You Had To Have Been There!!!

This post is for posterity's sake.

But, you're welcome to read along.

And laugh.

A lot.

It's Monday morning. I've been thinking since yesterday that I really need to get to the grocery store, as we were down to our last standby meal of spaghetti and meatballs. So, grocery store today it is. I had a brief conversation with Shawn this morning that went something like this:

Me: What time will you be home?
Shawn: around 5.
Me: Huh. (Thinking that tonight will be busy with FHE). Well, I need to get some groceries.
Shawn: You want me to try to come home a little earlier?
Me: Thinking...thinking...(do I deal with rush hour grocery store or toddler and baby in grocery store, the latter of which I have not done yet in a full out grocery run). No, go ahead and come home when you plan and I'll try to do it with the kids. I'll call you if I have to abandon ship.

Fast forward 2 hours.

Rebekah is asleep after a GREAT night (slept 8, fed, slept 3) and Aaron is dressed, ready to go, watching Dora. List has been prepared with produce circled so I don't have to go back to that section if I miss something...I was going to try to itemize by isle after that, but ran out of time...

Plan of attack: Wait for baby to wake up, feed, burp, change, and off we go.

We get to the store. They have these cool carts where I can strap Aaron in front of Rebekah and have the cart free for the food. He loves it. I promise him a sucker at the end if he's a good boy. Baby is starting to show signs of being unhappy...fidgeting and making the sucking motions....didn't I just feed you kid? You wanted more? Why didn't you say so at the house? (Let me just say at this point that at 8 weeks we are still on a feed-on-demand routine that varies from hour to hour, minute to minute. In other words, I have no idea when I'm going to be feeding the child). Hoping the pacifier will hold her off we race off to the produce. Onion, celery, romaine, apples, and strawberries all in the bag at record speed. Darting to the cheese - baby is fussy...put in the paci...she sucks for 5 seconds and spits it out. Meanwhile I've found the cheese...put in the paci...look for the cheaper brand - there it is! Quickly on to the bread isle for pnut butter. I ask Aaron to help me find the pnut butter to keep him entertained...put in the paci...walking down the isle to get to the pnut butter at the end of the isle and the whole way down the isle I hear, "THAT'S not the pnut butter, THAT'S not the pnut butter, ad nauseum. Whew. Rounding the cart to the next isle - move it buddy, I've got a fussy 8 week old in tow...put in the paci...hold in the paci while awkwardly moving the cart down the isle in search of salsa....where is it...where is it...THERE! Oh, wait, there's a coupon - I can get free chips that I need anyway - WOOHOO!! Gotta remember that when I get to the chip isle cause it's not on my list...put in the paci...OK, keep it moving. Up and down the isles I go like a woman possessed...trying to get out of the store before baby hits Meltdown...

Fast forward 10 minutes.

We've made it through the isles and all that's left is dairy. Have to have the dairy, even though baby has clearly had it (and I don't mean the dairy, I mean had it as in "Meltdown is imminent"). Mad dash to the dairy. Leave the cart in the middle of the aisle while I grab butter, milk, cottage cheese and yogurt all in one pass. Put in the paci....nope....baby is having none of the paci anymore. Have officially hit Meltdown status...MAYDAY...MAYDAY! A quick, and I mean a quick, scan of the list reveals I have forgotten the rotel...DANG THE ROTEL! Off we zoom to isle 6 with crying baby in store. Aaron is pleased to know we are now going to check out and he gets his sucker (the one bright spot in this trip...he was awesome!). To the checkout where the cashier asks how I'm doing....ummmm....yeah. I start piling stuff on the belt and baby's cry turns to a scream. Time for action. Baby is taken out of the car seat much to her and the cashier's relief. I again one-handedly begin piling stuff on the belt while squatting to reach the stuff in the bottom - oh, the thighs are getting a good workout! Transaction is complete. Problem: no suckers in sight. Solution: my buddy Sharon down at the self checkout stands who is sure to pull through with a sucker while I sit down on the conviently located bench and shove a boob in baby's mouth. Ahhhh, sweet peace for a few minutes. I take this opportunity to go over my list where I discover I've forgotten PEANUTS!! Must have the peanuts. I can see the peanuts from where I'm nursing - they are approximately 15 steps away. Oooohh, what to do...after thinking through the options, I determine the only workable one is to let baby finish, burp her, put her in her car seat, go get the peanuts and rush through the self checkout stand. Easy enough, right? Baby finishes, into the car seat we go. Sharon is kind enough to ask if she feels better now...cue the crying....quick, someone get me out of this nightmare! Put in the paci....nope, having none of it. In the peanut isle, take out the baby, put the peanuts in the cart, one-handedly maneuver the cart into the self checkout (where mercifully there is no line), scan, pay, bag, all with baby on shoulder and off we one-handedly go out the store...bye, Sharon, have a good day.

Out to the car...thinking through the options. In goes Rebekah, in goes Aaron, in go the groceries, in goes the paci...wow, she took it! On goes the white noise, off we go towards home. Wow, she's not fussing! (I love you white noise, I love you white noise).

Get home...still no fussing...leave the white noise on, pull open the trunk, carry first 4 bags to door...set the bags in one hand down to open door, pick them up and the one with the milk gallon promptly falls back on the ground. I'll get it in a second. Get the bags on the counter and come back for the milk only to find it spewing everywhere, thank you very much not-very-sturdy-HEB bags. Quick, into the house, find big bowl, find big bowl, run outside, hold what's left of milk in leaking plastic bag over my porch while laughing hysterically at the absurdity of the situation, or maybe just because I've finally lost it and will end up in the loony bin. Bring bowl with saved milk inside, back out to the car where baby is crying (surprise, surprise) and the rest of the groceries are brought in at record speed. In comes baby, in comes a dazed Aaron, and whew, we DID IT!!

And you thought YOU had a crazy life!!

I now have enough groceries to make it through the week minus a few things I will pick up at a different store...tonight...alone. What will next Monday bring???

Stay tuned for another episode of...

TERROR IN THE GROCERY STORE!!!!!

(cue the horror music)

My talented friend

My good friend Tiff is an amazing photographer. She offered to take some pics of Rebekah as a baby gift - what an awesome baby gift, right?!

These are a few of my favs. You can see the rest at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2105514&id=1483514890&l=037772c776

AND, check out her photography blog at:

http://www.pineappleportraiture.blogspot.com

Thanks Tiff! Love you friend!

Last week was the annual Girls Night Out at Kay's school. I always look forward to this as a Mommy-daughter together time. Here she is all ready to go.

The pickles were way yummy!

One of our favorite games...she won of course. :)

Her teacher, Ms. Jones, and the girls that came from her class.

Made a Valentine card for mom and dad.

Struttin' it on the red carpet. :)

Beautiful girl.

Face painting...

BFF's

And my favorite...my girl rockin' out!

We had a blast!