Triplets on the go – in style

I fell in love with a bag long before we started down the road to Babyville, when I investigated a friend’s $50 TJ Maxx find I had originally scoffed at. But, oh, the compartments. The zip-down, fold-out changing pad. The switchable strap locations. I needed a Petunia Pickle Bottom Boxy Backpack of my very own.

After discovering PB&J, I tossed aside my PPB dreams, sure I’d need a duffel bag. With the confidence of some other triplet-PPB moms, though, I decided to get my own Boxy Backpack.

What was intended to be a diaper bag became the perfect NICU bag. For just over two months, that bag was my constant companion. It carried pump parts, my on-the-go pumping log, my wallet, phone, iPod, iPod charger, flip camera, point-and-shoot camera, batteries, keys, books, a change of clothes, deodorant, ibuprofen, a hairbrush, discarded Soothie pacifiers, baby hats and various other things I can no longer recall.

With our NICU days behind us, we headed out to our first doctor’s appointment days after leaving the hospital. I scratched my head at my bag and filled it with suggestions from the Internet – double the diapers I think I might need (6+1 just in case), a change of clothes for each baby, a bottle for each baby, bibs, burp cloths, camera, wallet, phone, blah, blah, blah.

It. Was. FULL. I could barely Velcro the foldover flap, and forget zipping it. I don’t know what I did wrong, but something wasn’t working. I shrugged, shoved stuff down, and off we went. I’d figure it out later, or we’d add a second bag to our load.

RSV season had us on lockdown, and the bag remained packed with the same bulging load for each outing. When I needed something, most of its contents had to come out to find What Was Needed. A pain, but I wasn’t ready for the duffel bag.

Then, before RSV season ended, a glorious e-mail landed in my inbox. PPB released a new version of the Boxy Backpack, the Abundance Boxy Backpack, made just for moms of multiples.

Hallelujah.

This bag is the bomb dot com. From the outside in, it’s perfect for moms who have their hands full.

Spills on the outside wipe down as easy as the old-school vinyl tablecloths you remember from your great aunt’s house. The inside is something like what I imagine Mary Poppins’ bag to look like – there are pockets galore and a main area so large that it would probably throw back an echo if you yelled into it.

You won’t have to yell to look for what’s buried, though, because there’s enough room that things aren’t piled and stacked on top of each other, making it impossible to quickly find the last diaper while covering your son’s fire hose with your other hand. There are a bunch of pockets for your phone, bottles and other small things, a clip for your keys at the top on the inside, and a detachable bag intended for dirty diapers.

I can pack all I need for a few hours out with my triplets and still have room at the top for whatever nonsense we may accumulate along the way. I imagine this will come in the form of pretty rocks and leaves once they start toddling around.

It’s fairly ginormous, but because it’s so pretty, it doesn’t feel like a burden to carry. It fits nicely under shopping carts and my double snap-n-go stroller, and we’ll be testing out the stroller straps when we use our double jogging stroller in this weekend’s March for Babies.

Moms of more than one small fry – you definitely want to consider getting your own Abundance Boxy Backpack to stay organized and feeling fancy, all at the same time. It’s multi-tasking at its best!

My two Petunia Pickle Bottom Boxy Backpacks – the original up front, the Abundance in back

On the left, the original overflows with what I tote around. At right, the Abundance has lots of room to spare.

The average contents of my diaper bag

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Disclaimer: Petunia Pickle Bottom sponsored this review by sending me a free Abundance Boxy Backpack to review, but the opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint.