Hit or Miss: Shopping With Baby

Shopping with your baby can be hit or miss experience. I think even parents with the best behaved babies experience a little uneasiness when going out with their baby. You get in the car and send up a silent (or in my case a not so silent) prayer. "Please Lord just let me get blah blah blah and get home before a melt down." Even though I know most parents understand and sympathise with me, it still terrifies me to go out not knowing what mood Bel will be in.

I see parents out all the time with their happy well behaved babies, and I think that's so not my baby. For the first 4 months of Bel's life I never left the house because it was just too difficult. Around 6 months it started to get a little easier we could do fast trips to get groceries or the pharmacy. Now at 15 months we can do a few hours shopping without too much drama, most the time.

Monday was not one of those days. We left the house to do a Target & Bi-Lo run. Not a bad trip normally a few hours. She sits in the buggy, I talk to her, if it gets bad she plays with my phone. Well Monday turned into screaming fits to get out of the buggy, wanting to be carried, then wanting down (which anyone with a 15 month old knows you don't do in a grocery store unless you want to stop shopping and pick up everything off the shelfs that will now be on the floor). Not even the trusty phone with games or YouTube Baby Einstein worked! So there I am carrying a 25lb baby who is squirming to get down (getting stronger by the second might I add) and trying to read labels (dairy soy free here), check my list, put things in my cart, and not annoy everyone in the store. Lets just say when we got home I was exhausted!

Just when I get comfortable being out shopping with baby BOOM I get reminded I am not truly in charge yet. Funny thing about becoming a parent you think finally I'm in charge, but when they are babies they rule you and when they get older it stinks being the bad guy. Don't let the happy baby pictures fool you behind that beautiful face is a ticking time bomb just waiting till I have a cart half full of merchandise. Don't get me wrong, Bel is not a bad baby she just likes to explore and wants to get down and touch everything. But it is getting better, and 90% of the under two hour trips are even fun now.

What are some of your shopping experiences with your kids?

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