A Busy Life, Well Managed

Inherently and historically, I am not an organized person. The biggest arguments I can remember getting into with my mother while I was growing up involved keeping my room clean and my things tidy. All the way up until adulthood, in college and even with my very own apartments I just didn’t keep my personal space in an orderly manner. For the initial several years of my marriage, my messiness was a thorn in my husband’s side, because the spaces that we shared (our room mainly) went from being my place of disorder to our place of disorder, and he couldn’t be more opposite. He cannot function without his space clean.

Fast forward five years, we’re parents of three living in a cramped apartment in New York City. Belongings in our home are those that are mostly bare necessities, our Christmas tree is stored underneath our bed and strollers are crammed next to the litter box in the coat closet. There wasn’t any room to be disorganized without those spaces feeling like a pigsty. Parenthood alone required me to be able to know exactly where to look whenever I needed something, so I suppose by way of an immersive experience, I became more organized. Starting with my personal, everyday bags like my purse and my wallet all became one entity within a diaper bag and it’s the very same to this day. I discovered Lily Jade diaper bags a year ago or so, and everything changed.

Our lifestyle changed drastically when we moved back to the Bay Area a couple of years ago. As a parent to four children, certain things need to be in order. School papers, medical supplies and documents and work clutter all needed to be orderly in the event that we needed them on the fly. Now, I have mostly everything I need in my wallet and I carry around two Epi-Pens, two Albuterol inhalers, a small medical kit, diapers, wipes and snacks wherever I go. The Lily Jade Elizabeth in Camel is my summer staple, and it even has a removable insert that is perfect when I’m heading out without the kids and don’t need their accouterment. It doesn’t actually look like a diaper bag, it’s beautiful leather and style is perfect for everyday use and it’s comfortable to carry around even when I have a 25-pound toddler on my hip.

School is starting this month, and there’s paperwork piling in already. The hardest thing about having four children is that they’re all different ages and stages, so my schedule when they’re in school and sports is out of control. There’s no room to be unorganized for a second, as each child need something different at all different times of the day. Keeping everything in one space is the only way I can function, and I’m grateful for the years leading up to now that have taught be to be organized enough to manage my life and my family in a way that feels normal, natural, and successful.