When I was pregnant the thought of taking both children shopping terrified me. Why put myself through it?! Grocery shopping is best done online or by husbands surely. And I was pretty sure that no matter what time of day I left the house at least one of them would be cranky. The reality by comparison was not nearly as bad.
My baby is now 6 months old and since the beginning there's nothing that I haven't really done. I actually do the grocery shopping with the two kids because I still haven't been quite organised enough to plan the online shopping thing. I've taken them both on longer day trips and have travelled interstate with them on holiday as well. There was only one situation where I needed a pram. And that was when we travelled to Melbourne and my three year old got too tired walking around.
I love the Hug-a-Bub wrap for short shopping trips. I don't have to find a trolley with a baby seat and silently panic about all the germs that the baby is now lying on and/or licking plus I have two hands for wrangling my big girl which is pretty necessary. Particularly when I hear her say the same thing over and over "I just have to run, mama". Joy.
For day trips I've tried out both options. I've taken the pram and I've taken the wrap. The pram is generally more trouble than it's worth. It's cumbersome to get on and off the train and sometimes to get it inside the carriage I actually have to take it apart, all while holding a baby. Not so much fun. And my light sleeping baby doesn't tend to sleep for an overly long period of time in the pram anyway - she generally just has one sleep cycle in there and that's it. Now that she's more active I often take the pram just so she has somewhere to hang out in and play with a few toys, but it is still far easier to get her to sleep in the wrap.
When she was three months old we went down to Melbourne for the week and she lived in the wrap. The only sleep she really had in a bed was her evening sleep and other than that I pretty much exclusively wore her the entire time. I was at a conference for a few of the days and it made it so easy to participate in everything and at no stage did I need to try and get the pram into a venue, or weave it in between tables and chairs. And I was pretty comfortable in being able to wear her for around 10 hours a day without getting sore or feeling tired.
I'm heading off to another conference next week and although I'm staying overnight I don't want to check in any baggage because I arrive in Melbourne at 7:30 and the event starts at 8:30, so time is of the essence! Again I'll be forgoing the pram in favour of the wrap. She's a bigger, much more active baby now but she still loves it and is quite happy to spend her time in there.
Interesting fact: the pram I own is worth more than my car (my 20 year old car). And although I love having a great pram, I love that I don't have to use it that often and only when it's convenient for me.
