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.

Great Accomplishments Today!

Chapter I
Getting Up and Out

It was 102* today. Too hot to leave the air conditioned comfort of our home. But I cleaned yesterday and the day before, I sure don't want to be stuck doing that again! Besides, we had a million things to do today, so I barely dressed the kids and we set out on our quest to accomplish something.

Today was moving day. Not my moving day, Katie's. Katie and her new hubby have been living in an empty three bedroom home on the Navy base in Charleston while all their stuff sits in a garage at her in-laws house. Finally, the moving truck came! They'll have their stuff on Friday next week, supposedly. I told Katie's in-laws that I'd stop by and "help" (not sure what I could do to help besides get in the way) plus I had one more box to add to the load. I was supposed to be there between 8 - 8:30am. Yeah.

Well, I got up at 8am after another night of not enough sleep. The baby recently decided that she'd like to play for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. This eating and going right back to sleep stuff was just too boring. 3am party in the playroom is much more fun! And all she has to do is win the 2am wrestling match, cuz mommy gives up at 3am.

When I got up, I noticed my husband was gone. Ok, Ok, I'll admit it: I didn't notice right away. It took me a bit, but I noticed fairly soon after I got up. It didn't take me too long. He started back to work today, and he left shortly before 8am, so I just missed him.

This means I can't sneak off without the little turdlettes. Waking up late and as the only grown-up in the house totally shoots down any "helping" that I was going to do this morning. Oh Well.

Of course, if I'm up so is Libby. Why else would I get out of bed? Then something very weird happened: Gracie woke up too. Wow, this is early for her! This is great! Maybe I can get her sleep schedule back to somewhat normal and get her to bed and asleep at a reasonable time tonight! There's HOPE!

So the three of us got up, had coffee and applejuice, some toast... then I washed my hair under their intense supervision. Really, I don't get a moment alone with these two. They watch my every move. Once Gracie told me I had all the shampoo bubbles out, they hopped in the tub with squeals of delight. They played, I scrubbed them, they threw soaking wet washcloth puppets at each other and I read three sentences in my book. I keep a book in their bathroom to read to myself while they are confined and happy in the tub. It's been a month and I might turn the first page soon.

Libby had hives all over her body. This time they are little spots but they were everywhere. Head, arms, torso (front and back), legs... even on her cute little butt-cheeks. I let the girls "air dry" for a bit to see if Libby's hives would go away before I bothered her with clothing and a diaper. After 20 minutes, she was clear again. Back to business...

They are fed, clean, and getting dressed! We might make it! We might be able to run some errands! It's only 10am!

No, there was a delay. Getting dressed didn't go as planned. Gracie somehow managed to sniff out her Christmas dress from the back of her closet on the side we don't use where it was stuffed away and hidden between two prom dresses. How? Why? It's so hot out! And she wants to wear this lined fake-velvet dress? Lordy. We negotiated. When was the last time you negotiated with a three year old? So here I am, sleep deprived, still in my jammies, towel on my head, cold coffee cup in my hand, explaining fashion seasons to the kid with big pleading eyes.

I won. I got them into matching cotton sundresses. :)

I gated them in their pink room, and ran down the hall in a frenzy to get dressed and pony my hair before they started squawking about being locked in. Which is to say, as soon as they notice the gate is up, I'm gonna hear it.

Now that we were ALL ready to go... it was 10:45. I grabbed some frozen water bottles and the diaper bag and my purse and we headed out into the heat. Seriously, ten degrees cooler would feel like heaven!

We're all strapped down and ready to back out of the driveway for a big long day of errands! Here we go!

Shopping while Lactating

Keith took Gracie shopping and I took Libby. I went to Kohls, which was packed solid. Of course, as soon as we got there Libby decided it was lunchtime. There isn't really a place to sit down in Kohls, so I went to the dressing rooms. Bingo! An open dressing room and it was a handicapped stall! So much better than the regular stall with just a triangle to perch on. I got all comfy on the bench and fed the baby.

