Of Errands, etc.

We have officially survived the first week of "new baby, no grandma". It has been a week of adventure, a week of triumphs and a week of tears. And it's just the beginning.

I am always trying new things to get baby to sleep. This last week double swaddling and cuddling at night with mom is doing the trick. Next week - who knows?

We are loving our Ergo carrier (with infant insert borrowed from Shawn and Marti - thanks!). Amelia is in immediate cozy blissdom as soon as she's snuggled inside.

Of Errant Errands
This morning the big girls wanted to go to the library. I dropped them off while I ran some errands with Emma, Hope and Amelia. We first filled the van up with gas, then did some grocery shopping. After I had strapped Amelia into my carrier, wrestled Hope into the stroller and corralled Emma into the front door of Meijers, I had a panickly feeling that I had mislaid the credit card I used to pay for the gas. I did a quick fumble through my wallet to find the precious piece of plastic indeed missing. Hoping it was sitting somewhere in the van, we hurried through the store to get the necessities with Hope screaming all the way through for everything she saw on the shelves. I finally let her hold the yogurt to pacify her, but didn't realize she had the six pack torn apart and was in the process taking the foil tops off of each individual yogurt, until we got to the checkout. In a critical error of judgment I went through the self-checkout because there was no line. Not easy to scan and place on the belt half-opened merchandise with baby on front, screamer in stroller, and 7-year old "helper". By the time we returned to the library, Amelia was joining in on the screamfest. I sent Emma in to retrieve her sisters and ran around the van to try and give Amelia her pacifier while a lady drove up behind us and gave me dirty looks for blocking the handicapped spot. I tried to explain we would be on our way in just one minute, but there was no forgiveness. We finally made it home without the missing credit card, so in between making peanut butter sandwiches, nursing baby and putting away groceries, I called and cancelled my card. I think I'll stay home forever.

Of Halloween Outfits
I don't usually get too involved with costumes for myself for Halloween. This year I did a little research to think of something I could do with a baby carrier on my front. (Have I mentioned that Amelia loves her Ergo?)

I found a cute idea involving the baby in the front pack as a pumpkin, and the adult as the fairy godmother. We found the pumpkin costume and a hideous but appropriate bridesmaid-type dress at the thrift store which we may try to put together for our ward halloween party. I'm not quite sure if it will work, but the back up plan is for me to just wear black and to wrap the pumpkin costume around the carrier.

Of Malfunctioning Washing Machines
Our washing machine is driving me crazy. It will begin the load perfectly, and then go bezerk at the end of the cycle - not rinsing and draining - and taking forever to do anything. We finally called and had a service guy come look at it. He's ordered a new door latch, and now we are waiting for a new mother board to be installed next week. I hope it is fixed then. The laundromat is not my friend. The last time I went (with Hope and Amelia), Hope made lots of friends with the other clientele, but also tried to add my laundry to their loads, got into their soap and softener paraphernalia, and began stuffing newspapers and magazines into various machines. It was a thrill ride.