In Love with Grocery Delivery

One of my friends mentioned to me that since the birth of her second child she found our local grocery delivery service from Safeway supermarkets to be a lifesaver. When she told me this it was like someone handed me a winning lottery ticket. Grocery shopping was never easy with one very active toddler, and now that I have the toddler plus the newborn it was going to be a holy terror. Yes, my husband or I could just go shopping on the weekend or late at night when one of us could stay home with the kids, but really who wants to waste their precious free time that way?

So I tried grocery delivery through Safeway, our big local supermarket chain. The first delivery is free so you have nothing to lose.

Here is what I like about it:
1. When you login to their website you can shop by history online, which mean they keep lists of everything you ever bought. So if there are staples you buy all the time you can find them and add them to your cart immediately.
2. You can shop on the couch in your pajamas while breastfeeding - enough said.
3. The fee for delivery is minimal and depends on (at least for Safeway) the amount you are spending and the delivery window you select (i.e. one hour, two hour, four hour) The more you spend and the bigger delivery window you select the lower the delivery charge. That said I think the highest charge I saw on their website was $13 and the lowest $4.
4. Safeway emails out promotions and free delivery coupons, so I have yet to pay anything for delivery.
5. My store specifically says on their website that delivery truck drivers do not accept tips - so no added expense there.
6. They bring the groceries to the door, and even better will carry them right over to the kitchen counter for me to unload them!

Here is what I don't like:
1. I have only done delivery twice, but the last time I did it they brought me a gallon of milk that had a "sell by" date of just a few days away. I know this is not a big deal, but I like to find the containers with the latest sell-by dates.
2. You do inevitably forget one thing on your list and if it is crucial you may need to run out the store to get it. Of course a more organized menu-planner and shopper could avoid this issue.
3. You do not get the joy/pain or wandering around the store finding items that you'd like to try or that you did not know you wanted but you decide to buy.

Here is what I do not miss at all anymore:
1. Racing through the store trying to accomodate a toddler whose attention span for sitting in a shopping cart is 20 minutes (even when provided with a snack to keep him busy).
2. Figuring out how to carry both the newborn and toddler in the store using some combination of carseat, shopping cart, and baby carrier.
3. Finally getting home and realizing I need to find the shopping cart stored in our parking garage in order to load the groceries from my car into the cart, then up in the elevator, down the hall and into our apartment (while managing kids). Oh right, and then I need to go back down to the garage to return our the apartment building's shopping cart.

Here is the FAQ about Safeway Grocery Delivery. Happy stress free shopping!

Finding a gift for a grandma with everything

I Heart Grandma Design Mug

Shutterfly custom cards for Valentines Day, Easter & Mother's Day.

View the entire collection of cards.

My grandma has everything she wants and needs. Except for enough photos of her great-grandchildren. So after planning on making a photo mug for her for a long time I finally did it on Shutterfly. It only took about five minutes once I had photos selected to use. Have any of my readers used Shutterfly or other websites to order photo gifts? How did the gifts turn out?

 

Bye Bye Infant's Tylenol/Acetaminophen

I had Kaiser health insurance for six months and loved their comprehensive services. Since during that time I was pregnant I have continued to receive a series of emails from Kaiser called the "Healthy Babies Newsletter". The most recent newsletter geared toward 2 month old babies informed me that manufacturers are discontinuing infant tylenol/acetaminophen, which is a extra concentrated version of their liquid children's medicine.

Here is Kaiser's description of the change and their very helpful dosage chart. Parents like me who have lots of infant tylenol left in my medicine shelf appreciate the notification of the change and also the clear instructions for the correct dosage of both versions of the medicine. Also I'm glad I read this now, because I can just picture myself searching fruitlessly for twenty minutes in the pharmacy for infant tylenol before finally going to ask a pharmacist only to learn it does not exist any more.

Here is an excerpt from Kaiser's newsletter:

"Before you give your child any kind of acetaminophen* (Tylenol) for pain or fever, we want you to be aware of an important medication change.

Concentrated infant acetaminophen drops are being phased out and will no longer be produced by manufacturers. Instead, a new liquid formula is available.
The new liquid formula has a different concentration (strength) from the infant drops (older formula). Infant drops are 3 times more concentrated (stronger) than the liquid suspension, so dosing directions will be different.

If you give your baby any form of acetaminophen, please use extra caution. You may have concentrated infant drops on hand at home. These drops are still safe to use as long as you use the correct dose for your baby's weight."

And here is Kaiser's handy dosage chart:

Weight Age	Infants' Concentrated Drops (Dropper) 80 mg/0.8 mL	New Infants' Liquid (Syringe) 160 mg/5 mL	Children's Liquid Suspension 160 mg/5 mL
6-11 lbs. 1-5 months	0.4 mL (40 mg)	1.25 mL (4  0 mg)	1.25 mL (40 mg)
12-17 lbs. 6-11 months	0.8 mL (80 mg)	2.5 mL (80 mg)	2.5 mL (80 mg)
18-23 lbs. 12-23 months	1.2 mL (120 mg)	3.75 mL (120 mg)	3.75 mL (120 mg)

Thank you Kaiser!

Here is more info on the upcoming change on the Tylenol.com website.