Publix...Where Shopping Is A Pleasure

Am I the only one that thinks that the Publix Marketing team left out a key word in their slogan?  I really think they meant to say "Publix...Where Shopping ALONE Is A Pleasure".  The slogan creators have certainly not shopped with young kids in tow.  Don't get me wrong, I love Publix but man, it can be crazy.  Here is just a sample of one of our more recent Publix excursions.

Ben falls asleep in the car on the way to the store.  I leave him in his carrier but I have to put MB in the buggy seat to keep her contained so Ben's car seat goes into the main area.  That leaves about two inches of room inside the buggy.  Ben wakes up as soon as we get in the store.  MB tries to make him laugh but she scared him instead so he gets upset.  Pacifier in, things calm down.  We hit our first aisle and are after cheese.  MB must hold both packs!  The things that I think are on sale, are not so I make a quick change from my list.  The cereal that I want has holes in the cardboard of the box so I dig to find a decent box.  I look up and see that MB has placed bite marks through the cheese package trying to get to the cheese.  Awesome.  I race up and down the aisles and skip the ones I think we don't need.  We get towards the back of the store, MB says, "I gotta go potty".  We race to the front of the store.  I have everyone in the buggy so I push the whole thing in.  Nothing like taking your pork chops into the potty.  Ben doesn't like the sound of the toilet flush and MB does her regular thing of trying to touch everything nasty in the stall.  We clean it up and head back out to the store.  We get a few more things and I have groceries stacked all around Ben's seat and if one thing falls, he will be covered with food.  The bottom of the buggy is packed too and my cereal boxes keep trying to slide off the cart.  My fast and sudden movements don't help things.  I realize that I needed some items from the aisles that I skipped so I backtrack.  I promise MB a balloon if she stays in the buggy with minimal melt downs.  She holds up her end of the bargain so we head to customer service.  They have moved the direction of the line so I have to change my plan.  A man sees me coming and quickens his steps so he can beat me to the line.  I am now third in line and trying to hold my tongue from putting the man in his place.  It turns out the man cut me off to buy a Lotto ticket, I hope he loses.  I get up to the front, ask for a pink balloon.  After more waiting, they come out with a deflated pink balloon and say that they are out of helium.  MB is not happy!  She wants a ballooooon!  I try to tell her their balloon thing is broken and promise to blow it up when we get home.  We finally check out.  The few coupons I have completely stump the cashier and he has to call in backup.  The lady behind me gives me the evil eye and huffs over to another line.  The poor bag guy was able to get everything bagged only to realize he would have to balance everything precariously on the bottom rack.  It won't all fit so I carry some bags myself.  I then realize what time it is and decide to go get a sub for supper.  Dan has been out of town for three days so I'm not cooking.  I take all of our groceries over to the deli where no one is working.  I finally get some help and they are out of turkey so he leaves to go shave some off.  He shaves enough turkey to make sandwiches through all of next week.  He finally starts to make my sandwich.  I look over and MB is halfway through a bag of doritos.  I reach into the bag to take one because what does it matter at this point?  She scolds me and tells me "no, that too much, these are mine!".  I try to tell her that nothing in this cart is hers and that I am the one sharing with her since she doesn't have a job and doesn't pay for anything.  She doesn't get it.  I grab my sandwich and haul all of the groceries to the car.  Ben is so over it.  MB says, "I wanna watch a movie"!  Gladly I say after I force her to say please.  I plug in the movie and start driving home.  And then, a beautiful thing happens, all is quiet except for Dora in the background!  I pull into the driveway and decide to eat my sandwich while we all sit in the car with the windows down.  Serenity now!

And that is why shopping ALONE is a pleasure.  Dan used to think that going to the grocery store alone was something fun that I got to experience and he didn't understand why I would make such a big deal out of him keeping them at home so I could go by myself.  He now understands that shopping alone is not just a pleasure, it's survival.

Basket Errand Surprise

Last Wednesday, Ben and I went on an adventure.  MB was staying with her mimi and papa and Dan was having dinner with his buddies so we were by ourselves for the evening.  We were footloose and fancy free so I decided to trek it over to Lenox Mall to pick up my Easter baskets from Pottery Barn Kids.

(Side Story:  Let me start by saying that it took me several years to break down and purchase their Easter baskets.  I have been drooling over them for years but didn't want to fork over the cash.  You see, I am a thrifty shopper.  I love searching for bargains and am always trying to get a good bargain.  I never pay full price and if I do it's for something really specific that I know will not go on sale.  I decided to buy the basket liners from PBK this year and then figured I could find baskets to fit for cheaper than they sell them in the store and try to save $20.  This is where my wonderful husband who knows me so well stepped in.  He asked me to please just go ahead and buy the baskets too because he knew I would spend the next three weekends trying to track down a basket and then would either be dissapointed that I had to settle for one that didn't fit or mad that I couldn't find anything and then it would be too late to buy the real ones before Easter and I would have wasted a lot of time.  So, I am listening to him and I decided to go with the real thing but it turns out they sell out quick!  Who knew?  I wanted the brown one for Ben but they were sold out of those so I had to get on a waiting list.  I now have the brown one that came in this past Monday.  I had them reserve them for me so I wouldn't have to worry about getting all the way to the store and then realize they were all out.  End of long side story.)

