OkieDog Saha Tote Diaper Bag Review!

I was given the opportunity to review the Saha Tote by OkieDog, a company new to the US diaper bag market. I chose the Mondrian color scheme, which is a rich purple tone with a bright pink accent.

The tote is a great size for everyday use and the perfect size to carry around items for my two toddlers - one potty trained and the other still in diapers. It measures 18" by 12" by 5.5" inches, and accommodated all of my essentials nicely.

There are a number of organizational elements to keep items in place, I especially like how the front pocket has a built in key holder and cell phone pocket, perfect for use for "mommy items". On the interior, there is a changing pad included and a slip pocket with a snap closure to keep it in place. Also included for babies using bottles is an insulated drink holder.

An accessory pouch with the adorable bird print was included with the bag, and I found that it worked great as a "quick change emergency" bag for my older toddler that is potty training. To keep a change of clothes and wet bag in, and attach it to a snap closure strap on the interior that I could access quickly.

There are numerous pockets to keep diapers, wipes, sippy cups, toys, and other essentials organized:

Included were some clips to use with the "Clipix" system, to attach to your stroller or other items, and use the o-rings on the exterior of the bag to hang and easily be detachable. Okiedog also included a cup holder accessory to try out the Clipix system, which worked out great on my Britax B-Ready to have an additional cup holder to utilize! (Either on the top for the parent, or even on the bottom level for a toddler!!)

Final Verdict:
My favorite part was the print and colors! Such an adorable design and I loved the subtle pink accents on the bag. The Saha tote style was comfortable to carry and use.

I thought this was a well thought out diaper bag that was fun to use, wonderful to look at, and kept me well organized! The size worked out perfectly for my two toddlers' items and the bag seemed durable enough to keep up with our play date filled lives. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a tote style diaper bag to keep them organized!

Watch the full video review here!

Diaper Bag Review: Coach Op Art Baby Bag in Dark Merlot

What fits in a Coach Op Art Baby Bag from Coach?

Enough items to go out for a day trip with an infant & a toddler!

This You Tube review shows what I carry in my Coach Op Art Diaper bag, and shows how functional it is.

The size is 21 inches long by 12.5 inches high by 4.25 inches wide. I would classify it as a "medium sized" diaper bag... bigger than the bag that diaper bag that I used as a quick grab and go bag with only one child - but smaller than some gigantic diaper bags I've owned or seen. (Most notably, the Coach Signature Stripe Diaper bag that I originally bought when I was pregnant with my first. It was so gigantic... I couldn't justify keeping it and sold it. Now of course, I'm wishing I would have held onto it - because it would have been a good diaper bag for those days when having "just a bit more" would be appropriate. Like for trips into Chicago.)

It works great for two children in diapers though, one still using bottles and one using sippy cups. I place the larger sippy cups on the outside. (One for milk, one for water.) And on the interior, there are two elastic banded areas that can fit bottles. (We use Tommee Tippee bottles and the 9 ounce size fits fine in this area.)

It came with a portable changing pad that works fine for infants and smaller toddlers. I honestly prefer to use a larger JJ Cole changing mat with my older daughter who is just shy of 2 years old. (The JJ Cole changing mat came with a quick change bag that I use now, which I will review and show in a separate post. It is super handy to hang from the stroller handle for quick changes!) For infants however, the changing pad that came with the Coach bag is good enough, and fits conveniently in the front snap pocket of the bag for easy access.

On the back there is a zippered area that would be good to hold items for Mommy, but I use this area for travel table placements and other odds & ins, since I always carry a handbag for myself.

On the interior the bottom area is ample enough to hold two shirts and one pair of pants for a toddler, one sleeper for a newborn, and two burp cloths. On top of that, I fit two snack containers - a hard plastic snack container from Innobaby that I featured HERE - and a smaller toddler hand held snack container. Also in the middle I've shown a travel formula container from Munchkin. Occasionally, I will also toss in an additional 5 ounce Tommee Tippee bottom on top of these things, and there is room for that as well.

Overall, I would rate this diaper bag 4.5 out of 5 stars. I appreciate that it is subtle and doesn't have a crazy print all over it. Not that I have anything against prints, but some days I would just like something more neutral. The color is beautiful, a burgundy - purple color that isn't flashy, but is more special than a black or gray diaper bag. The space is perfect for two children if you pack just the essentials, and I would imagine would work great for one child on longer trips or if you want to carry a bit more on a day to day basis.

Despite its 21 inch length, the bag doesn't look overwhelming against a short frame. I actually thought it was going to look a lot bigger when it arrived, but it is definitely not what I would classify as a "large" diaper bag... I've seen much larger bags, especially from Coach. (I would consider a JJ Cole Mode diaper bag a smaller diaper bag, for reference.)

