Volume 2: What is All This Stuff?!

Because no one tells you how much 'stuff' comes with being a parent

One backpack.

That’s what I spent the majority of my adult life traveling with.

And it was usually packed thusly: a toiletry bag, a book, sunglasses, and n+2 of t-shirts, underwear, and, socks, with “n” being the number of days I’d be gone.

For rock and roll tours that would sometimes stretch into the vicinity of months, it was one duffel bag. There, “n” equalled one week. Nine shirts, nine pairs of socks, nine underwear. And maybe two books.

But now, with two kids? Forgetaboutit.

Here’s a list of everything Emily and I packed for a three-day weekend in the mountains of South Carolina so that I could go and ride my bike in the Gran Fondo Hincapie:

• One Pack ‘n Play travel crib

• Three noise machines (funny, considering we all sleep in the same room)

• One BabyBjorn bouncy chair (which is the one thing I recommend ALL new parents buy. Our son napped in this chair until he was so big, his head spilled over the top and he had to fold his hands behind it to hold it up).

• One dozen eggs

• Two loaves of bread

• Three boxes of granola bars

• One box of “skateboard bars” (some kind of Z Bar with a skater on the package)

• Two bags of Gummy Bears

• Two bags of Swedish Fish

• One case of “Special Seltzer” for our son (orange flavored San Pellegrino. Dude’s addicted but he only gets one per day).

• Three cases of Spindrift seltzer (Lemon flavored. Dad’s addicted and no one can stop him from drinking eight-to-twelve per day)

• One cooler filled with thirty Matchbox cars

• One Matchbox Stunt Garage so the thirty cars might have a place to party

• One bag of n+5 daytime onesies for baby girl

• One bag of n+2 nighttime onesies and two sleep sacks for baby girl

• One bag of n+3 clothes for son

• One box full of dozens of diapers in both sizes for both kids

• Three pairs of sneakers and one pair of boots for our son

• Two packs of wipes

• One luggage for mom

• One duffel bag of dad’s normal clothes (n+2)

• One duffel bag of dad’s cycling stuff (kits, helmets, shoes, gloves, etc)

• One bag full of dad’s cycling nutrition stuff (gels, Honey Stingers, water bottles, and yes, more Gummy Bears)

• One little rubber pad should we need to change baby girl in the bed of our truck

• One stroller for baby girl

• One jogging stroller for son

• One backpack full of miscellany (car chargers, sunglasses, facemasks, and at least two renegade Matchbox cars)

• One laptop bag with three computers (dad’s, mom’s work, mom’s personal)

• One bike pump

• One tackle box (dad’s portable bike shop)

• Two bikes

And after all of this stuff was packed, taking up every square inch of our the bed of our truck, Emily and I looked at each other and said, “Not too bad, this time.”