Mommy's got a brand new bag. A diaper bag, that is. This was a significant purchase for me. Not in terms of money. I picked it up at Target for less than it usually costs us to have dinner out. But since the bag is something I use almost daily and carry with me everywhere, it is a considerable change in my routine.

I was pretty excited about it because it was a chance to get things organized. I didn’t just dump the contents from one bag to the other. I took a bit of time to arrange the new bag so that all my necessities would be nicely accessible. The problem is I don’t feel organized. I suspect I am more a creature of habit than the average person and I am now faced with learning new ones. When I go out I have to remind myself which pocket I decided would be the most obvious place for my car keys. And sometimes I’m not sure if I’m out of baby wipes or if I just can’t remember where I keep them.

I was also excited because this new bag has not been puked on, not yet anyway. Of course I cleaned up the old bag after my precious J got sick on it. No one could tell it had a checkered past, but I knew. I knew every time I picked it up that I just might be carrying around traces of vomit with all my other supplies.

The downside is that this new bag is a step backwards in my own personal diaper bag evolution. I bought my first one just before I had my first baby, naturally. It was rather large. Not by design though. The diaper bag was not a heavily researched purchase, like a car seat. I just found what seemed like a sturdy bag and brought it home to fill with stuff. And fill it I did.

As long as there was room in the bag, I could think of more things I might need while out with a baby. I toted the usual things like diapers and wipes. I had not one change of clothes for Y, but several. He spit up a lot and I calculated that it was not unreasonable to expect he might spit up three or four times on a trip to the grocery store. Never mind the fact that there was no way I was actually going to stop and change him all four times.

I even had an extra bottle tucked in the side pocket. It was empty. Y was breastfeeding and I did not bring the pump with me, but the bottle still seemed like a good idea. You never know, right? I carried a Baby Bjorn in there, completely missing the irony that if I had had a less cumbersome bag, I might have had a free hand to carry the baby.

Y was less than a year old before I wised up and ditched the luggage for a much smaller bag, at which point I discovered I was still carrying around an outfit he had outgrown months earlier. I had clearly made the right decision. I’ve been traveling pretty light ever since, taking a bag no bigger than some purses. I’m not sure if proud is quite the right word, but I have been pretty satisfied with my non-pack-mule status. And I never felt like I was missing anything.

But these past two months since I’ve doubled my number of children, the old bag was starting to get pretty full. Then a few weeks ago a friend gifted me with a nursing cover.

I had just used the baby’s blanket in the past. This really does work better though. And since it’s something that I use only when I go out, it needed to find a place in the bag. I debated a bit about what I might be able to do without.

But I’m already restocking diapers frequently to carry fewer. And there’s only one extra outfit for both babies. I figure the odds of two leaky diapers in one outing are pretty slim. I’m not prepared to bet against one.

In the end though, I think it was the whole tossed cookies thing that convinced me to upgrade. I probably could have kept cramming everything into the old bag, but now that I’m taking three or four kids with me almost everywhere I go (depending on whether or not Y has school), a slightly larger bag doesn’t feel like much of an inconvenience.

And it won’t be long before I can find my wallet on the first try.

Mandy, the mom of four including newborn twins, appears every other weekend on TriangleMom2Mom.