All in all, it is a great diaper bag that is well worth its $298 price tag. (Especially if you can a PCE discount on top of that!)

Christmas 'n' stuff

Well it's that time of year again. And I've been hopelessly neglecting my blog lately, but I'm hoping to get back into the grove of things as the new year rolls around. We are slowly getting into a routine around here and even with the lack of sleep, we are at a decent level of functioning and dare I even say it... I'm becoming proficient at getting two kids ready and out of the house.

I've done fair bits of shopping lately, but of course most of it was for other people since I'm spreading holiday cheer and all of that. (I keep offering to send my screaming 3 week old over to people's houses for a few hours to spread holiday cheer, but for some reason no one seems to want to take me up on that. Hmmm...) I am finding fun new things in "Mommy world" that make being a mommy of two more manageable - and perhaps maybe even a fun item or two for myself! Assuming I can get by a computer for 20 or so minutes in the future, reviews will be forthcoming!

I was joking about the diaper bag in my post below, but good grief - who ever knew that it was TRUE?!? The same diaper bag you used with just one child in diapers definitely does NOT, I repeat NOT, work when you have two in diapers! (Plus, bottles, sippies, extra pants, etc etc etc) So I've been on the hunt for diaper bag solutions and have come up with a few different ideas...

We had been using the JJ Cole Mode diaper bag, which was a nice little bag for just one child - hooked onto the stroller nicely, and was easy to carry. It just wasn't functioning for a full days outing with both kids (although I probably will still be able to use it if I'm dropping one or both kids off at child care for a few hours... so its going to become our "child care" diaper bag.) Since I had Natalie, I had been bringing two bags out with us every where we go... one for each girl. This was just not cutting it. Especially when I was by myself trying to haul two bags around.

So my first solution was to get one bigger diaper bag, that I could use for both girls at one time.

I ended up with the Coach Op Art Diaper Bag in Dark Merlot, which is a bit bigger size - but also importantly, it is wider than it is tall, so that things don't just fall to the bottom (like our Mode Diaper bag, which was taller than wide) and hopefully will be easier to find. The color is gorgeous too, a rich purple with red undertones that I am hoping will go with about everything. This bag just arrived, so I will do a proper review after I've had a chance to use it.

My other interim solution was to get one of these JJ Cole Diaper Pods for easy quick changes on the go. (And I have a feeling I might end up with two of them, one for each girl.) My plan is to keep these in the car/stroller and they will be my grab & go item for when I just need to run into the bathroom to change one of the girl's diapers while someone stays with the other girl. This way I won't have to root around in the diaper bag to find that girl's specific items, especially if the diaper bag is in the bottom of the stroller being trapped in by the lower seat.

So all in all, we are figuring how it works with two, slowly but surely.

And just because it is only 10 days until Christmas... I feel compelled to share pics of our Christmas tree.

We just bought a new camera too (a Nikon 3100, love! will do a review on this as well in the future) - so I'm hoping to be able to share better pictures of the girls as time goes on...

Packin Smart Travel Food containers by Innobaby

I was at a birthday party in Chicago a few weeks ago, when a Mommy pulled a contraption out of her diaper bag and I practically lunged across the room at her to ask, "Where did your find THAT?!?!". (Making a good first impression as always, I'm sure she was wondering what hole I had been living in, ha! I was already the "crazy lady from the suburbs" that had decided to try to push my stroller down the barely plowed sidewalks to my friend's townhouse, and got the stroller stuck... embarrassingly, all those who were attending the party and lived in the city where familiar with the fact that trying to push a stroller after the area had just been slammed with about 2 feet of snow... probably wasn't the best plan in the world. And carried their children in sans stroller. Whoops.)

Anyhow, seeing as most of my friends in the area that I live in all have children that are older than Cupcake, I don't get to see neat things pulled out of diaper bags on a regular basis that could be useful in our lives too, and I was a little excited.

It was a great little organizer by Innobaby called the Packin Smart - that has five separate compartment to carry individual snacks, formula, or other small bits. Genius! I headed to Buy Buy Baby to get one as soon as we got home from our Chicago trip. I'm sure it will also be great for our upcoming vacation to Disney World as well.

This is available at Buy Buy Baby for $19.99 (don't forget they always have those 20% off coupons that circulate or take Bed Bath and Beyond coupons!) - and there are also smaller versions available with 3 compartments. The Packin Smart snack contains can be found online here.

A similar product can also be found at Babies'R'Us.

It's a handy little thing that can be made as small or large as you would like it to be and the top of each compartment comes off to easily fill them up. All in all, I'm glad I asked about it - because I think it's going to be a great little item to have...

(This is an independent review. The writer was not compensated in any way for reviewing this product.)