We Did It!

Well, there is a FRIST TIME for everything… and today was one of mine.

My child is 3 months old (exactly 12 weeks) and today was the First Time that I endeavored to go grocery shopping with my baby!

You see, for the past few weeks (exactly 12 weeks) I’ve been unable to even think about attempting this amazing feat. I was overwhelmed by all of the unknown’s:
- -What if he wakes up
- -What if he has a blow-out
- -What if I can’t carry everything
- -What about all the germs
- -What if he gets really fussy – not only will I NOT be able to comparison shop, but I’ll be driving everyone else crazy

I could not do it! How could I take care of the baby, get all of the groceries (including the few items I really needed – and therefore the purpose of the trip), try to save money in the process, pay at the check out line, get them loaded in the car, unloaded into the house, keeping the baby satisfied, and all of this before he needs to eat again… Could it be done? My husband’s words ring in my mind, “Well, honey, other people do it all he time.” There must be a way! There must be a way!

Ok, so dramatics aside… I mustered up the courage today, made preparations, and went!

So, I thought I had timed it so that they baby would be asleep. He slept on the way there. I temporarily debate on using the bijorn carrier and ended up just leaving him in the car seat because he was sleeping. I placed him in a shopping cart in the big part because I am afraid of the front thing where you set them up high. [It’s a long story, but I saw this TV show were a Dad was being interviewed about how his baby girl was in her car seat up on the shopping cart and it fell off. She landed upside down and had pretty severe head trauma… but did live. I know that’s probably 1 in a million, but it really freaked me out!!] So, I put the diaper bag in the shopping cart too and we head for the doors.

As we start to go in, I see a bus – yes a bus - from a senior citizen home... so once again, my timing was way off and the grocery store was not slow at that hour of the day, in the middle of the week. We roll past the “don’t steal anything or we’ll beep at you” devices near the doors and low and behold – HE WAKES UP!!

Abort. Abort. Abort Mission!! Turn back now!! NO! No, I should forge ahead… just see how it goes. I can do this!

None of my fears were realized today. Thank you Lord, for the blessing of having a happy and joyful child. He did great. Not only did he wake up, but he was very alert. He was enjoying my attention and looking around in the store. He was smiling away at me and very stimulated by all of the new things I was showing him as we went thru the store. He was really enjoying my eye contact. He was in a playful mood. This was great for my babylove and a good shopping time for me… however, I have no idea what all of the Seniors shopping near by thought of me.

I was talking away to a 3 month old who was, at times, doing his best to talk back. I was showing him the bright yellow banana’s, asking him what kind of ice cream to buy & then laughing with him, “Ice cream is not for babies!”. Oh, what other people think when I am talking to a 12 week old saying “We need cheese for Daddy, yes, we do!” “We don’t need any more Diapers, do we?!” “What are you doing?” “Oh, goodness!!” “You take this good Paci’!” “That’s a good Paci’ for a Baby!” "Let's get some green grapes"

Because he was in his car seat, down in the big part of the cart he was nearly surrounded by groceries… so toward the end of my journey the passers-by thought I was completely crazy, talking to my food in a very strange and over animated voice!! Oh, wait, there IS a baby in there. Then I would spot a vacant aisle; I would turn in and make the cart go faster while smiling really big and crying, “YEA” “Here we Go!” all the way down the aisle. Oh, what we do to make our babies laugh!

So, we finished. We paid. We got everything we needed. I had some help pushing everything out to the car and then I loaded it myself. There was a certain way I wanted to load them in the car.

My friend, Annie will appreciate the thought process here… check out her blog from my list of Blogger friends. I decided that it was nearing the end of my WINDOW, meaning it was almost time for the little one to eat again… And knowing this I should divide the groceries into the COLD items that would need to go in the house right away and then the non-refrigerated items like can goods or crackers those could be placed together in the back… just in case I could not get it all unloaded. My back up plan would be to ONLY unload the COLD items and the baby (of course) and allow my sweet husband to unload the rest when he got home. This may sound anal-retentive and I guess it might be.

Sidebar: I even have a certain way that I like to unload my shopping cart onto the check line – with like items near each other so that they will be bagged together and certain things like bread or eggs should be last so they will not get smashed. Cold things should go on the belt toward the end so that they will be re- placed toward the top of the shopping cart and I can place those bags in the car specifically. I also like to consolidate bags. I can’t stand it when a bagger only puts ONE item in a bag. What a waste. And I usually tie off all bags so that nothing sloshes or shifts on the drive home.

Ok, back to my story… When I got home, the baby had fallen asleep. A good car ride tends to do that. I brought him inside being very careful to stay quiet – even with my keys – so he would sleep for a few more mins. It was just long enough for me to make a few runs of unloading and get everything IN the house and IN the frig!! He woke up just as a finished. He grunted (letting me know he was working on something)! I changed him… he was smiling and happy. And then he nursed very well.

I’m here to say that you to can go grocery shopping with your baby and live to tell about it!!