Hi and happy Memorial Day! It’s a gray and rainy day here in Charlotte which makes me feel like I’m not missing out on a pool/beach/lake day as I cozy up at home with baby Finn. We are going to make a trip out of the house to go over to a friend’s house for a very small cookout later this afternoon. I am very excited to get out for a couple of hours but happy that we’ll be in the company of close friends who I won’t mind feeding in front of and all that other good baby needs stuff. 🙂
Question…I didn’t register for or purchase a diaper bag before Finn was born and now I’m wondering how I should transport all of his stuff. I learned quickly after our first outing to the pediatrician that shoving a couple of extra diapers into my purse isn’t going to cut it. 😉
I have been snapping photos of what I’ve been eating since Finn’s birth and today I’m going to round those all up for you. As I mentioned in my last post, my appetite was really weird for the first 5-6 days postpartum and I wasn’t very hungry so if you see some small or random meals, that’s what that was about. I’m happy to report that it’s back to normal now!
BREAKFAST
The very first thing that I ate after Finn’s birth was a plain bagel with cream cheese in the hospital. That was on Saturday morning and I had not eaten since Thursday at dinner. My stomach was still feeling off from everything my body had gone through so I kept it simple for my first meal. My bagel love from pregnancy has continued at home and I’ve been eating bagels and eggs some mornings like you see above.
The eggs you’ll see in this post are so yellow and delicious looking because my doula brought me 18 eggs from her chickens when she came to visit last week!
Hospital breakfast on day two was fruit, yogurt, scrambled eggs, coffee and juice. I didn’t eat the muffin.
Smoothies and smoothie bowls, of course. These have been good options for breakfast and lunch. We also won’t talk about how much smoothie has been dripped onto Finn’s pajamas as I’ve eaten these bowls one-handed while nursing.
Greek yogurt bowl with plain 5% Fage greek yogurt, bananas, honey, homemade granola, frozen berries and Wild Friends Peanut Cashew Super Butter.
LUNCH
In the hospital my mom brought me the quinoa and chicken stuffed avocado salad from Viva Chicken. It was my first “real meal” and SO yummy! If you live close to a Viva Chicken, you have to try this.
I did snack plates on the days that my appetite was off. This was turkey and avocado roll ups, berries and cottage cheese that I dipped Wheat Thins in. (<– love this combo)
Open faced sandwich with mayo, avocado, turkey, tomatoes and cheese on sourdough. Grapes and cheddar crackers on the side.
Another random snack plate. I mashed avocado and mixed it with cottage cheese and then dipped Wheat Thins in it. I’ve never tried that combo before but it was really good, trust me! 🙂
I didn’t eat sauerkraut one single time when I was pregnant so I was excited to bring back my avocado, scrambled egg and sauerkraut toast.
And finally, a friend brought me this salad with two scoops of tuna. Again, I had Wheat Thins on the side that I ate with the tuna salad. I’ve been on quite the Wheat Thin kick lately.
DINNER
First meal home from the hospital was barbecue chicken thighs, roasted cauliflower and roasted sweet potatoes. My mom made this from random stuff I had in the fridge. I ate a lot more cauliflower, FYI! My mom made my plate and underestimated my veggie eating power.
The second night home from the hospital while my mom was here we had breakfast for dinner. Always a good idea, especially when biscuits are involved! I ate my biscuit with butter and apricot jam.
The next night a friend dropped off a chicken pie and I ate that for the next three nights!
Another friend dropped off the most amazing dinner of meatloaf, twice baked potatoes, brussel sprouts and mac and cheese. She also brought me chocolate cake and three more freezer meals! People are freaking awesome.
Night two of meatloaf. I’ve always loved ketchup on my meatloaf. Mac and cheese and green peas on the side.
ETC
We accumulated quite the stash of goodies in the hospitals as friends came armed with cake, cookies and cupcakes. They know me well!
And that does it for today! The babe should be waking up any minute now to eat and I can imagine that getting ready to go out will take a littttllleeee longer than I’m accustomed to!
QUESTIONS
Memorial Day plans? What did you do? Did your plans get rained out?
