These days I find myself driving around a lot while a couple of girlies slumber in the back seat. Sometimes I take the opportunity to just enjoy the spontaneous double nap (without the work of putting a baby down or coaxing an over-tired toddler to her big girl bed for quiet time again!) and I drive. If only one girlie falls asleep, then I usually head home and take my chances with the transition from car to bed. But if both girls are asleep I drive. I’ve been known to drive around town for over an hour just to keep these sleeping beauties snoozing while I enjoy the silence. And while I sometimes don’t mind a good drive as a way to clear my head or to explore new parts of town, lately I find myself wishing for a way to also do a couple of errands at the same time. But since it’s not 1948 and I don’t live in small town America, I can’t just leave my kids asleep in the car while I pop in the corner mart for a gallon of milk. So I’ve come up with some good ideas, services if you will, that I really wish were offered in this modern day and age.
In my brave new perfect world I could do my grocery shopping online and then pick up my order later. Yes, New York City and I’m sure some other places offer on line grocery shopping with delivery, but what about the rest of us? How great would it be to shop online and then pick up your items in a drive thru lane? You don’t have to stop the car and you don’t have to get out. You just motion to the guys who are bringing out the groceries that the kiddos are asleep in the backseat and they’ll quietly place all groceries in your trunk and you’re good to go. As a substitute for this idea I’d also accept just have a drive thru grocery store. It would be mainly for essentials–milk, eggs, bread, toilet paper–but that would be awesome. (I’ve actually heard these places exist…anyone out there a beneficiary of such a grocery store or is this just urban legend?)
My other idea would be “sleeping baby parking.” You know a place where you can pull up to the store in a special parking area, grab a ticket and someone sits in the car, or just watches the car while the kids sleep and you have up to 30 minutes to dash inside for a quick errand. Of course this is more like curbside baby-sitting, and they’d have to be licensed, trained, back-ground checked, cpr certified, etc, but again…awesome. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the following conversation in my head: If I could just pull in and leave the car running while the girls sleep just for a second I could grab that one item in like 2 minutes. I have another set of keys, I could just lock the car and watch it from the front window….right? That’s OK isn’t it? Nope. Not an option. But there’s got to be some way this could work…It would be so quick. Nope. It really doesn’t work. You can’t do it. See you could even have an account with each store so they know your policy, like If baby wakes up you can give her a bottle, but do not pick her up or get her out of her seat. If toddler starts crying give her some chocolate. You just give them your account number and boom!–you got 30 minutes in home depot with no cranky half asleep kids.
Who do we write to get this going? Our congresswoman? Oprah?
What are your make-a -moms-life-easier ideas?
Also, look what I got for Valentines Day. They are so comfy.
Awww, isn’t he sweet?
(ps–he found them at our local Nordstroms and they were even cheaper than online)
My sister and I totally came up with a" car seat rocker" idea…basically, if your baby is fussing while you drive, you could push a button, and it would vibrate/rock the seat while you drive. Now all we need is a prototype and an engineering degree. Ha. Well, it seems good on paper. And you are onto something with the "sleeping baby parking lot" idea, my dear. Could we also add a space or two for "sleeping dogs?"
It's so hard isn't it? I love that Aspen can snooze in the car, but I hate when I need to go into a store or visit someone and I risk waking her.
Winder Farms (formerly Winder Dairy) is an awesome program in Utah. I remember driving through to pick up groceries with my mom. They deliver too. http://www.winderfarms.com/ I don't know if they're nation-wide, but check them out!
Of the two grocery stores in our town, one does free online shopping with delivery, and the other has a pull-up spot where they load your pre-ordered groceries. Pretty snazzy. But, I've never used them. 🙂
My good friend pays a young woman to run errands with her and she waits in the car while she runs around. She pays like $3-5 bucks/hour. Pretty brilliant, huh?
I want a deli with delicious sandwiches and a drive-through. Preferably price competitive with fast food joints. Subway does not count, though it'd be nice if more of them had a drive-through.