It was kind of odd in there. As busy as the store was, there wasn't anyone in the dressing rooms. After a while the lights went out. They are those motion lights I guess. Since I was sitting still they went out. I had to wait till Libby was done to move enough to activate the lights again. When I finished feeding her, I put her back in her stroller, got my self put back together and strolled back into the store.

That's when I realized it. I had been in the Mens' Dressing Rooms! Whoops!

After toodling through some more stores, Libby exploded in her diaper and had her gourmet mustard poop down to her knees and up her back. Lovely.

I called Keith and told him to get some bigger diapers, any kind, just bigger!

So, I strolled her back to the van and changed her there, then of course she was hungry. So I bagged up her butt bomb, and scooped her up and got in the drivers seat with her. I was moving the seat back and getting comfy when I noticed this woman giving me the stink-eye.

She was really giving me the glare too. Can't believe laser beams didn't shoot out of her eyes and bore my skull. But, I'm sure she only had my baby's best interest at heart. I bet it looked like I was gonna drive away with my baby in my lap. But I'd never do that!

I have my 3rd row folded down for strollers and shopping, and the middle row is all carseats, so I got in the front seat. I do prefer the middle row for nursing, not that it makes any difference in a parked car.

So I smiled at her and flipped the blanket over my shoulder, then I looked down at Libby and got her latched and all that. I looked up and saw that evil-eyed woman turn and walk away, but she glanced back a couple of times. I wonder how many more times she looked at me sitting there, cuz I sat there for a good 20 minutes before I put Libby back in her carseat, strapped her down and drove away.

Breastfeeding while shopping isn't easy.

My Precious Public Puker

Just another day in the life of Me!

I grabbed the little shopping cart monster and one of teens and my long list and headed off to Sams Club. All we have left to eat in the house is candy. And we've been living off of it for three days.

On the way I stopped to ship some books that I sold on half.com. Score!

We get to Sams Club and Lexie says... don't drive around the parking lot so fast.... Mom, just pick a spot... quick twirling around.... geez, just park.... (I park)... I don't feel so good.... My response is "will you get the stroller out? Why are you just standing there? Come on Lex lets go" Lex says "I don't feel so good... I'm gonna throw up....

I'll let you imagine the noises she made..... ewwww!

So she's standing behind the van in the middle of the row puking. And I'm screaming "ewww eww ewww! Don't let it splatter on me! Go puke between the cars! Ewww!" She wanders between the cars and pukes some more. Thankfully I couldn't see her puking - which is why I wanted her to hide cuz I didn't want to join in.

Me: "ya done? Let's get back in the van and go home" she says "oh no, I am not getting back in the van!"

oh no.

So I tell her to just chill out in the furniture section and I gave her my bottle of water. She rinsed and spit in the parking lot. Ok she says.

Well, little one is a shopping cart monster and screams and cries if you stick her in a shopping cart, which is why I needed to bring a teen, so I had to push her in the stroller and pull the cart behind me - like a train. No worries, I still managed to talk to my sister on the cell phone while running up and down the aisles throwing diapers, meat, and frozen pizzas in my cart at break-neck speeds. I got my shopping done in no time, never once consulted my list, collected my puker and drove very carefully home. Didn't want to rock the boat.

She just ate a handful of candy and asked if we had any beef jerky leftover. Grabbed a soda and headed to her computer. I think she's recovered already! Teenagers!

Lex is the Queen of Puking in Public. I've pulled over so she could puke on the side of the road, she's hurled in gas stations, she ralphed all over main streets in several towns, and she shut down Hallmark once - she puked in the entrance trapping people in and barring others with her puke barricade. She's puked at school, in class, in the hallway, in the quad, in the gym.. she's not particular. If she gets a little queasy, she'll blow. I've never even heard of anyone who pukes in public as much as this kid. She's precious. But she pukes.