Things I Never Thought About Before Baby

1. Where I Park at the Grocery Store

I used to pull in and take the furthest spot I could find because I used to get so annoyed by my own mother, father, and husband driving in circles trying to find the closest parking space to the door. What is the point? I have two legs that are perfectly capable of walking well over a mile (if necessary) to retrieve food. I learned, after the first visit with baby, that it is not easy to walk with baby in the infant carrier from the back of the parking lot. I learned the next visit (by happy accident, I will admit) that the best place to park is anywhere next to the cart corral! You can pop the carrier right on the cart and stroll from the back of the parking lot and when you're done you need not worry about your child being left in the car with the groceries, or lugging the carrier all the way back to the car. Cart corral = mama's saving grace!

2. Using the Restroom

When nature calls, you answer. It doesn't matter if you're at a restaurant, the grocery store, the mall, a baseball game, a park, the list goes on. With a baby in tow the bathroom becomes serious work. If your baby is young enough to be in the carrier the bathroom isn't such a big deal. Sure it's hard to open the door with a giant hanging weight and the entryway is narrow, but that is not the worst of it. When you get in the stall, where do you put your baby? On the floor, of course, which I think is disgusting. This is still not the worst of it. Say your baby is big enough that you're tired of lugging them around in the carrier and they're awake when you get to the store so you decide to take them out and brave the child seat of the cart. You're debating on the store brand organic baby food and the big brand organic baby food and it hits you like a ton of bricks, you have to pee! You rush to the restroom only to discover that you have a baby without a carrier headed into the dirtiest place on earth. Do you hold it, sit them on the floor, or hope they can stand by holding your knees?

3. Running Errands

Being a Colorado mountain mama, it takes about an hour to get to any major store. I used to head down the hill, as we say, at my leisure. I would do everything I needed to do in town in one day so that I need not return in less than a week. My daughter loved the car, it lulled her right to sleep. Sometimes this was a problem. When she wanted to sleep she was happy to be in the car, but if she just woke up . . . WATCH OUT! She has been known to cry half the trip home. Since she has become a young toddler she is capable of staying awake longer in the car and if she does fall asleep she wakes up the moment I unbuckle the straps of the carseat. This leads to 10 minute naps!

#newmom #baby #babylife #mommyandme