... Or perhaps just a couple of parents trying to leave the house? How I miss the good ol' days. Those days when all you had to do to leave the house was grab the car keys, a lip gloss and the debit card. Estimated time of return? Next week, if we felt like it. My obstetrician still tells stories of the day we left her office headed to New York City on a spur of the moment dinner date just prior to the travel time cut-off with our first. All because we could. Now, just getting to the corner store for milk when only one adult is home take the kind of planning and precision that finds you on the recruitment list of General Petraeus himself. After all, you can't just "run in" with a toddler and two babies sitting in the swagger wagon. Most likely, if we run out of juice or milk during the day, someone's going to be waiting until Daddy gets home.
There's no such thing as packing light anymore. I suspect the last time I got to carry an actual purse I was about twelve years old. The concept of the $300 chic diaper bag makes sense to me as it's the one bag I've bonded with and used every day as both purse and carryall until that bag was hanging off my shoulder in threads. My husband, who is a tough sell, could even justify the upgrade when the twins were born. For me to leave the house just to run to the neighborhood Target, never mind an actual event, I need to take: a pack of wipes, 4 size three diapers, 2 size five diapers, changing pad, 4 pre-made bottles of formula (always take 2 more than you think you'll need), bag of snacks for the toddler, water bottle for the toddler, wallet, cell phone and list. Now imagine if we were to really venture out for the day or there were cold weather to take into consideration. How I miss those days of keys / gloss / card....
It's forever amusing to hear people say what it takes to get out of the house or show up somewhere late. And I am positive somewhere a mother of triplets or quadruplets is reading this laughing at me. But we've found now in order for us to show up somewhere as a family on time (and it happens) we start the packing up process TWO HOURS before we are supposed to leave our house. Notice I did not say getting dressed and I did not say arrive at our destination. Nope. We start two hours before departure time. Because inevitably we'll notice something is missing when we check our bag of necessary items. Or a diaper "blows out" and needs to be changed. Or a tantrum is had. Or someone wants to try to use the potty. Or something gets spilled. You get the idea. Two hours gets filled quick and the next thing you know we are in the car and on our way.
Did I mention how much we used to just hop in the car and go because we could? Even with one, you're still reasonably portable. With three kids so young, for us it's a bit like climbing Everest. Six months of preparations for one major event. Road trip anyone?
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