Adventures at Harris Teeter

I decided to try taking Maddie to the grocery store today. This is only the 2nd time I've taken her. The first time, she was so little that she slept in the sling the whole time. After that, she was too colicky to ever consider taking her again, but I decided that she's been so great lately that I'd try it today.

There is no good answer on what to do with a baby that can't sit up in the grocery store. If you put them in a carrier, there's the chance that they'll get squirmy and start screaming/crying (that chance might be a little higher when the baby in question is Maddie). If you put their carseat in the main part of the buggy (that's right, buggy...I'm from NC), there is no room for groceries. If you snap the carseat onto the top of the buggy, it looks very precarious and if you're short like me you won't be able to see over it at all. However, last time I was at HT I noticed that they have buggies with built in infant seats. Genius! So I decided that was the perfect solution.

I bundled Maddie up in fleece foot pj's and a sweatsuit (it's COLD out there!) and when we got to the store, I parked far away so that I was right next to a buggy return to make it easy after shopping. I got Maddie out of her carseat and dashed to the front of the store with Maddie, her blanket, my cloth grocery bags, and my diaper bag all in tow. When I reached the store however, I realized that there were only about 6 of the aforementioned buggies, and they were all buried in lines of carts about 15 deep. Sigh.

I grabbed a nearby employee, and explained to him that I needed a buggy for the baby, letting my full arms indicate that I couldn't get one out myself. He shot me a confused look and reached for a nearby regular buggy. I stopped him, and let him know that Maddie can't sit up alone yet, and that I needed a cart from across the way, one with a carseat built in. He then walked across to another row of buggies, and again tried to offer me a regular one. At this point, I am wondering if he speaks English, as he has still not uttered one word, looks very confused, and continues to offer me the wrong thing. He finally understood that I needed a special buggy, and looked very annoyed as he started pulling out other buggies to get to it.

10 minutes later (and yes, we are still outside in the cold and sun- it is a true miracle that Maddie is not screaming her head off at this point), we have a buggy with a built in infant seat. I slung a blanket over it for germs and we were good to go. Maddie did pretty well in the store, until Mommy couldn't find the wine she was looking for. I guess I was taking too long, b/c she started shrieking. And these were good ones too, I'm surprised no bottles shattered. You know in a horror movie, when the bad guy pops out of the dark? That's the kind of scream I'm talking about here. So we decided that wine was something that Daddy could pick up later, and headed for the checkout.

All in all, a decent visit! By the time we got home, she was tuckered out from the adventure. I think next time I may try her Baby Bjorn if there are no buggies with infant seats readily available. Or perhaps I'll just continue shopping on the weekends until she can sit up!

Everything else is going well. Maddie was 12 lb 11 oz at her 5 month shots appt! She's getting some chunky little thighs, it's very adorable. We have switched to all formula, and unfortunately that's caused some major constipation, resulting in much crying, straining, and not sleeping. But we're trying ever remedy in the book to get that cleared up quickly so we can enjoy our happy little girl!