My Story

The chronicle of the journey from infertility, to miscarriage, to finally raising twin girls born in June 2012.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Grocery shopping

I attempted grocery shopping with the girls today.  The big problem, we're still using the snap and go stroller which has zero storage space because the car seats block it all.  I used my Mommy Hook to attach two shopping bags to the handle and it kind of worked, but life certainly would have been easier if I had a stroller with accessible storage.

I tried to time things properly.  The girls got up from a nap and I got them fed much faster than usual.  By the time I got them in their car seats, they had only been awake for a half hour.  I thought that would work great, we should be back home and back in the crib for their next nap by the time they had been awake for 2 hours.  And yet I'm sitting here listening to them pitch a fit in their crib even though I put them in there almost a half hour ago.  Either the shopping trip was too stimulating, or not stimulating enough because while they are tired, they don't seem to be going to sleep any time soon.

I'm looking forward to the girls being big enough for a different double stroller.  The snap and go has the advantage of not needing to remove the girls from the car seats in order to get them in there and it fits in the trunk of my itty bitty car, but the disadvantages are starting to outweigh the advantages.  The no storage thing is a problem if I want to do anything other than walk with the girls.  And it's sooooooo long!  If there's not a handicap button to automatically open doors in public places, it's a wrestling match trying to get the door open and get the long stroller through it myself.  Most often someone will hold it open for me, but I don't like having to rely on the kindness of strangers.

But before I can get a more robust stroller, I have to get a new car that a stroller can fit in.  Before I can get a new car, I need to get some money matters taken care of.  Before I can get those money matters taken care of, I need to hear from a bank representative who was supposed to get in touch with me 2 weeks ago.  It seems like everything I do in life now has 5 steps that need to be completed before I can do the thing I actually want to do.

The store seemed to be filled with women who wanted to flirt with the babies.  I'm not sure if I'm obligated to stop and smile and chat with everyone who wants to tell me they're twins.  Really?  I hadn't noticed!  And then the checkout lady commented on how there are so many sets of twins nowadays, like the twin population has exploded!  Isn't that weird?  Uhhhhh, what is the proper response to that?

All in all, we made it through the store fairly unscathed, but my bag of Doritos paid the price.  One of the shopping bags little handle it was hanging from broke and when it landed, it burst open the bag of Doritos.  I bought them anyway and just had them put in a separate bag, but when I got home, wresting a car seat and a bag of groceries, the Doritos got it again as the car seat completely smushed them.  Ugh.  Oh well.  The girls don't seem to be settling down for their nap any time soon so I think I'm going to get them up, feed them again while I snack on my newly purchased Dorito dust and then attempt this nap thing again.

8 comments:

  1. While it's not easy, when I have to go shopping, shopping, I pull the snap n go, by the furthest out carseats handle and push a shopping cart. My back hurts by the time I am done, but there aren't a lot of option. Because mine were preemies and we're still in flu and RSV season, I time my trips to be when they are sleeping, so that I can leave them covered and protected from the "public germs."

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  2. We ditched our first double stroller and bought a Contour. (at least I think that's what it was called). It is a big beast, but totally worth the extra effort it takes to haul it out of the car. The best thing was that you could face the seats in different ways, or choose to have only one. And the basket underneath was HUGE. We could fit a full box of diapers and two gallons of milk and still have room for more groceries with that thing. It is a very long stroller, but I learned the back up into the door and pull the stroller through technique.

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  3. I agree with Jen and Chickenpig. I would pull the Snap N Go with one hand and shopping cart with the other (and I walk with a cane!). Of course I wouldn't be able to use my cane when I did that but you do what you have to do. Also, backing into doors and pushing it open with your butt keeps the door open to get the stroller through. We have a Baby Jogger City Mini now, absolutely no storage in that one either. Eventually they get big enough to have them both in a double cart (if you are lucky) or one in the cart and wear the other one (i did this for a long time). I have a friend with triplets and I'm amazed with how she figures stuff out.

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  4. I have the kolcraft contours tandem and it has TONS of storage space AND I use the mommy hook with reusable bags on there (yes, even while shopping to put items in) and I can fit everything there and back in there once I have paid and it is all bagged up...for a "real" shopping trip, you know over $150...so not just a quick trip either! It is a great stroller. Right now I am using the car seats with the adapter bars but then I can put the seats on when they get bigger. P.S. where did you go shopping? HA! I wonder if it is the same store I go to sometimes, they are always so impressed with my twin shopping skills! We are down in Lacey...

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  5. *and a toddler too, btw, lol!

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  6. I use delivery grocery services because grocery shopping with the babies makes me crazy. I do it sometimes when I forget something in the delivery, and it is just no good. I wear one baby in a carrier and push the other in a single snap-n-go, and it's still a headache.

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  7. Oh how I quickly forgot how it was to shop with the boys as infants. I had a Graco double stroller that was very easy to push/pull with one hand. I would push the stoller (with them in the car sears) and pull the cart behind me. The staff at the local grocery store still remembers me shopping every week (sometimes more) with my train of stroller and cart. The fun part was shopping at the local wholesale store!!! I eventually found it easier to push the stroller and pull the U-Boat (the flat bed carts). I think I used the snap and go once or twice to go grocery shopping and I found it is harder to turn with one hand than a full size stroller. Im sure you will find you nitch in shopping with the girls.

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  8. I used two carts- pushed one and pulled the other. I also would wear one baby in Bjorn or back pack carrier and put the other one in a cart. Lots of work and lots of comments from fellow shoppers!

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