Also, a diaper-changing, toilet-cleaning robot.
There is a drive-through market near my house! It has the very basics, but for sure you can get milk and eggs and toilet paper and soda! 🙂
I LOVE those ideas! I would be an investor for you. Would $10 do? 🙂 My town growing up had a drive thru convenience store. We got bread, milk, and candy without getting out of the car.
Drive thru dairies (kind of like bodegas) are all over the place in southern California. The first time I went to visit Matt's family I was SHOCKED that we could drive thru a little store & tell them what we needed and they would bring it all out. Amazing! Makes stopping for a gallon of milk and some eggs on your way home totally convenient! My friends in WA also say there is a grocery store that delivers to them after ordering online. I think it's becoming more common.
I love this post!!! My kids are older now but I remember thinking the same things!!!! Sometimes I would luck out and have someone with me (husband, teenage step daughter, etc) and this would work out for me. Maybe you could have someone on call that you could pick up when you need them for that 30 minutes. Hire a babysitter for that purpose only.
good luck!
I remember seeing a drive thru liquor store when I was in Texas. Seemed like a crazy idea to me. The drive up grocery service is a much better idea, it would also save your budget from impulse buying.
A drive thru post office, so I can just sit in my car, while the kids sleep and take car of the packages I need to mail.
There is a park in my town where the parking lot is right next to the play area, so if one kids falls asleep, but the others don't, I drive over there. I park in the shade, roll down all the windows, and sit on the hood of the car watching the kids play on the playground while the other one continues to sleep. This is the perfect solution to a kid who doesn't transfer well from carseat to bed, when you have other kids in the car who are bored with the drive!
Okay, I'm totally jealous of all the women saying they have these things. Last night, I dashed to the store after putting the kids to bed just because we were out of milk. I HATE wasting precious kids-are-asleep-and-daddy-is-home time shopping! I want drive-thru grocery stores and sleeping baby parking! I'll even take a Subway with a drive thru {I HATE going inside!}
I have thought of these exact things! Sometimes I daydream about them so hard and so often I start to really get frustrated that my perfect fantasy world isn't working out!
I know in Boston they have special parking for mom's with young children, right in front like handicapped parking…now that's great too!
We must start a campaign to make these things happen. Oprah might be our ticket. Now who is going to get on that?
I've always wished for a library with a drive-thru. Ya know, just call ahead of time to reserve the book and it would be waiting for you when you pulled up in your car- no taking loud babies & toddlers in to the library to search for a good book!
I'm so glad I'm not alone in these drive-thru wishes….and I can't believe so many of you have drive thru grocery or convenience stores.
Britty–I like your friends idea of paying a YW to run errands with her. Smart.
Aubrey–yes on both accounts.
Janice–yes a drive through post office! I've dreamed of that one too.
MS–I'm the same way. I hate to go at night unless it's a major grocery store run because I should be enjoying my me time.
Crombie–hey! Something we actually have! I'm serious…one of the branches near our house has a drive through and you can call ahead then go pick up your book. And you can return through the drive through as well…I've only used it a couple times but it's definitely nice.
Dude…I have had these exact thoughts about grocery stores and drive throughs….
I'm pretty sure Oprah is the one to write.
I'm on it. 😉
http://swissfarms.com/
This is our little drive-thru store. I thought it was a lot easier in NYC with the kid asleep in the stroller. I could go anywhere and do anything and then wheel them into our apartment and she would just keep on sleeping.
However, I'm a pretty big fan of just pulling into our driveway and grabbing from inside the house something to eat in the car or something I've been needed to do and just chillin' until one or both of them wake up.
Good luck with the feeding pump. I always swore I would take one of those home, drop a NG tube down my baby, and let it rip all night long. Happy baby. Well-rested mommy. I know overall it's not very fun to deal with all the medical equipment, but it's nice to have a silver lining.