Shopping With 2

Yesterday I went shopping for the first time with both Ryan and Lucas. There's something very nerve-wracking about leaving the house with a toddler and an infant! I'm not even sure what is scary about it. I guess I fear that Ryan will throw a tantrum and Lucas will start wailing and want to be nursed, and I will be stranded in the middle of the store with no way out. Or something like that. Obviously if that happened I could just leave.

So I got over my fears and went to WalMart. I needed to return something and buy a few things. Our trip went very smoothly! Not a peep out of Lucas, who I "wore" in the Mei Tai carrier. He slept almost the whole time.

Ryan sat in the front of the shopping cart and behaved nicely. He even fell asleep on the way home and proceeded to nap for 30 minutes in his bed!

Here are a few tips I have discovered that make shopping with young kids easier:

-Feed/nurse them right before leaving the house.
-Bring along snacks for toddler.
-Bring along toys for toddler.
-Park as close as possible to a shopping cart.
-Put toddler in cart before getting baby out of the car. (It is very hard to lift a toddler while "wearing" an infant!)
-Don't plan on being there very long.

By the time I got them in the car, drove to the store, shopped for about 30 minutes and drove home, it was time to nurse Lucas again. I didn't mind though. Any trip out of the house these days is exciting for me!