I love having babies in the winter. I love having the big pregnant belly to keep me warm, and then having a baby to snuggle by the fire all winter long. I love the slower pace, not having as many places to go, the comfort foods at the end of pregnancy and then for the first 6 weeks when I am eating a zillion calories to keep my milk supply up. I can't start working out to get in shape for 6 weeks, so why not eat lasagna and roast beef and mashed potatoes and every other fattening food in the world? Anyway.
The only thing I do NOT love about winter is COATS. I loathe winter gear and carseats. Putting kids in and out of carseats in the cold when they are in coats seriously stinks. Trying to get those stupid things buckled with freezing cold fingers = torture. Our outing Friday night consisted of 3 ins and 3 outs, with Mike's help. Luckily, by the time you get around to having 3 kids, you should have at least one who is old enough to follow directions and get in the carseat by himself.
Hospital was first. The ICU is obviously no place for an infant and 2 toddlers, so they stayed in the lobby with Mike and watched fish during my short visit.
Then to Target. Of course our infant seat is the one that does NOT fit in the front of the cart, so Leah's infant seat went into the main basket, meaning we had to have 2 carts to have room for any of the stuff. Patrick screamed for much of this trip because he doesn't like to ride in the cart, but we definitely didn't need both boys running free through the store. Then it ended up taking way longer than I was planning because we had to buy a birthday gift for a 7 year old girl that we don't know well. I know absolutely nothing about 7 year old girls. I could probably do ok for a 7 year old BOY. And I know way too much about 13 year old girls. Not so much for 7 year old girls.
Back into the carseats (at this point it is 7 degrees out) and to Old Chicago to meet my sisters and one other couple for dinner. This parking lot is covered with ice, so I am trying not to fall while carrying the infant seat in one hand and holding Daniel's hand with the other. Mike is carrying Patrick and also trying not to fall.
I immediately started panicking when we got there because it is a very crowded restaurant and there just isn't much room for 4 coats, a big diaper bag, an infant seat with multiple blankets, and the 5 humans who need all this crap for just 2 hours out of the house.
Not to mention that by this point Leah is way past hungry and I'm going to have to nurse her in the booth, crowded in with 6 other adults. Awesome.
So I freaked out there in Old Chicago and told Mike there wasn't room for us and that we needed to leave. Fortunately my sisters have been awesome at keeping me calm and happy during my late pregnancy/early post partum weeks and managed to talk me down. After a not so fast diaper change (public bathrooms are not my thing), I had her happily nursing in the booth while the boys colored and drank their lemonade.
We ended up enjoying a nice dinner, with Leah awake but quiet and happy and the boys who actually ate what we bought them and behaved very well. By the time we did another in and out of the carseats and got the boys to bed I was DONE and exhausted, and went to bed by 9 p.m. After all, I would be up feeding Leah at 11, 1, 3, and 5.......
Three kids. What were we thinking?!?!? Oh yeah, we weren't. Haha.
1 comment:
Kara. I am super impressed with your perseverence. The thought of doing this with two has me scared. In fact I think this post made me a little sweaty. Do you have the Chicco seat too? Love it but I always felt bad stacking groceries around it. I am showing this to Chris to remind him why two actually might be doable but the mere thought of three is way overwhelming to this only child! But hey you're a teacher! You can handle mass quantities of unruly kids. You're a trained professional!
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