Mommy Suburbia: How a Vinyl Tablecloth And A Pair Scissors Saved My Day

Car trips with infants and toddlers can, at times, be tricky. Timing your departure around nap time, feeding them before you go, making sure the diaper bag is stocked with all the necessary supplies and packing for yourself can be so overwhelming!

There are always the unexpected events that happen along the way especially if your child is in the early stages of potty training or an infant who has regular "blow outs".

I remember a trip we took when our oldest was about 10 months old. We were only going an hour away to visit grandparents but you wouldn't know this if you looked into our trunk! I thought I was totally prepared - I had the stroller, the pack-n-play, extra diapers and wipes, extra outfits and a million more baby supplies. I was prepared!

At the start of our trip she fell asleep cozily strapped into her car seat but when we were about half way there I started to hear a little noise coming from the back seat - little grunts, then a big rumbling sound (we all know what that means!) followed by an awful smell.

Of course we had to pull over and assess the damage. What I hadn't expected was the massive blow out my little angel would have as we were halfway to our destination. Yikes, it was bad!

As rookie parents we didn't know what to do so we made due with what we had on hand. After plowing through two boxes of wipes I felt as though my little princess was adequately "clean" and could once again go back into her car seat and we could hit the road. WRONG! Oh my word, the car seat was destroyed - covered in it! Wipes were not going to solve this problem.

we love this car seat (via: Walmart)

My poor hubby took the car seat out, pulled out the cushion liner and we shoved it into a plastic bag. Knowing she couldn't sit on the cold hard plastic we spread a few blankets over the bare seat and strapped her safely in. Needless to say we arrived at Grandma's with a bag of dirty laundry and a baby that desperately needed a bath.

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Have you ever lived this story before? All I knew is I didn't want to do that again. Fortunately the ride home was uneventful but by now my wheels were spinning as I thought about how to avoid this problem in the future. Little would I know how important this brainstorming session would be for the future when my child was beginning the journey of potty training!

The "light bulb" moment came when I was wiping off our picnic table after a meal with friends. I had a pretty vinyl tablecloth over our picnic table and one of our guests had spilled a little water on it during the meal. I thought to myself "Look how that water just sits on that vinyl without soaking through" - and this is when I ran back into the house, grabbed a pair of scissors and started hacking away at the tablecloth!

via: Walmart

I cut a long rectangular shape piece first then bolted out to the garage to see if my crude hack job fit into the baby's car seat. To my surprise it did! After doing a little more thinking and cutting I was finally satisfied with a piece of vinyl tablecloth that extended up to the shoulder straps of the car seat, just down to the center buckle and up a few inches along the sides.

via: Walmart

Since no one, including babies, likes to sit on sticky vinyl I flipped the piece I had cut out over so the soft fluffy cotton side was against the baby's legs and the vinyl side was against the inside car seat liner. I cut up the rest of the tablecloth so I had spare pads and stored several in the car and a few in the diaper bag. Time to road test this new little invention! Guess what? It worked! And the best part was that these little pieces of table cloth were washable! I could re-use them or toss them (depending on how bad the damage was) and to replace them was pretty cheap, just the price of a vinyl tablecloth.

Over the years as our family grew, this little homemade pad was a lifesaver on many trips. From blowouts to vomit, spills and sticky food, the car seat was kept relatively clean. When the time for potty training came I knew that if my kiddo had a little accident in their cars seat I didn't have to panic, rip out the car seat liner and spend time washing it. Instead I just replaced the tablecloth liner with one from my stash and we weren't stuck at home waiting for the washer to clean the car seat liner and for it to dry.

via: Walmart

Oh, and I didn't stop there! I used these handy tablecloth liners in the stroller as well. It saved the stroller seats just like it did the car seat. No more scrubbing sticky crumbs from the cracks in the stroller seat, just take out the tablecloth liner and replace with a new one.

I hope these helpful tips & tricks will save you some sanity as you walk through the seasons of infant blowouts and potty training toddlers. I know it saved me on many occasions and for that I am very thankful.

Do you have any tips you use to keep your sanity as you journey through the early years of parenting? I'd love to hear from you - please leave your comments below.

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