![\"Pregnant](\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/dcp_4233.JPG\")
<\/p>\nLucy is now my grocery-shopping companion. I remember freaking out in the first month or two about how I would ever stock up on food again with a constantly screaming baby. But now, she is a pro — and there are some bonuses. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
p{color:gray}. Photo: I was seven-months pregnant here, so I suppose Lucy was accompanying me on this shopping trip, too!<\/p>\n
Here are my top five favorite things about shopping with Lucy these days:<\/p>\n
# Knowing when to stop
\nLucy has instructed me about the limits of grocery shopping. No trip should take more than one hour, maximum. She is very strict about this. I appreciate her limits — it helps me to not get lost in the twilight zone of deciding between flavors of Triscuits.<\/p>\n
# Planning ahead
\nBecause of Lucy’s time restraints, I’ve become a lot more efficient in my shopping. Several years ago, I read an article in _Real Simple_ magazine about mapping out your local grocery store and writing out your list in that order. I tried it for awhile, but it seemed like more trouble than it was worth. Now, it _is_ worth it!<\/p>\n
# Help outside
\nAt my local Jewel, the cashier always asks, “Do you need help outside?” I never before took them up on the offer, but now I do. And it is fabulous. Someone pushes the cart out with me and loads all the groceries in the trunk while I pull Lucy out of the sling and settle her into her carseat. And off we go! Thank you, Jewel grocery baggers of Chicago!<\/p>\n
# Attention
\nLucy causes quite a stir everywhere we go, but especially at the grocery store. Kids, old ladies, the butcher, and the pharmacist all want to talk to her and giggle about how cute she is. As her publicist, I allow it — it helps the people to know that she cares.<\/p>\n
# Companionship
\nI never knew it before, but grocery shopping can be a lonely business. I rather enjoy babbling away at my pint-sized friend, informing her that we next need to find the whole wheat pasta, or inquiring about her preference between two red peppers. Plus, I get to snuggle a bundle of love, and who doesn’t like that?<\/ol>\n
I’m sure that the day will come that Lucy and I will clash (“Why are you buying that brand of feta cheese, Mama? Go for the good stuff!”), but until then, I’ll just enjoy these adventures with my tiny shopper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lucy is now my grocery-shopping companion. I remember freaking out in the first month or two about how I would ever stock up on food again with a constantly screaming baby. But now, she is a pro — and there are some bonuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}