Gimme those diaper bag recommendations or what you do instead of a diaper bag! And what are the necessities for what to put in them? Anything I wouldn’t expect? I’m thinking diapers, wipes, outfit change and burp cloth?
I had a skip hop messenger style diaper bag. Going forward I would get a backpack style and honestly, a regular backpack does the trick. Thats what I use now if I need to. No need to spend the extra $100 on the fact that its a diaper bag.
I’m so impressed that you’re still snapping photos of your eats with a newborn in tow. Hope you and Finn had a fun Memorial Day outing! 🙂
Forget the diaper bag, go with a backpack. Take along several diapers, at least two changes of clothing (sometimes, their bowel movements are pretty explosive ?), a container of wipes, a bag of some kind to put soiled clothing in…all I can think of right now.
I do a North Face backpack so my husband can carry it too. We leave it filled with diapers, hand sanitizer, wipes, burp cloths and 2 outfits just in case. If it’s a longer outing we put in a little mini cooler with pumped milk. I also have an extra stash of all of that in a little bag inside my car in case we forget the backpack or blowout through our outfits.
We have and love the Honest Company backpack! In the newborn days we always had 2 extra outfits, diapers, wipes, diaper cream, and hand sanitizer 🙂
Ok, before I answer your questions let me just say that if blogging is bringing you peace & happiness postpartum, then by all means keep doing it. But if you’re blogging because you feel pressure to “be the same as you were before” or because “people expect me to” or any other reason like that, then please, please just take a deep breath, hand off the baby to a loved one, and go do whatever else you need to feel centered in the moment instead of blogging. Shower? Nap? Eat? Anything. Honestly, I could barely function for the first three months of my son’s life (turned out to be severe PPD), so now I just like to check in with all the new mommas and see how they’re doing. Keep listening to your gut. Again, if blogging is making you feel better, than awesome! But just take gentle care of yourself, whatever that looks like for you.
Now then, I adore my Jujube BFF diaper bag. It’s a backpack and messenger bag, and I chose the all black version. It’s even somewhat cool-looking, it comes with a diaper pad & it’s machine-washable. It’s pricey but it’s held up for 14 months so far!
The kindness of friends is wonderful!! All that homemade food looks delicious
I started with a shoulder strap style diaper bag, but quickly learned that backpack is the way to go, especially when you start having to chase your babe! Friends of mine created Product of the North brand diaper bags. They are on amazon and are very cute and functional-check them out!
In the diaper bag I like an extra pacifier, hand sanitizer, snacks for mom!, a nursing cover/swaddle blanket to use to cover up or burp on, change of clothes for baby, a changing pad, and anything else that I used to put in my purse. I pretty much stopped carrying a purse when I had my first baby.
Love reading about how you are doing—so happy all is well for you. Congrats!
I have an 8 week old and have the skip hop backpack. I 100% love the backpack style. So east to carry and it has plenty of room for all the stuff.
Thank you! And congrats on your babe!
I remember the days of dropping all kinds of food on muni baby’s head while feeding her, lol. Solidarity!
We had a crossbody Under Armour diaper bag that was amazing. So many pockets!! In addition to your list, I would recommend a small wet bag for soiled clothes. It saved us numerous times and is way more green than using plastic bags (that consequently always seem to have holes in the bottom…?). Also an extra Muslin blanket for sun cover or chilly car rides in summer. And a few snacks for mom 🙂
Haha! Yes, I think he’ll have to get used to it because mamas gotta eat! 🙂
Thank you for the note on the wet bag! Great idea for something more green that’s also easily washable!
Definitely get something with pockets/slots on the outside of the bag. I always kept my snacks, water bottle, car keys, etc in those and it helped immensely to be able to do it with one hand rather than having to try to unzip the bag and dig around. I always kept a thin stroller blanket, some type of bag to store dirty diapers in when no trash cans are around and also an extra shirt for myself in the bag, in addition to what you already mentioned. I liked my Petunia Picklebottom because of the crossover strap, but I think a backpack would have worked great too.
I definitely agree about an extra shirt for yourself in the diaper bag! Nothing worse than smelling like baby spit up or poop for hours ?
You ladies are smart! 😉 I’ve already experienced the breast milk leakage and spit up on my shirt so this makes a lot of sense!
