My saga on having two kids: Shopping

I've been meaning to start writing more about what it's like for me to have two kids now.  Perhaps I haven't gotten to this...because I have two kids! :)  Haha.  (Keeping up with blogs about the major milestones for two kids now is already a challenge!)

But, here is a story to start this series off.

Let me start by saying that we spend a lot of time at home.  Especially because John works on the weekends when I have off.  If he were around more to help me on outings, I'm sure we'd do more away from home.  I've been talking to friends who have kids and trying to get ideas for not only where I might take these two, but how I would handle them, and maybe soon I'll become brave enough to try more.  For now, we don't get out much.

Besides the extra work to get two kids ready (pack an even bigger diaper bag/backpack of supplies for two, load them into the car, etc), it's pretty difficult to manage both of them being out and about.  Emma can stay in her car seat, which is both a pro and a con.  Pros: It easily allows me to move her around from the car to somewhere else and she's always snuggled safely inside it.  Cons: It's heavy (and only getting heavier as she grows bigger) to move around and so I can't carry it long.  It's good for sitting on a cart to push, or for going places we're I can sit it somewhere safe and it be stationary there.   This restricts my outing options unless I want to bring a stroller, which is just one more thing to have to load into the car and lug around.

For shopping outings, this is also problematic.  If I want to shop somewhere without a cart, I need the stroller, but then where do I put things I want to buy?  Clothing can be hung on the cart, but I can't do any big shops this way.  Not to mention Evan would never sit in the stroller for that long in a shopping outing anyway.  Verdict:  I don't go to malls, or most stores for that matter, and online shopping is a blessing!

That said, I do get out on almost a weekly basis to the local grocery store.  This is the one place I can shop with both kids given they have special carts.  They have the kind of carts that have a ride in "car" attached to the front of a regular cart.  These carts work great because Evan can sit (and be strapped into) the ride in car, and he actually likes it and looks forward to it.  Sometimes I swear he thinks he's driving the cart because he'll be steering like crazy (folks have commented to me that he's driving hard!) and he'll sometimes get mad at me if I turn a different way than he wanted to go.  Then, for Emma I can prop her carseat on the sitting area of the cart and, here is the kicker, I still have space to fill groceries into the main basket area!  I have not attempted shopping at any other store given if I had to put Evan in the front sitting area and Emma's car seat in the main basket, how on earth would I fit any products to purchase?

Granted, these special carts are beasts to push up and down the store aisles, and with Emma's carseat on top of the sitting basket I can't see straight in front of me.  So I navigate around the store by leaning off to one side to see where I'm going while I push this monstrosity around.  I'm sure onlookers don't envy me.

After several weeks, I've started to get this outing down to it working out pretty smoothly.  I've found my favorite places to park (up front along the side of the store front so that I don't have to carry the car seat and try to keep hold of Evan in a busy parking lot...rather we get out of the car and are right up on the walk in front of the neighboring businesses in the "strip mall" shopping center).  I bring snacks to keep Evan entertained (the excitement of the car wears off over time), offering him rewards for good behavior (i.e. a cheese snack at the end of the trip, a visit to Starbucks, or a ride on the horse) and I plan what I want to buy and try to get through the store as quickly as possible.  Moreover, I often time this shopping trip with Emma's morning nap so she sleeps through the whole thing (for the most part), which means I have one less kid to worry about keeping happy/quiet.  Given these lessons I've learned, I don't dread this outing much, and so maybe I'm ready to try something new.  Stay tuned. :)