Great Accomplishment Friday - Ch. 3

Chapter 3
Shoe Shopping & More

First of all, I can't believe it will take me three days to tell you all I got done on one hot day while toting around two hot little girls! It was a productive day!

Where did I leave off? Oh yes... Back in the van. We're off to Payless Shoes! Keith said Gracie needs some sturdy tenna-shoes, and she does. All she has are princess sandals and hip-hops (flip flops). As soon as we pull up to Payless, Gracie announces "I want DORA shoes!". Oh boy, this could be interesting.

I could kiss the shoe-Gods! We went in and found sturdy Dora Tennies! Very cute, and they fit! How awesome is that! Also got Gracie a new pair of ballet shoes since the cheap little dance slippers I got for her kept falling off, got some shoes for Libby and a pair of slip on tennies for me. Four pair: $40. Hot Deals!

We weren't done shopping yet; we headed to Kohl's. They always have such great sales! And it's Labor Day Weekend Eve... surely I will score big. Nope. Kohl's was pretty much a waste of time. I did nab a few goodies and Gracie finally went potty, but otherwise it was disappointing. They had little girls' dresses marked at $46 under a sign that said 50% off. Well, $23 still isn't reasonable enough for a casual cotton play dress from Kohl's. The girls were very well behaved again at this stop. Why stop now!

It's almost 4 o'clock and I stuffed them back into their cold carseats and figured I had sweated off a good 15 pounds by now. We headed to Sams Club. Of course, after hitting three red lights in the first mile, both kids were sound asleep. Oh boy. I smell a screaming crying fit coming on when I wake Gracie up to go grocery shopping when she's this tired.

At Sam's Club, I managed to wake Gracie up pretty easily, she was in and out of it on the ride there. Libby was out cold. I iced their seats and carried Libby inside while holding Gracie's hand. I knew Libby would wake up, so I opted for the shopping cart rather than bringing in the stroller. Only, Libby didn't wake up, she just kept right on sleeping like a ragdoll.

The Sams Club greeter didn't help me get a cart, they usually have one waiting for you when you walk in! So, with my arms full and Gracie whining at my side, I fumbled around till I loosened up a cart and then, wait... how am I going to push the cart while carrying sleeping Libby? Gracie wants in the cart, she's tired. I can't lift her in!

Bing! Bing! Bing! Idea!!! I'll lay Libby in the cart like a crib, but I'll first need to pad the bottom with bath towels, they are close to the entrance. Woo Hoo! I can do this!

Oh, but they moved the towels. I never did find them. I did find rugs - hey that'll work. I am still holding this big sleeping baby. I only had half a hand to get the rug and line the cart with it, so I tipped the rug over till it sort of fell into the cart and then I lifted my leg up to balance the baby with one arm and one knee while I stood on one foot, and I smoothed out the rug. Can you believe I didn't fall over? That was my cool trick for the day!

I plopped Libby down into the cart and she immediately rolled over. I thought after all that she was going to lift her head and wake up, but no, she just rolled over and got cozy again. I put Gracie in the top part and ran up and down every aisle in the store. It was a hoot! People were pointing and laughing at Libby!



I ended up buying the rug because she was so zonked out that I couldn't bear to wake her, plus, that would have meant she'd need to be held and she'd be crabby and I still have groceries and Gracie. Ok, I'll buy the rug. It'll look great somewhere in my house, I'm sure.

Libby slept through the next strap-down, wow, she was sleeping hard! Gracie said "Can we go home now?" And since it was 5:30 and we'd been on the run since 10:30 or so, with countless strapping in and out of the carseats.... yes, lets go home. We have groceries on board now anyway and their carseat ice is melted too. Not long after Gracie uttered those words, she was fast asleep.

After we got home, Libby woke up and we tossed Gracie onto the couch where she slept like a log for a couple of hours. Libby bit her foot and she didn't wake up! There were teeth marks! We showed Daddy the new shoes and grazed on snacks. Neither Keith nor I felt like cooking dinner. Keith and I watched a movie later and of course, Gracie's nap screwed up any chance she had of going to bed and falling asleep so she was up till midnight.

Another long day was done. It was a good one! If you read all through, from 8am to midnight, you are either very curious or you need a hobby. Either way, thanks for reading.

Tested the Car Seats

Yesterday afternoon, we were on a street with heavy traffic; we had a green light but couldn't go because there wasn't room on the block in front of us so we sat stopped behind another car at the green light, then

BAM!

Got rear-ended. Keith was driving, I was in the front passenger seat, Libby in the middle row left side, Gracie in the 3rd row right side.

