Creativity is a Must!

Today I ran out for a quick appointment. I took all three girls as Ralph had a Skype meeting. Thought I'd make the house as quiet as I could. I packed an abbreviated diaper bag as we were only going one place for a quick appointment. The girls did great. Were fantastic listeners. The appointment went fast. On the way home, I called Ralph and he suggested I treat the girls to lunch out so he could work a bit more in a quiet house. The girls thought this was great!

I took the girls to McD's for some fruit and yogurt parfaits (cuz they won't eat anything else there, except for the ice cream). They immediately started playing. Storie and  I were relaxing, I was eating and talking to my mom on the phone. Suddenly I hear Greer say from high above me, "A-wen's going potty." Um, this doesn't sound good. And, oh, wait. Didn't Arwen tell me on the way to our appointment that she had to go? Oh, and I forgot. This is now like an hour later. Sure enough she had an accident at the top of the play structure. I had no extra clothes. Off I go to find someone to help me clean up the mess. I must admit I think the fact that I was wearing Storie in a Moby plus had two preschoolers with me, earned me some pity points. The McDonald's staff was so nice. Arwen was devastated that we would now have to leave. So Mama got creative. We went to the bathroom, threw the yucky clothes in the wet bag (good thing I cloth diaper, I always have a wet bag!). I then pulled out one of Greer's diapers, which were a bit small and caused some issues while playing but were all I had (see the first paragraph and mention of abbreviated diaper bag). I then pulled out my nursing cover which is actually a pagne I picked up when I was in Togo. The pagne is West Africa's answer to everything so it became my answer. I folded and wrapped it around her until she had a new dress. I think she ended up liking that better than what she was wearing before. Off she went to play, then Storie wanted to eat and my nursing cover was busy covering her sister. Time to get creative again. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned how much I love my Moby, but I do really love it. Well with some creative placement of the child and the fabric folds, the Moby made an adequate nursing cover. Whew! This being out and about with 3 kids can tap one's creativity to the max.

Moral of the story: even if I'm just running around the corner to pick up milk, I'm bringing a fully packed diaper bag which includes changes of clothes for all 3 girls. In fact, maybe I should pack a suitcase and leave it in the van for all my "just in case's." Just sayin'.