Kwasi went to the shop this weekend to work, so it was me, Kwabena, and Ohene, by ourselves. Saturday, we hung inside all day. Because I felt bad that Kwabena has been so home-bound since Ohene came along (daycare’s been closed because of snow days and the Christmas holiday), I had promised him that if took his nap, we could go to the mall to hang out and play around once Kwasi came home–just he and I.
So 7 p.m. came…..we still weren’t ready….then 7:30 p.m…..uh-oh, Ohene is crying and needs to nurse….8 p.m. came, and we’re finally able to sneak out and let Kwasi soothe Ohene to sleep. Yeah, it was late, but considering that the mall would be open a bit later, I knew we’d have some time to play. So I took him to the play area at the mall and gave him a good 40 minutes to run and play. How happy it made me to see him interacting with kids again (after such a dry spell lately), and to see him exercising!
When he came over to me during his playtime, I asked him, “Are you enjoying yourself?” He answered “Yes!” and ran off. When he came back, smiling widely, he asked me, “Are you enjoying watching me??” LOL……Yes, my love, more than you’ll ever know…..
We then went to get some nursing bras, then a smoothie, and headed home.
Sunday we ventured out just us three! Umm…..challenging?? YES! Simply for the fact that when you’ve got 2 kids, who gets to sit in the back? What if the car seat carrier doesn’t fit in the cart? What if the baby wakes up at an odd time? Well, these are all things we had to deal with.
First stop–My Organic Market (M.O.M), where the carts are too small to fit the car seat carrier (which, I forgot, wears sooooo much! Why do they make those things to even be carried, to begin with? You have to be Hercules to lift them!). So we truck back to the car, I slip on the carrier, unbuckle Ohene, and situate him in there carefully.
Perfect fit.
We got what we needed from MOMs, then walked over to the pizza place for lunch. Since I didn’t have the car seat carrier, I had to leave Ohene strapped in the carrier, to my chest, which worked fine, considering that he slept the whole time. But I had to be sure not to drop hot pizza sauce or cheese on his little head. LOL
Afterward, we went to Costco. I didn’t feel like the hassle of the carrier, so I put the car seat carrier on top of the cart, while Kwabena got in the back. I could barely see over the top of the car seat carrier! I know I must have hit the heels of several people in my quest to steer the cart. LOL.
The next stop was the park. It was about 50 degrees earlier in the day, but by the time we got to the park, the wind had picked up and it was super chilly. Right at that moment Ohene woke up. I sent Kwabena off to ride his scooter, keeping an eye on him, trying to decide if I should nurse him in the car……?……or nurse him on the bench where Kwabena was riding his scooter….? I tried to slip Ohene in the carrier to see if he could nurse while inside of it, but it just wasn’t the time and place to test that out–not with the cold wind blowing in his face. I decided to bundle him up in a blanket and nurse him on the bench. Luckily he wasn’t too interested in nursing and just wanted to go back to sleep. We only stayed about 15 minutes because it was too cold to have Ohene out there.
So….overall….challenging, but definitely doable with some planning.
I don’t know how people have done it alone with 2 kids that are closer in age. Kwabena is pretty independent, so he doesn’t require as much care as another child who is, perhaps, 2 years old. But it is still challenging having to juggle 2 kids when away from home.
It can be done, though! 🙂
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