Omg, I was instantly sent into a nervous tizzy, Keith just hit the hazard lights and said "Calm Down", Gracie and Libby were fine. The girls didn't seem to really even notice that we got hit. Of course, I was on the verge of total panic! The lady who hit us was all apologetic, like I cared to hear that, I gave her the stink-eye and turned away from her. I didn't care if she was sorry, sincere or otherwise.

Keith said his neck hurts, but he saw her coming in the mirror and tensed up. He said she was dicking around with either her cell phone or her ipod. I told him he needs to go see the chiropractor tomorrow and bill it to her insurance.

I think I should buy the girls new carseats too. I'm not sure, but I think you are supposed to. And I'm moving Gracie back up to the middle row instead of so close to the back bumper. I'm still a basket case.

The back plastic bumper got dinged, but nothing serious. The hatch door still works and everything seems fine. We are all ok, and most importantly:

The Girls are OK!

Evenflo Triumph Deluxe Convertible Carseats: Pass!

The 5 Minute Car Seat Nap

This happens all too often.... Baby Princess falls asleep half a mile from home and wakes up as soon as I shut off the engine and open the door. Thus, completing the 5 minute carseat nap!

Invariably, this ruins any chance of a real nap. The 5 minute carseat nap is a powerful one that can get her through the rest of the day. Me? I need her to nap longer. Much much longer. But, noooooooooo! The 5 min power-nap ruins the whole day.

This short little nap doesn't mean we avoid a good case of the crabbies. Oh no. Even though she thinks she had a real nap, albeit a short one, she still has a short fuse for the rest of the day. It also doesn't mean we get the tot to bed any earlier. She can't tell time yet? Oh, please! I think she can!

Today is one of those lucky days. It's almost 8pm and currently, she is half naked and sliding down a slide of books that she built all by herself- Weeeee! - while running intermittent laps around the living room. Why am I letting her? Well, because I finally got her to quit jumping on the couch, that's why! And she won't keep her shirt on. That's an every day battle though. I don't think the 5 minute carseat nap had any effect on her aversion to wearing a shirt.

I love that quiet 2 hours in the middle of the day when she's napping and I can have a hot tea, put my feet up and read. Ahhhh! But not on the dreaded 5 minute Car Seat Nap day.

Her short fuse was getting the best of her tonight. She went bezerk with jealousy! We saw a whole new level of the toddler tantrum when we put the dog in the bathtub and not the baby. Oh, she was mad! And very jealous! As soon as the dog got out, we went upstairs to "her" tub and put her in and all was right with the world again. I guess if the dog gets a bath, so does Baby Princess.

On that note.... yes, we gave the dog a bath tonight. You see, my middle Princess went to the dog park to meet a boy there so she took the dog. She must have let the dog roll in the mud cuz when I picked her and the dog up, someone was very wet and muddy! And stinky!

The dog hung her head and did her best to avoid the tub. But I got her in there, shampooed her with Baby shampoo - extra conditioning! By the time I was ready to rinse her, my husband came in and took over because he said Gracie was screaming and crying too loud and I was cussing too much. Really? Oh, I didn't think a hundred cuss words were near enough. Ok, I wasn't in the mood to bathe the stinky muddy dog.

So after the dog's bath, Gracie got hers while the dog laid next to the tub and got dried and brushed and trimmed. She loves being brushed. I don't mind brushing her but I'm not crazy about trimming her dingleberries. Oh yes, I trimmed off her dingleberries. I also trimmed behind her ears and between her toes. She was forming armpit dreadlocks too. Gosh, when was the last time I washed the dog?

Next time, I'm not going to wash the dog on 5 min carseat nap day! I'm living and learning. This combination of events really ought to be avoided for sanity reasons.

On the subject of Carseats.....

I was reading Burnt Cookie's blog about her car seat dilemma and had to share my carseat excitement. Finally, the third kid, and I find a good seat! Third time is a charm.

My older girls had infant car seats that literally looked like 5 gallon buckets with a baby sized notch cut out of the side, so you could fold the kid in half and stuff her in the bucket. We always called it the pickle bucket.

Then they grew into their big baby carseat which had a bar that came down in the front and you clicked the bar down and the shoulder straps, etc. That was a pretty good seat, except that the underside of the bar had the protruding metal clip on it and I was always konking the girls in the head with it. They had plenty of carseat head bruises before they were done with that seat.

My how carseats have changed! For the better!

I have my tot riding around in the Evenflo Triumph. It's a good seat! Looks like a deluxe lazyboy. The teens were jealous at first because the baby has the best seat in the van! Really, look at that comfy thing! I want one for me! And it goes from 5 - 40 pounds so I skipped the pickle bucket seat. Although, the basket carrier looks pretty comfy too, not at all like a bucket.

Here is a picture of how Gracie rides. The rest of us don't have it quite as good, but we're getting over our jealousy little by little. No one else in the family can put their toes in their ears either. We've all got a lot to learn.