Wonderful note on the outer pockets! Thank you!
I never bought a diaper bag and have used a slim tote bag for 14 months, so I’m probably not the best for advice in this category. But we’ve used the Skip Hop diaper clutch (also called a changing station online) – which I put in the tote bag – and it’s been super easy to use on the go. Definitely include a plastic bag or two for wet/dirty outfits or diapers when there’s not a trashcan. I also keep hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes (for cleaning a surface) in there.
Thank you so much!
I had a shoulder style bag for my first and switch to a skip hop back pack for my second. There is an insulated pocket for bottles/drinks and it has special straps so it can hang off a stroller if I don’t want to wear it. So much better than my shoulder bag.
Thank you!
I’ve had two boys. You won’t need all of that stuff forever. It gets cut in 1/2 by 6 months I promise! I really like the Kavu sling bag. I put a few diapers, a few wipes in a ziplock, hand sanitizer and a hospital/puppy pad on one side and on the other, I put a few toys, paci, sippy cup, bib and food! There are little pockets on the outside for my cell and keys. Sling it over me and I’m good to go chasing two kids! I only take the necessities in the bag, but keep packing cubes of everything including extra clothes in the car just in case I need extra or forget to repack the bag. I also make sure I carry a muslin blanket everywhere I go. They come in handy if I need sunshade or privacy. I use the hospital/puppy pads for changing diapers. Public changing tables are disgusting and a lot of mens restrooms don’t have them. My husband or I can throw one down on the changing table, in the trunk of my car or grass in the park if I need to change a kid. I buy them in bulk on Amazon. It’s the best idea I ever had! : )
I love your idea of packing cubes in the car with extra clothes and supplies! And I love the idea of the hospital/puppy pads. I almost threw some of those away and I’m glad I didn’t now!
Black skip hop diaper bag! It’s simple, matches everything and holds everything. I didn’t do the backpack (she’s my 3rd and I only had backpack for my 1st, a tote works better for me).
It has clips to hook onto stroller.
Don’t forget extra outfit (or 2!) packed in a big Ziploc. You will def have a blowout diaper and then you can store the dirty outfit in ziploc until you get home.
Also- after my 1st I remember thinking: “so this is my life now” it was awesome and wonderful BUT overwhelming and scary. I didn’t seem to be able to realize that was only my life for a season. It passed and yes my life was different but Also so wonderful. It won’t always feel this way. Xo
Thank you so much. And yes, “this is my life now” is definitely running through my head. It IS totally overwhelming but I know we’ll find a new normal!
I love my Storksak Noa and have been using it nonstop for two years. It still looks great and is going to have a second baby’s stuff in it any day now. 🙂
I like to keep all that you mentioned, plus a snack for me, nursing cover, and a thin/fabric baby carrier if there’s room (Wildbird sling or Solly). It sounds like a ton of stuff, but I hate feeling unprepared. Stashing a baby carrier and swaddle blanket in the car is also helpful, less to carry around and you know it’ll be there if needed.
Great point on the baby carrier! Thank you!
I’ll echo everyone else – backpack! Any backpack will work, but I use the Fawn Design x Pask leather backpack and it looks good as new after 1.5 years of heavy use. I started with a tote style baby bag, but it was constantly falling off my shoulder and made me crazy. I love Baggu nylon pouches to keep everything organized and so I can take things out and swap bags (or throw in the bottom of the stroller) as needed. I recommend carrying some muslin swaddles as they are a real workhorse – burp cloth, changing pad, nursing cover all in one. And since you likely have dog bags around, we always have those in the bag and use them for dirty clothes, dirty diapers if not near a trash can, etc. – they’ve come in handy a lot more than I originally thought.
Loving these updates from you as #2 will be here in a few weeks and these posts serve as great reminders of what the early days are really like!
Thank you so much! This is incredibly helpful!
CONGRATS on number two!!!!!!
Never used a proper diaper bag, big leather bag… but never took that much stock with us… and never had a diaper explosion… I may have been naive about that 😉
Haha! You are lucky on the diaper explosion front. I have seen some CRAZY ones from friends!
