What's In Your Diaper Bag? - Kelsey and Owen

"Our parents have been incredible at not only helping us adjust to this huge change in life, but setting an example for us of the parents that we want to be for Owen."

Today's mommy was a little surprised when she found out she was pregnant. "Mike and I were definitely shocked when we found out we were expecting Owen. It was something we knew and wanted to happen, but a few years down the line still. Although it was unexpected, it was the best surprise we ever had. Owen has changed us from carefree 22 year olds, to mature and responsible parents. People always say that becoming a parent will change your life, and they are definitely correct." Luckily, with an educational background in education and childhood development, and a supportive cast of family and friends surrounding her, Kelsey has settled into motherhood with a smile. Owen is a smiley little heart breaker who always looks comfortable and content in his capable mama's arms. So, let's take a peek...

What's In Your Diaper Bag?

Name: Kelsey

Baby's Name (and age): Owen (10 Weeks)

Most Important Thing in Your Diaper Bag:

Gripe water. Our little man gets such bad hiccups and this is the only thing that will help him! We don't leave the house without it.

Basic Save:
Our basic save is hand sanitizer. We use it constantly in order to keep Owen healthy. His dad smokes, so he always uses it after a cigarette. We use it before and after changing his diapers, leaving a store or touching anything that may not be very hygienic. With the amount that we go through, we buy it at the dollar store. 

Essential Splurge:
Our essential splurge is his diapers. We don't like the no name diapers on Owen as they don't seem to fit him as nicely. The brand name ones (we prefer Pampers) are definitely worth the extra money for us as we know Owen will be dry and comfortable. 

Best Preparedness Advice:
One thing that I would advise after my first 8 weeks of parenthood, is to double and triple check the diaper bag before leaving the house. We always seem to forget something and its usually something important (diapers, dry outfit). We also bring extra formula with us because we would never want to be stuck in a situation where we had no food for Owen. You can never over pack your diaper bag in my opinion. That's my best advice for preparedness - over pack. If you want to bring something "just in case", do it, chances are you will regret not throwing it in the bag.

Final Words of Wisdom:
Things don't always work out how you think they will and it is important not to get stressed out when your plans fail. When I was pregnant we made the plan to breastfeed, as well as to use cloth diapers through a diaper service for Owen. When our son was first born, breastfeeding was so easy and I was producing more than enough milk to feed Owen. Unfortunately, after 3 weeks Owen started getting extremely fussy while nursing, and was constantly looking to feed. After a few days, it had become clear that my milk had dried up. We had to make the switch to formula, but we were okay with that. As long as he was getting fed, and still staying healthy that was all that mattered to us. I was feeling extremely guilty that I could no longer breastfeed, but my mom and Mike's mom both continued to reassure me that it was fine, he would still be healthy, we would still bond and it was not through anything I had done to cause this turn of events. The diaper service that we had chosen seemed like a fantastic idea at the time. It was $20/week for 100 diapers. They are great for baby's skin as well. After just over a month, we were noticing we were not going through all of the 100 diapers, Owen typically went through 40-50/week rather than the 100 we were paying for. This is a flat rate through the company, $20 regardless of how little or more you use. We worked it out that each diaper was costing us 50 cents, which seemed very high. We made the switch to disposable diapers after doing some calculations that the ones on sale, ended up at 15 cents each.

We made the plans in pregnancy of how we wanted to do things, and it didn't work out that way. As long as Owen was healthy, and we were being financially smart about things, a few adjustments to the plan didn't bother us.