After years of denial...

... I have finally accepted that I need a diaper bag. I had always used just any big bag and had just one too many episodes where I had to dump all the contents of the bag on the floor in front of the apartment door, just to find the keys (eta or worse, in front of the turn stiles in the subway station, looking for the metro card!)

So I have myself this: Go Gaga Messenger Slide.

What's inside:
Nursing cover
Wet bag
4 bulky diapers
2 changes of clothes for newborn
1 change of clothes for toddler
2 toys in a pocket
Extra wipes (more wipes inside each diaper)
Peri bottle of water or solution
2 receiving blankets (1 inside main compartment, one outside in the big pocket)
Wallet
2 wool soakers
4 prefolds (3 inside in the main compartment, 1 in the back pocket outside)
Hand sanitizer, Lysol to Go, lipstick
NOT SHOWN: Toddler's water cup that she walked off with, and a sposie sized zipped bag with 4 extra disposables for those long trips when I might run out of diapers.
And the cincher for me:

Look how cute my 32 oz water bottle looks in my bag =) And sliding it in and out is a snap, no effort required!

The key fob, ah, I had never known organization love till I discovered key fobs, is super long. I actually prefer it to be this way and not stretchy. It was long enough to reach from my bag to the aparmtent door without requiring me to do any special Shakira dance moves.

Now for the misses:

I would have loved a zip for the main compartment but so far, turning the bag upside down didn't do much damage to a properly stuffed bag. One time the hand sanitizer and Lysol slipped out, so I put them in a smaller pocket inside and they didn't slip out again.

Also would have love to have at least one side of the strap on a detachable dual adjustable buckle. It would have been a snap (quite literally) to sling the straps around me when I'm wearing Mr. B and secure it in front. Instead, I had to manuever my way inside the bag cross body style while trying to make sure Mr. B's head doesn't get jostled too much while I did it. Plus, the straps even when fully extended are not super long (they hit just around between my waist and hip, like in the picture), so the detachable buckle can be super handy for quick in and out:

Otherwise, I'm totally digging this bag, except I'm not actually digging for anything inside the bag ha! I love the pockets and the spacing. I can pack everything in a visible manner which has the potential of reducing my stress a lot (think NYC sidewalk and my crap all over the place...! Never gonna happen again!)

Fine print: I have not been compensated by Go Gaga for this review. I have wasted precious time obsessing over diaper bags just recently and am just so glad with my find that I want to share it with friends that babywear and/or cloth diaper and might also be looking for diaper bag ideas.