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Until now, I had just been changing my son’s diapers directly on the leather couch. It’s easy to just wipe it off, but it occurred to me that this might be a little gross (ha ha.) The Planet Wise Changing Pad retails for $11.99 and I snagged one for even less with a Black Friday sale/coupon/free shipping.
The changing pad comes in several colors, but I wish they had some of the cute prints the wet bags come in! They do have them in the prints for $16.50, they just don’t have them listed on their site, and of course not everyone who sells the changing pads has the prints. Thanks Samuel’s Momma!
The white side is super soft (I mean soft!) fleece, and the colored side is PUL, so it’s waterproof. Of course, since it’s fleece, it’s not wipe-able like the plastic ones that come with some diaper bags. So, you’ll probably want to have at least two on hand. It is simple to wash with diapers and dries quickly.
Even though it’s not wipe-able, it has a leg up on the old plastic changing pads because you can fold it up really tiny and stuff it in a bag!
This revelation about the possible grossness of couch diaper changing came along with a furniture rearrange in our family room. I used to have my diapers stacked on a ledge by the couch, but we shifted things so that we have a “family room” on one side of the room and a “play room” on the other side. This means my diaper ledge was no longer handy, and I really didn’t love how they looked out in the open anyway.
I ended up at Target on Black Friday (OMG I know, horrors!) because my 11-year old hair dryer decided to die on me while I was trying to get ready for a baby shower that morning. Incidentally, boiling your hair dry with a straightening iron isn’t really all that effective, and leaves you smelling like burned hair.
In any case, I found this “milk crate” size basket for about $17, and it’s the perfect size to hold all my stuff. I’m also able to tuck it back behind the end table, so I can reach it, but sticky-fingers McStinkypants can’t.
Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 18, 14 and 11-year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. 
