Jenni's Corner: April 2009

Nora pals around with me most everywhere I go, and more often that not that destination is the grocery store. I always stick Nora in her little front pack that sits against my belly and we toddle around the store pushing the cart. Up until recently, Nora would fall asleep only moments after being placed in the front pack and snooze through the entire shopping trip. About a week ago was the first time she actually stayed awake for grocery shopping, and she was enamored by all of the colorful mounds of foods and stacks of boxes that lined the aisles. Her eyes were wide and she just kept moving her head from side to side taking it all in. It was great fun watching her amused by this until last Friday...

I had a number of errands to run, the last one being the grocery store. It was Sam's birthday so I was trying to get a few things for the party and some meals for over the weekend. I had only a few items left to get when Nora suddenly decided she was hungry. Unfortunately the time between her first signs of hunger and a full out wail is usually less than two minutes. Such was the case on this particular shopping trip.

I had 3 items left to get when Nora started sucking on her fist. Fritos! Sam had mentioned he wanted Fritos for his chili, so I was off to the other corner of the store to pick up the birthday boy's request pushing the cart a bit faster than usual.

Next item on the list was hamburger buns. I picked up the pace and made a B line for the bread aisle as Nora started squeaking and grunting. Buns - check!

Now what is a birthday party without ice cream? I zoomed the cart over to the frozen desserts in search of the last item on my list, but by the time I made it there it was obvious I had pushed the little girl too far. By now her eyes were clamped shut with tears, face a lovely hue of monster red, and belting out a scream from the bottom of her toes. Quickly scooping up a gallon of ice cream, I rushed over to the checking counter with perspiration forming on my upper lip and my checks flushed with embarrassment.

I started frantically unloading the cart onto the conveyor belt, which is always an interesting chore with a baby carrier on my front. It is exceptionally challenging for those items which manage to roll to the bottom of the cart. This becomes an exercise of holding Nora's head with one hand in attempt to not bump her noggin' on the basket, squatting to an elevation allowing my hand to reach the bottom of the cart (bending over = dumping baby), and then stretching to the far corners in search of whatever item is so important that I would allow myself to look this ridiculous in public. Add a screaming baby to the mix and you get the full picture.

The woman who was standing in line behind me took pity on my situation and asked if she could help put my groceries on the belt. Before I could say one way or another, she was unloading my cart. In our joint effort we quickly accomplished the task and I assumed the position in front of the debit card machine. The checker still had a few items to scan, but not enough to where I could start bagging. Meanwhile a woman from the juxtaposed aisle with an older infant on her back and a toddler in the cart approached me and asked if she could bag my groceries. I actually had to ask her again what her question was since it was difficult to hear much over my angry decibel baby. Usually I would decline, but by this point in time I had lost all sense of pride and gladly accepted. She was putting the final items in the bag as I finished paying and I heartily thank her for her assistance. In response she grinned at me and said, "I was there not that long ago."

Nora continued testing her vocal chords all the way out to the car. I opened up the hatch and starting loading sacks into the back. Yet another woman had seen my distress (seriously - who could have missed us?) and came over to offer her help. By now I only had one more bag to transfer so I appreciatively declined.

As the car started, the screaming subsided as Nora was lulled by the hum of the engine. I took this chance to reflect the past few minutes of chaos and in this moment was reminded of two things: 1) I'm not the first person to have a crying baby at the grocery store. 2) There really are great people out there who are willing to help out a perfect stranger. This experience has reminded me of the importance of practicing the second point more often, but I wouldn't mind going without the humility of the first. :)

This last weekend we spent Easter in Prineville. This was a great opportunity for Nora to meet and see a lot of her grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The baby was basking in all the attention she was getting.

Whenever my mom is around, she always offers to take Nora for the nights. Sam and I are always thrilled with this offer as it means we are pretty much guaranteed a good night of sleep (something we greatly treasure these days). The first night we were there my mom watched Nora and brought her up to us early in the morning since the baby was waking for a feeding. I was adjusting Nora in my arms when I felt something on her back that felt like a growth. In my grogginess I examined this growth a little more carefully with my fingers and in realizing what it was I ended up waking Sam up with my cackling. Snapped into Nora's jammies was non other than her pacifier. We jokingly accused my mom of not knowing which end the pacifier belongs in. Moral of the story - don't change a baby's diaper in the dark.

With so much family around, there was an abundance of photo opportunities...

Here's Nora and her great grandma. Mom-mom was busy working the smiles out of Nora.