Reasons Why I Shouldn't go Christmas Shopping by Myself with the Kids...

• Grafton insisted on pushing his brother in the double stroller and made it fall backwards so that Deklan was head down in front of a group of people waiting in line at Macy's.
• The large double stroller barely fits through doors and between racks holding merchandise.
• Potty breaks (poop and pee) at the most inconvenient times.
• Deklan decided to have a melt-down at the beginning of lunch resulting in food all over the floor and BOTH of us.
• Deklan was also wanting to nurse during his fit and proceeded to lift up my shirt and show all of the busy holiday shoppers my white stomach.
• Grafton stood in the stroller, with only him in it, and caused it to tip backwards for a second time that day.
• We temporarily lost a shoe.
• Only two gifts were purchased.
• We got on and off the same elevator 3 times because I could not figure out which floor we needed to be on.
• My feet ached, my head hurt, and I was completely exhausted by the end of our trip!

So Embarrassed

Last week I took the boys to the mall and while there we went into Barnes & Noble so that Grafton could have a chocolate milk from their cafe.  When we walked into the store I noticed a PEOPLE magazine with Kate Gosselin (from Jon & Kate plus 8) on the cover. I immediately grabbed it as I had been anticipating reading her interview.  I then purchased our items and picked a seat that was convenient for both the stroller and a high chair.  Directly behind us was a college student studying for a math final, and he didn't seem excited that I brought my noisy brood close to him.

I was anxious to read my magazine, so I gave Deklan some puffs (it's like a dry cereal that dissolves quickly for babies to eat) and let Grafton drink his chocolate milk. I should have been paying more attention, because Grafton grabbed my pop out of the stroller and ended up dumping the entire thing on the floor. I quickly jumped up and tried to get the stroller out of the way. While doing so, Deklan grabbed the container of puffs and dumped every one of those on the floor too!

Mr. College Student was not amused, but the Barnes & Noble employee was very nice about it. Needless to say, I quickly grabbed my kids and we left as soon as we could.