Another Playdate!or Choosey Cloth Diaper Snob Becomes Huggies-Loving Beggar

Peeper and I had another playdate yesterday, during which I learned an important lesson:

This:

"We're just taking a little walk, and I don't want to carry a bag. I'll leave the diapers in the car and change her when we get back."

Is a Very. Bad. Plan.

Actually, that was only one of the lessons that I learned yesterday, but let me begin at the beginning.

One of my Democratic Party buddies (C) and his wife (A) - both lovely people - had a baby (Hmm, also W. Ok, we'll call him BoyW and our playmate from last week will be GirlW.) in early February, and since then, we've been trying to find a time to get together.

I've been driving around with a gift bag full of Target stuff for the little guy for a couple of months, and last week I realized that he' s probably outgrown those newborn clothes by now, so I went and bought a couple of six-month-sized things, and we're saving the tiny stuff for a player to be named later.

(There are actually a few potential recipients in the works. None of whom I'm allowed to blog about yet.)

So, A and I finally made a plan to meet up on the campus of the women's college down the road, to take a walk with the babies. It was scheduled to be a beautiful day, and the campus runs along a creek, and features both an organic farm and an equestrian center. So, it's not your typical "college campus" for scenery purposes.

The plan was for her to call as she was wrapping up lunch with friends, and I'd start my last-minute preparations and head over.

Of course, when she called, Peeper was asleep and nursing, wearing just a diaper - and all her clean diapers were in the dryer. With Shrike's help, I changed her diaper, dressed her, stuffed some freshly-dried diapers and repackaged the gift.

(Threw the newborn stuff out of the now-torn gift bag, tossed in the big-boy jammies. Shrike asked if I'd remembered to remove the price tags. I ripped them off, while saying, "Oh, she shops at Target - she knows what this stuff costs!")

Then, the diaper bag dilemma.

I certainly didn't want to carry the "real" bag on our walk, because it's just ridiculously huge.

Lately, I've been taking a smaller bag to carry into stores and such, with just the essentials, while leaving the big bag in the car.

(The smaller bag is actually the freebie from the hospital, but Shrike cut the "Similac" tag off of it for me, because it pisses me off that hospitals allow formula companies to market that way. So, I will use their free bag, but I will not display their logo.)

But - I didn't really want to carry that while walking either, so I debated digging out the backpack.

Shrike said, "Oh, you're just walking around. Leave the diaper bag in the car. You'll be fine."

Cue ominous music.

(Also: You like how I make this all her fault? Because it couldn't possibly be my fault.)

We did have a lovely walk, and a lovely visit, complete with the obligatory comparisons of our labor experiences. (We used the same OB practice, and MidwifeD, who delivered Peeper, was with her throughout labor, and Dr B did the actual delivery, so there was much to talk about.)

There was also baby comparison, of course, and this time Peeper got to be the big kid. Well, at least the old kid, and the mature kid, since BoyW, at about 10 weeks old, actually weighs a few ounces more than she does!

At one point, BoyW was waking up from his nap and fussing, and Peeper was starting to squirm in the wrap and fuss, so we found a nice picnic table by the creek, so they could enjoy their respective lunches.

Peeper was not really into nursing - on / off / on /off - and still fussing aound, so I did something that I never do.

I thought she might be wet, so I stuck a finger between the snaps of her outfit, and into the edge of her diaper, to check.

And that is when I learned lesson number two.

So to speak.

A asked, "Would you like a baby wipe?"

I said, "Well, my diapers are in the car, so . . . oh, you mean for me? Yes, please."

I wiped off my hand, and Peeper kept fussing, so then Amy offered me more wipes - and a diaper.

And I will be forever grateful.

Lessons learned.