somebody's got a case of the sticky fingers!

pretty much for the last 22 months, i have made sure to have a serious amount of diapers and wipes on me at. all. times. wherever i go! i am totally paranoid about finding myself in a state of unpreparedness. and disaster. and so far we've done okay! there's not usually anything a handful of baby wipes can't tackle, you know?
although, there was a situation just a few weekends ago when we ended up having maddalena ride all the way home from dinner with no diaper on her little fanny because i was plumb out of diaps in my bag. woops! mom fail. so, i kept reminding her to just try not to peepee in her car seat and we could peepee once we got home, and she did great! she did so great! we arrived home with a peepee-free carseat! i was so proud. and then my mental mom emergency alarm told me to make suuure and restock my diaper supply right away so i didn't forget later, and so i did just that. you learn pretty quickly not to ignore those mental mom emergency alarm sirens.
buuuuuut. i forgot to restock something else! (okay, the mental mom alarm isn't perfect) and the next day as we were out and about, we found ourselves in the car in a serious state of sticky cheesy-cheeto-puff fingers from her in-car snack and noooooo BABY WIPES. because i'd used the last of mine the evening before! i mean, i always, always have baby wipes on hand. every few grocery store trips i grab a backup package of huggies wipes (i prefer the natural care because they're fragrance free and less paraban-y and pretty decently priced. plus a lot of the all-out natural brands at the store are weirdly rough and sandpaper-y!) to keep in my bag. but but. i had one of those hard little travel cases where it only holds just a few wipes, you know? i knew i didn't like that thing.
gosh, is this a mom story, or what!
anyway, emergency! we had the stickiest of fingers! and we were going to visit our friend with a newborn! and seriously, you can not be that mom who visits a newborn baby with your sticky-handed toddler. new moms never forget that stuff. next thing you know, they'll be all "their baby always has sticky hands, don't invite them!" haha. at least that's what i'm totally afraid of!

but then i realized that we were stopping off to get some more of maddalena's favorite baby food pouches to eat, so i could just take miss sticky hands around and grab some wipes, too. and that's just what i did. and that's when i saw theeeeese!

eureka. the holy grail of baby wipes, thought my mommy brain. huggies natural care wipes in a refillable "clutch 'n' clean" thingy! and in pretty patterns, too, so i could finally chuck that old, hard case that held like 5 wipes.
so, i grabbed a bunch of those suckers for me and for my mom friends, and threw the old failure of a travel case aaaway. although, now i think maddalena's claimed the handy wipes clutch as her new purse...

oh, that girl sure loves a purse on her arm! it's safe to say we have a new and permanent in-the-bag staple item. you can even squeeze a diaper or two right in that thing. and oh. don't get me started on diaper bag needs and organization! is there anything like the feeling of a well-organized bag? ummm. not really. prepared organized=ahhhhhh.

so, there is my mom lesson of the day! keep an eye out for these handy things next time you hit the grocery sto'! ;)
*ps. thank you, huggies, for sponsoring this here life lesson. much love, brittany's diaper bag and maddalena's sticky fingers.