Definitely go with a backpack style diaper bag! You’ll need those hands free and it’s easy while babywearing. I have a petunia picklebottom bag and love it!! Worth the price to me
Thank you for the recommendation and great point about compatibility with babywearing!
I used a backpack and it was great! PotterBarn has really cute ones, Kate Spade has some good adult ones.
I always kept a change of clothes, disinfectant wipes, baby wipes, diapers, and even though my kids were breastfed (when I quit or supplemented) I always felt compelled to keep and extra bottle and small formula packet. I also always kept and extra pacifier.
Thank you Samantha!
For my first born I used a traditional messenger diaper bag and I liked it and it served its purpose but for my second I bought a jujube be right back backpack diaper bag and I LOVE it. It has a ton of pockets and its super comfortable. It makes it easy to wear for baby wearing as your weight it more evenly distributed.
As for things I put in it aside from clothes, wipes, and diapers, I have a small thing of hand sanitizer, an extra container (pacipod) for extra pacifiers, a pack of pacifier wipes, one of those poop bag dispensers for dirty diapers, and usually a lightweight muslin blanket. In the early days I would also bring an extra shirt for myself and breast pads in case I has a leak.
Speaking of leaking, I’ll share a funny story with you. When I had my first born I was visiting my in-laws and my husbands grandma blurts out in front of all our relatives, honey I think you are leaking. I didn’t realize what she meant at first, but looked down at my shirt and was like “oh” I was slightly embarrassed but its one of those first time mom experiences I like to laugh at now. From that point on I always carried an extra shirt until my milk regulated.
Thank you! This is so helpful. And RE: the leaking…OMG! I’ve definitely experienced it but not publicly yet!
I switched to a backpack with my second child and should have done with it sooner! You’re already carrying so much stuff, a car seat, etc that you need both arms free and even weight distribution. I got the SkipHop one because it has two water bottle holders which I love for my toddles. Or they can hold your coffee ? Don’t forget an extra tank top for you because he will barf on you in public eventually!
Thank you! This SkipHop bag sounds like a winner! And yes, I totally need to throw in an extra shirt for myself. I’ve already learned that through lots of spit ups!
I have a pottery barn kids one that I love BUT it has leather straps and handles so you can’t machine wash it which is a negative since it got dragged around everywhere! My son will be 4 in September and it is still filled and in my trunk with stuff! For my second due in early july I got a skip hop one that is easier material to clean but also plan on just using a regular backpack for bigger outings when I want my hands free! I definitely recommend having a car bag with all of the necessities and then you can use just a small pre baby purse to run into a grocery store or throw the small purse in the diaper bag when you want to bring both with you.
OH! And I always carried those blue hospital chucks pads with me to lay down on public changing tables, easy to throw away when you are all done!
great point on a washable bag! i hadn’t even thought of that! And I will definitely set up a car bag. What a great idea!
I used the Kate Spade Stevie bag for Harper and Georgia. This go round I got the Bells Tunno 5-in-1. It’s awesome (and made in Charlotte)! It has the big shoulder bag for bigger outings that also has a stroller strap for hanging on the stroller when out and about, but also comes with a clutch that has 3 pockets and fits the included changing pad. The clutch also has an attachable long strip to wear crossbody. I always get compliments on it because it doesn’t really look like a diaper bag, but it functions as one.
I keep diapers, wipes, change of clothes, a gallon ziplock in case there’s a blowout and I have to store dirty clothes, hand sanitizer, burp cloth, a couple of toys, a couple of Cliff bars for myself when that hunger strikes ?
i will check that out! love that it’s locally made! and great call on the bag to store blowout clothes!
I have a navy backpack with gold hardware from Fisher Price that I got at Target. I like that it’s stylish and doesnt scream diaper bag but has all of the amenities like the easy access wipe pouch. I liked a few from Skip Hop as well but they were much more expensive. You can use a backpack but I like that the diaper specific ones have cooler spaces for milk and the changing pads already inside. My husband has a cool grey one as well. He loves it.
thank you!
Instead of a diaper bag I use a large purse/tote. My daughter is three and I still find it useful because I have to carry spare undies and pants for her, a foldable potty seat, snacks, etc.
thank you! i just received one as a gift!