's the things you MAY need.

This is particularly true for busy baby mommas who enjoy being out of the house for extended periods of time.  Yesterday, I left the house for lunch at around noon with James' uncle and father.  We were meeting friends for dinner at 6:30.  Since we now have a little one, I decided to ignore my usual motto that it's often easier, and more sensible, to simply plan for a day long expedition than to return home for a rushed 30 minutes in between.  I thought that with a baby, I would no longer want to be out all day.  I was wrong.  Clearly, having a baby has not completely changed my personality, because once out, I wanted to stay out.  We had lunch, went on a walk, enjoyed the lovely Spring weather in a park, stopped by a pub to watch a tennis match, and before we knew it, it was 5:30 pm... really too late to go home and come back.  It made more sense to remain.

This was slightly unfortunate, becuase I was not fully prepared for all situations.  I wasn't prepared for the huge poop that James did at 5:35, nor the leaky diaper that acted as little more than a sieve.  While the boys enjoyed the sports on television with our half-naked baby, I found myself in the bathroom scrubbing James' little outfit with handsoap, then holding a still slightly spotted and soapy onesy up to the handdryer for ten minutes as women looked amusedly on. 

The lesson:  prepare for the worst, even if you must carry an entire bag full of items you never use.  More diapers than you could use in a week, two extra changes of clothes, an extra pack of wipes, extra pacifiers... there must be more I can add to my defensive arsenal.  As this baby grows, so will the bag.  I shudder to imagine it, but nor can I imagine a world in which I am chained to the house. 

The outcome was that the baby looked fine, dinner was fun and fabulous, and we had a great time.  Not coming home was worth the added stress.  But next time, I hope to avoid it completely through proper planning.