Note to self......

ALAWYS have at least one stroller in your car at all times.

I've been wanting to hit up the Carter's outlet store in Newton for a couple of weeks now. It's starting to get warmer, so I wanted to do a little spring/summer stock-up for the kids. Plus, Eli is beginning to outgrow all of his jammies, so I wanted to get some bigger ones. Anyways, today was the first day I've had time to go. I originally planned on heading out there after I fed Kamdyn at 10. Then I discovered they opened at 9. So, I decided that I wanted to go out there right when they opened and be home in time for Kamdyn's 10 o'clock feeding. Too ambitious...quite possibly, doable...definitely. So I got the kids loaded up, got some gas, dropped off a movie at Ben and Erin's and hit the road. I was so proud of myself for getting there just a few minutes after 9. I was thinking this trip would be qick and painless, I could get stocked up, and get home by 10 too. Then I opened the trunk to find........nothing! I knew I had taken the bigger jogger stroller out of the trunk to make room for a swing we are borrowing from a friend, but I had forgotten that Brian had the little umbrella stroller for Eli in his car from his guy's weekend last weekend. CRAP! Oh well, I figured it couldn't be too bad. Kamdyn was sleeping and I figured I could just set her down(she doesn't go anywhere yet, so nice!) and carry Eli around the store. Things rarely work out the way you plan. About the time I made it into the store, Kamdyn woke up. Not really a big deal, except for the fact that unless she's sleeping, she hates her car seat. I can keep her hapy and quiet, but I have to carry the car seat around so she's moving. Rocking her with my foot doesn't do, I have to actually be hauling the montrous thing around. So.....I pick her up and decide to put Eli down. He can walk.........

That's the problem, he can walk. So pretty much immediately he's getting into things. He was trying to help me pick out some cute outfits for Kamdyn. He found a couple of good ones too, but he just didn't understand that I didn't need 5 of the same dress pulled off the rack. Clearly he couldn't keep out of trouble. About this time Kamdyn had fallen back asleep due to my walking, so I put her down and picked problem child up. Again, things rarely work out the way you plan. Not more than 2 minutes later she was up and wailing, so down goes Eli, up goes Kamdyn. He's momentarily good and I am able to quickly grab a few cute things. Well, I could go on, but the vicious cycle continues and eventually I have to carry Eli and Kamdyn's carrier around the store so I can finish up. I grabbed some jammies for Eli and headed for the check-out counter. Almost home free! But then Eli found so gift bags that he thought were pretty, and he had a very smelly poopy diaper on too. So, one obstacle after another. As we were leaving they gave Eli a sticker to take home (for being such a great helper??:)). Got paid, got the nasty diaper changed, got the kids loaded up and headed home. Eli wanted his sticker on, so I put it on his pants. We hit the road and he is happily playing with the sticker on his pants. Look back about 10 minutes later and he is eating his sticker. Seriously?! Managed to get him to give me his half chewed, slobbery sticker and we continue home. We make it without any further incident thankfully, but it was definitely not the trip I invisioned. Good news is, I don't have to work out today. I'm pretty sure I was sweating inside Carter's from chasing Eli around and hauling both kiddos. I'm sure the workers were laughing at me after I left. Another good thing from this visit is that Eli's "helpfulness" probably kept me from buying WAY too much stuff that we didn't need. So I'm sure his daddy will thank him later.

Moral of this story.........
NEVER,NEVER,NEVER, NEVER leave the house with a 18 month old and 2 month old without first making sure there is a stroller in the car (especially to go clothes shopping). Next time (if there is a next time with the kids with me) I get to Carter's and discover there is no stroller in the car, I'm getting back in the car and heading home!!!