Yesterday, every member of the Selph household (except Bailey) set out for a morning of shopping and family fun. A morning of browsing through our favorite "baby clothes" stores while locating and purchasing, with the use of coupons, precious and adorable Easter outfits. (I think precious and adorable mean the same thing. But still, they needed to be both. Without breaking the budget of course. And possibly matching. How cute!? And on sale would be a bonus.)
The boys would enjoy browsing through the stores as well and display wonderful behavior. We would make fast time because everyone knows all the stores are overflowing with tons of sweet little boy clothes to choose from, so finding the perfect outfits would take no time. We would be back home after a successful trip in time for lunch and naps. Yes, the plan was in place and diaper bag packed. We were on a mission and we were ready.
(Saturday was one of our only opportunities to shop for Easter outfits, plus a few warm weather items for Garrison... because Austin already has a few that used to be big brother's. Every weekend until the 3rd weekend in April is pretty full. We're having ourselves one busy spring.)
Here comes the reality check...
We arrived at our first stop to find that the doors didn't open until 10:00am. Hasn't this happened to us before? So we waited in the car about 8 minutes, while an impatient 3 year old became whiny and annoying. Which left us scratching our heads because he usually isn't whiny at all. It's actually pretty rare for him. Walked in as soon as the doors opened, browsed around, found a total of 1 Easter outfit option for 1 of the boys. Left our first stop empty handed.
Arrived at our second stop. 3 year old still isn't in the best of moods. And he's started sneezing. A lot. We get out of the car and realize we don't have a stroller for Garrison. Oh boy. He helped stroll Austin around and did okay for the first 3 minutes. Browsed around and found a total of 0 options. Zero. Garrison starts to struggle with staying with the stroller/holding a hand. Has a talking to in the fitting room. Make that 2 talkings to. Oh dear. Left our second stop empty handed.
Arrive at our 3rd stop. But not before Austin realizes he doesn't see anyone he recognizes and starts crying a pitiful worried cry. (Austin now sits in the stroller facing forward, so he can't see me because I'm pushing him. Terrell and Garrison went down the escalator because that's Garrison's new favorite thing.) Bless his heart. But on a way happy note, we browse around and find matching Easter outfits for both boys, plus they're on sale, plus we make use of a coupon. Success at last!
Go back to the car, change Austin in the back back and head to our 4th stop. Terrell runs in by himself to pick up diapers and wipes. Garrison is still pretty whiny and definitely not feeling his best. Austin is getting hungry. So we make the decision to eat an early lunch so Austin can have his bottle... because baby food wasn't an option. I didn't pack any. Stink.
Enjoy a nice lunch while Austin takes about 2 ounces from his bottle. Stink again. We didn't have a way to warm it up so I'm assuming the temperature had something to do with it because he's been taking a bottle really good for me.
Get back in the car to head to our last stop. Both boys are irritable and ready to be home. We have success at our 5th stop and make it fast because everyone is melting. The car ride home is not fun. At all.
When we get home, Austin is asleep but not for long. He's hungry again. Garrison has a huge meltdown because he's tired, and he's been in trouble off and on the whole day, and he might be coming down with something. And finally, 2 hours after arriving home and dealing with drama and tears and exhaustion and ill-pills, all the boys in the house are asleep. Including daddy. And mama just enjoys the quiet.
And the lesson we learned? In the words of my husband, "Next time we just need to get a baby-sitter." Amen to that.
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