Getting Around With Baby in the Snow

Originally posted on Mommy Nearest.

It seems like we’ve just been getting walloped with one snowstorm after the other and you’d think it’d be getting easier. But, it’s not. On the bad days, we stay home and battle cabin fever, big time. On the not so completely treacherous days, we venture out. But all of our usual methods of getting around the neighborhood have been failing us when it comes to this wintery weather.

Our stroller, my wonderful lovely so easily maneuverable Britax B-Agile stroller (yes, one of the ones just recalled for potentially injuring parents’ fingers while collapsing it…but I don’t hold that against it!) has been doing better than most in the snow, but there’s only so much a stroller can handle! On the regular sidewalk I can push that thing with my pinky finger, I’m not joking either, I’ve done it to prove a point to my poor friends lugging around those ridiculously heavy carrier-stroller combo systems. But in deep slush or powdery snow, it’s like, where are my freakin’ sled dogs already!? In the ice, I worry about me falling and losing grip of the stroller, watching it careen off into the nearest intersection as I’m laying there with a broken ankle screaming “NOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo!!!” They need to come up with a lock system similar to that on the treadmill. Or a leash like surfers wear. (*Lightbulb* going off in my momtrepreneur brain!) Then you have to deal with the ice and salt stuck to the wheels when you come inside. Like most city dwellers, I don’t have a safe space to leave the stroller outside or in the hallway, so my apartment’s foyer has become a disgusting sticky salt coated space. Yuck! One must for getting through the winter with your stroller? The scrumptiously cozy 7 A.M. WarMMuffs, a warm stroller bunting, and a good rain shield to keep your little one dry and out of the bazillion below zero wind chill!

Babywearing may seem like a great alternative to the stroller in the snow, but I only do it if my destination is REALLY close, like, across the street. I was terrified being pregnant in the winter, and it’s almost as terrifying for me to wear (or worse, carry) my baby while walking around on the slippery ice and snow covered streets of New York. If I go down, we’re both going down. Hopefully my derriere would take the brunt of the fall, but who knows!? It’s a risky game. Also, you have to be a bit more diligent about bundling baby up since you can’t use the stroller bunting and rain shield.

Finally, those of you with a car have the option of driving. But you probably got blocked in by 10 feet of snow from that dang plow in the middle of the night. Yeah, good luck with that! I’ve never been so glad not to own a house or a car as I have been these last couple of weeks. That is a whole lot of shoveling and digging that I am not sad to be missing out on!

So how have you been getting around this winter? Share your successes or failures below (bonus if they're hilarious LOL)!