The first blog I ever wrote was about grocery shopping, and here we are visiting this topic again, three years and three kids later.
I had to go today, it couldn't wait until my husband got home, though he offered. We were out of so many of the essentials and I'm making dinner for a friend and had, had, had to get to the store. There's just so many unknowns when grocery shopping with my kids. Is Ava going to have to go potty while we're in the middle of shopping, causing me the lug all three kids into the bathroom? Is Silas going to be content in the Moby wrap or should I let him sit in the cart? Mostly, am I going to be fast enough to avoid meltdowns, because meltdowns are inevitable in my stage of parenting right now. I've just come to accept it.
So we went this morning, got a parking spot right up front, loaded the girls into one of those cars connected to the cart (I call it a germ wagon, but it keeps the peace, so we do it), loaded Silas into the Moby wrap (which is not fun shopping in narrow aisles with a bus and a baby strapped to your chest), got the girls their free kid cookie from the bakery and we were off! It was mostly fine, Ava did melt down, people did stare, I got lot's of "you've got your hands full" comments. Which I really don't understand, yes, three kids is a handful, but it's not 5, or 6 or ten kids. It really is managable. Silas' constand kicking illicited lot's of coos and comments about what a happy baby he is. All in all, it was good.
But it's just exhausting. When we got home I didn't know if I should laugh, cry or sleep. Seriously. Keeping track of my spending, making sure I get everything on the list, playing referee and peacemaker with the girls while trying to appear normal and calm is just a lot for me all at once. I know a million moms do the same thing everyday, hats off to them if they stay sane!
Thankfully, I am done. Things are put away. We all lived. And now we have food. Until next week.
Its going to get better! Today I took all four of mine to three different stores. And was buying big groceries. I was really dreading it, but it had to be done. But they were very helpful. I had to have two carts in Aldi and I gave some of my list to Abbie. She shopped and then we met up. The boys loaded and unloaded the groceries. James was not help at all except that he was very good and didn't whine at all. It was strange how peaceful it was. Now, I was tired when it was over. 2 1/2 hours shopping and then 30 minutes putting everything up, but I am so glad I took them now.
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