In My (Summer) Diaper Bag

We had a beautiful stint of Swedish summer a little while ago – and believe me, there is nothing better than Swedish summer. When it’s good. Now we are back to not-so-nice weather. Recently we had a Saturday that was actually colder in Stockholm than it was on Christmas Eve in Stockholm last year.

One thing I have done to get into a summer mood is to switch to my summer diaper bag. Yes, I have a summer diaper bag. To make things easy, it’s the exact same bag as my winter diaper bag, just another color. Here’s what’s in it right now (one child, 17 months old):

1. Diaper Bag. Kate by MZ Wallace. I’ve raved about it here.
2. JJ Cole Stroller Clips. These sit on the handle bars of our stroller and I just clip my diaper bag on and off.
3. Changing Pad. I use the one that came with my bag.
4. Diaper Cream. I like Desitin‘s creams and tend to carry one of their maximum strength ones in my diaper bag.
5. Diapers. I usually just carry three Pampers Cruisers/Active Fit Diapers. It’s overkill since we rarely even need to change diapers when we’re out and about lately, and almost never need to change more than once.
6. Wet Ones Antibacterial Wipes. Especially convenient for changes on the go. I like to use one before and one after each diaper change.
7. Baby Wipes. We use Natusan. I like that they are mild enough to use on Little A’s hands and face as well.
8. Boogie Wipes. I’ve raved about them earlier here. I hope we are at the end of this year’s cold season, but until now they have been very good to carry along.
9. Pacifier. We haven’t succeeded in transitioning Alec from his Wubbanub pacifiers to a more age-appropriate/tooth-friendly pacifier, so I usually have one of his little monkeys in my bag.
10. Take & Toss spoons. Spoons are good to have and I like that it doesn’t matter if these don’t make it home with us.
11. Snack Trap and Snacks. Usually Alec has cheerios and oat cereal in his Munchkin Snack Catcher.
12. Snacks for Mum. I try to keep a little bag of nuts/dried fruit (the snack pouches you can get at Trader Joe’s are perfect) or a bar in case of emergency munchies. I love the Two Degrees bars since every bar bought also means a meal goes to someone who needs it badly.
13. Fruit. Alec and I usually share an apple on the way home from the park and a banana is such a great go-to snack if we miss a proper meal at home.
14. Squeezies. We mostly use Ella’s Kitchen right now. I like the squeezies that are mixed veggies and fruit and sometimes give Alec one of those with something else as a snack on the go.
15. Water in a Sippy Cup.
16. A Pashmina Sjal. I keep one rolled up in one of the side pockets as a stroller cover or extra cover-up/blanket for Little A or me.
17. Sunglasses. For Mum and Baby.
18. Mobile Phone. I have a Sony Xperia Arc S with a huge touch screen and all the fixings that I LOVE.
19. Wallet and Spare Change for Coffee. At our wonderful playground you can actually buy coffee, fruit, yogurt and other snacks for kids and parents.

I also keep a nylon bag in the bottom “basket” of our stroller, full of “back-up” stuff that is often good to have when we’re out and about but that I don’t need to drag up and down to our apartment with me every time (our stroller lives in the stroller room in the foyer of our building). Here is what is in that bag right now:

1. Bag. Longchamp. I have a million of these and always bring one along when we travel since you can fold them up so they take no space at all and then bring them out if you over-shop. Which happens.
2. Blankets. A sun cover by ROSK, muslin swaddling blankets by Aden & Anais, and a thicker cotton blanket from Polarn O. Pyret.
3. Sun screen. I am kind of a maniac about sun protection. We are using Neutrogena Pure & Free right now. I keep a tube of it by the changing table so that we can slather it on before we go out and then I keep a stick in our parent console on the stroller for touch-ups.
4. An assortment of hats. Usually from Polarn O. Pyret. Again, I am pretty obsessed with sun protection so Alec is pretty much always wearing a hat when we are outside. Either to keep him warm if there is a chill, or to protect him from the sun.
5. Shopping Cart/High Chair Cover. We have one from Balboa Baby. We don’t use it a ton, but every time we do, I am so glad that we have it.
6. Rain Pants & Rubber Boots. As I mentioned here, Swedish weather isn’t always the best, but children play outside daily regardless. We keep these fabulous rain pants and a pair of rubber boots in our stroller in case of wet mucky weather. If the sandbox is more of a mud bath, we just pull these over Alec’s pants and jacket and everything and then pull them off again when we’ve finished playing. Fab!
7. Snack Pack. I keep a Smitten Baby Wet Tote packed with back-up snacks, pre-mixed “välling“, a bottle, some take and toss spoons and a sippy, a few squeezies, cereal and a snack trap, and a bottle of water. Just in case.
8. Bucket and spade. Our playground at the park is actually staffed (two full time positions, 9-5, seven days a week!) so there are buckets and spades and a ton of other toys available all day long. But sometimes we end up staying past 5 when everything is removed and Alec usually throws a fit when “his” bucket is taken away. So we keep a back-up set in the stroller.
9. Change of clothes. It’s a given with babies that the one time you are not carrying a back-up change of clothes, that is the time your baby will puke all over himself or your toddler will beat you to the mud puddle. I don’t think we’ve almost ever had to use our emergency change, but I always carry it anyway.

What’s in your diaper bag?