The Art of Grocery Shopping

Today I had a foreshadowing of my life over the next 4-5 months.  Dreary, rainy, cold and I was attempting to grocery shop with a toddler and a newborn. 

::sigh::

I first attempted Walmart yesterday by putting Emmilyn's carseat in the basket (it's not safe to put it on top of the cart people!!) and Landon in the front.  Except Landon wanted to help push the cart.  Ok, that gave me about one square foot of space to put groceries.  Hmm, that won't work.  I came home with about 4 items.  FAIL.

Today I decided I would 'wear' Emmilyn in a carrier and put Landon in the front of the basket like usual and tada - go me!  Not so fast.  When I arrived it was about 40 degrees and raining and the last thing I wanted to do was juggle putting a 2 week old baby into a carrier in the cold rain so I decided to attach the carrier to me, get Landon out of the car, then carry the whole carseat into the grocery store.  Once inside I put Landon in the cart, got E out of her carseat and worked her into the carrier, then stuffed the carseat UNDER the cart so I'd have room to put groceries IN the cart.  Phew!  Are you exhausted because I'm exhausted?!  Now I had to actually do what I came here for!  And don't even get me started on unloading everything when I get back home (in the rain!)  As it goes with everything we survived, but I couldn't help frown when I realized it's just going to get colder and messier over the next several months.  For those who live in warmer climates you might not be familiar with another safety rule that just makes chores (in a car at least) harder in the North Country.  It's not safe to keep kids coats on them while buckled in their carseat.  So add one extra step of taking winter coats on and off everytime we get in and out of the car.

Ok, ok, enough complaining!  When we got home, Emmilyn was screaming to be fed so I quickly unloaded the necessary (frozen & cold items) and abandoned the rest to feed her.  Landon decided to help Mommy and continue putting the groceries away and I had to just smile & laugh as I watched him in action.  Here was the result:

Apparently for a 22 month old, ALL groceries (including bags) go in the fridge.  He probably spent a good 10-15 minutes unloading everything and organizing.  Seriously, every item had a place.  Even though I knew I'd have to go behind him and re-put away everything I let him do his thing because it was clearly a learning experience for him, he was helping which I am thankful for, and it was too darn cute!

PS -HOW is it November already?