A Little Shopping Trip

Today, I took my kids to Costco.  We headed out the door at 11:15.  Ivy generally takes a nap between 12:00 and 12:30 these days, so I figured if I was quick, I should be able to make it, or at least come close.  On the way, we passed the Carter's store, and since all of their clearance items were an extra 25% off for Memorial Day weekend, I decided to stop in for just a minute.  Hugh has informed me that when I say I am going to stop at a clothing store for "just a minute," it means about the same as when his mother says that she is going to stop at a clothing store for "just a minute," which, in case you have never gone shopping with Hugh's mom, means that you will be there for at least a good hour.

At Carter's, I scoured all of the clearance racks.  Twice.  I walked up and down the store a couple of times to make certain that I wasn't missing anything.  I picked up a whole stack of things, and then just as I was about to start looking back through the stack to decide which of the things in it my children actually needed (or, which things were so cute and so cheap that it would just be a crime not to buy them), Asher announced that he needed to go to the bathroom.  Right now.  He is on antibiotics for the terrible ear infection that followed the horrible cold with accompanying pink eye that he had last week. (Actually, all three of my children are on antibiotics for terrible ear infections following the horrible colds with accompanying pink eye that they all had last week.) Asher's intestines are not fans of the antibiotics.

Of course, since Asher needed to go to the bathroom, Simon needed to go too.  So, I escorted Asher back to the women's restroom.  I escorted Simon back to the men's restroom.  I left Ivy buckled into the stroller at the back of the store, standing guard over my big stack of clothes.  I helped Asher change out of his slightly soiled underwear and into a Pull-up.  I helped Simon put all of his clothes, which were scattered all over the bathroom floor, back on.  I tried not to think about what kind of germs, exactly, were probably all over the bathroom floor.  (It's a small store.  It looked pretty clean in there.  Nobody seems to be dying yet, but I'll keep you posted.)

Once everybody was rested and clothed, I made my way back to my stack.  I moved things back and forth between the "probably" pile and the "probably not" pile until I felt good about what was in each one.  Then I headed to the check-out.  I made my purchases and led my little gaggle back to the car.

Once everybody was buckled into their seats, I pulled out my receipt to make sure that everything had gone just as I thought it would at the cash register.  (And to re-experience the joy of finding thirty-five dollar sweaters for five dollars.  If you have ever gone shopping with Hugh's mom, you will know that reading over the receipt to re-experience that kind of joy is a post-shopping must for her too.)  It turned out that things hadn't quite gone according to plan.  I had accidentally bought Simon two of the same sweater in different sizes.  I had left the size decision for the last minute, but when the last minute came, I had forgotten about it.  I locked the car and ran like the wind back into the store to return one of them. By the time I was back in the car, ready to go to Costco (for real, this time), it was 1:00.

Undeterred, we set out to to get our groceries.  We did much better for time at our original destination.  It took us one hour to complete our Costco trip, including driving times, stopping for samples, and another trip to the bathroom for both boys.  When we got home, I put a very tired Ivy down for a very late nap.  And I fed the boys some yogurt.