Thanks to Walmart for sponsoring the following post. All opinions are my own.
Since I went back to work full-time one of the things people have inquired about the most is how my husband is adjusting to being the stay-at-home parent. But the truth is, mostly it was me that had to learn to adjust.
After six years of being the stay at home parent, I had a pretty set routine. Stepping back to let J establish his own rhythm was a bit hard for me. Spoiler alert: I might have control issues, possibly.
Some things we’ve kept, some we’ve merged, and some we’ve changed completely. One of the first changes he made was the decision to switch to disposable diapers. And since he changes 90% of the diapers now, we went with his preference. So we packed up the cloth and he set out to figure out which diapers we’d use going forward.
I let this be completely within his purview, with the small caveat that he find something fragrance free for sensitive skin, and after some trial and error he chose to go with Parent’s Choice for quality and value. And that’s what he stocked our diaper station with.
I am slightly obsessed with our diaper station, y’all. When I was pregnant with Ridley, a friend offered to give me this collapsible diaper changing station so I sent J to her house to pick it up. He was all, “I don’t understand what is happening or what you mean by the words ‘diaper station'” and I was like, “Just trust me. You are going to be so glad that I sent you out in a rainstorm to wrangle this contraption into your trunk.” I was totally right.
This is one of those things that I own that I’m always overly gushing to random pregnant strangers about. I’m enthusiastically exclaiming about how perfect it is because it sort of dips in, and you don’t have to bend over, and everything is in reach, and it all comes apart to be easy to wash or tuck away. And they’re sort of smiling at me while slowly edging away because probably they need to be somewhere since they finished checking out five minutes ago and I’m still carrying on about how you can just toss the dirty laundry right in the bag underneath! Right in the bag! It’s just right there underneath!
Aesthetically it did not fit into my super cute Outdoor Adventure Themed Nursey at all but what you learn when you have a second kid is that visual appeal matters less than not having to bend over seventeen times a day because your nifty new diaper station is exactly the right height.
Ridley also enjoys the diaper station, which is to say that he enjoys repeatedly removing everything in it and then painstakingly replacing it.
I do not know where he inherited this tidiness gene from. Definitely not from me.
So we’ve been using Parent’s Choice diapers and wipes for a while now, because they are affordable and they work, which is why I said yes when they asked me if I wanted to try out the new Parent’s Choice Premium diapers. Because a basic rule of motherhood is that if someone offers to give you diapers, you take them right up on that. Turning down diapers is like turning down cake. It just doesn’t make sense.
But also, since J had already been happy with that brand I felt pretty good about trying out the new Premium line. Ridley, however, had to give them a full inspection before offering his seal of approval. He’s hard to impress, that one.
Then he decided to cover the diapers with stickers. I’m not sure where he got stickers but I’m pretty sure he knew he wasn’t supposed to have them based on that expression.
He also wasn’t supposed to have these chips that he snuck from the table and then hid around his room. He’s a stealthy one.
He’s in a phase where he just says, “no no no no no” to everything but he did not say no to the new diapers so I count that as a win. Also, they haven’t leaked, which J counts as a win on account of how he does all the kid’s laundry now. (He was a bit surprised at just how much laundry our two tiny humans generate, actually.)
And while I have been trying to step back and allow the kids and J to create their own routine, I did share a few of my pro tips for being a stay at home parent, one of which is that you can totally order the Parent’s Choice diapers online with Walmart’s grocery pick-up. Which means you don’t have to wrangle both of your children out of the car in the freezing cold “Artic Bomb Cyclone” when you need to replete your diaper stash. ???? And is admittedly a better solution than my approach to the laundry, which is to put it off until it’s threatening to topple over and no one has anything clean to wear to school.
But truly, even with all the changes the transition has been a sweet one. I think it’s been less of an adjustment, per se, and more of an investment. After the year we had, we’re all just happy for good health and the extra time together.
P.S. To see more of Ridley’s Outdoor Adventure Themed Nursery, click the image below! It includes lots more picture of my cute baby so you know, totally worth it.