So, I fed Ben and headed out the door to Lenox which I hadn't been to in years!  It was almost 7:30pm by the time I got there which was perfect because I didn't have any problems with parking and the mall wasn't very packed.  I went straight to Pottery Barn Kids to get my baskets (y'all know how efficient you have to be with a little person, there is no time to dawdle) and as soon as I walked in, I heard this familiar voice.  By the time I got to the register I realized it was Paula Dean and her husband Michael shopping in the store.  I decided to play it cool and resist the temptation to take pictures of the back of their heads with my phone.  Then Michael turned around and starting chatting with me and talking to Ben.  It was like we had been family friends or something and he started telling me all about his grandsons and how much fun they have with them and that they hope to have a granddaughter one day, etc. then the butter queen herself turns around and starts chatting it up.  I'm again trying to play it cool so I just stand there and smile and talk about what a sweet baby Ben is and try to avoid being socially awkward which is so hard sometimes.  Paula then started tickling Ben's toes and he is just cracking up at her and loving her so much!  She baby talked with him for a good while and when she stood up from leaning over his stroller, I gave her a hug and told her "I just love you!".  Not awkward at all!  I totally blew my play it cool cover in that one second!  Their body guard probably was keeping a close eye on the crazy girl using her baby to chat it up with them.  It was all so funny and strange!  Later I realized that I must have looked like a stalker because I walked right into the store and stood right behind them without shopping around or acting like I was a casual shopper or anything.  There were other people in the store doing this and they would come up and talk to Ben like he was their ticket to talking to Paula.  It was so funny!  This whole encounter lasted about 10 minutes or so as they finished up their shopping and left the store.  I told them to have a good night and they baby talked with Ben one more time before heading out.  I paid for my baskets sent a text to a few people telling them what had happened and then decided to run into Gymboree and look at their sunglasses for MB to stick in her basket.  As soon as I walked in, there they were again and I was so embarrassed!  I knew what it must have looked like at that point but I had to own it and try and play it cool again.  Michael turned around and with a big old grin asked me if I was stalking them.  I laughed and said we must be on the same shopping path.  I scooted buy him, quickly picked out some sunglasses (I knew I was buying something and had to make it quick) and waited at the counter for someone to help me.  We were the only three people in the store and I just wanted to buy the sunglasses and get out of there so they could have some non-stalker time to enjoy shopping.  Michael then came up and asked more questions about Ben and then started shopping again.  Once I checked out, I b-lined it out of the store without saying anything (they were busy in the back) and Michael yelled out "Bye Benjamin!".  I turned around to wave with a big smile, told them to have a great night and then speed walked all the way back to my car.

It was such a fun encounter and I did my best to walk the line of showing them I was interested enough in talking to them but not over the top stalkerish and give them some space.  Paula looked so great and has lost a lot of weight and they could not have been more friendly and down to earth!  Since there was no way I was going to ask to get a picture with them, I took one of Ben's expression after we ran into them.  He seriously thought she was so funny!

Seven Months!

My little man is not so little anymore. He is seven months! Ben, I apologize in advance for not doing an update for you in the past five months. Please know that I have spent lots of time holding you, kissing your sweet cheeks, carrying you all around town and playing with you. However, I do want to document a few other things about what you have been up to.

- You are the happiest, sweetest, most content baby around. You are just happy to be wherever you are and you love being around people. The minute someone walks out of the room, you start to fuss. As long as one of us is in the same room with you, you are content and all grins. You follow me with your eyes wherever I go and I can only imagine you will be my little sidekick as soon as you can crawl or walk.

- You crack up at MB when she jumps around for you and tries to tickle you. You used to get scared when she would scream but now you just give her a look and then you move on with your business because you expect crazy outbursts from her. You have always been sensitive to sounds but you are starting to get used to her loud noises at least. You still don’t like loud toys though.

- You love to eat food but you have been difficult to breast feed at times. You are easily distracted and nurse the best when it is quiet and dark which is rare in this house. We worked so hard during the first month to get you to breast feed and now that's all you want to do and you don’t want to take a bottle. You will drink a few ounces but then you will hold out to nurse. We are lucky in that I only miss one feeding while I am working so you eat a big snack of rice cereal and other foods and you wait until I am done with my work day. From months 4 - 6 I didn’t eat very much dairy because it didn’t agree with your tummy. You had the stinkiest toots but your digestive system has matured and you can handle it now. I really hope that you are not allergic to dairy.

- You have low percentages for weight but you have rolls on your thighs so I can't imagine what the other 95% look like! You are currently in a size three diaper and wearing 3-6 month clothes.

- You have not been a very consistent sleeper at night. You may sleep from 10pm - 6am a few nights in a row and then you go back to waking up at all hours of the night. You don’t always want to eat, sometimes we can just give you the pacifier and you are happy for another hour or so. I am so ready for you to start sleeping through the night consistently, your daddy and I are so tired! Just this week, we decided to try and let you cry it out and it wasn't too bad. You whimpered for a little while but then went back to sleep. You are so easy to put down for naps and at night. You stay awake for about 1.5 hours and then we lay you down and you go to sleep. After I feed you in the middle of the night/early morning, you go right back to sleep and then sleep until 9am or 10am. It’s wonderful! We hope that the sleeping through the night these past few nights is a new trend that you will keep up!

- You are not interested in rolling over. You will occasionally do it but most times you just play on your tummy until you get bored and then you fuss until we come and rescue you to do something else. You are starting to sit up a little bit which is so strange to see. You love to jump in your exercauser and you want to jump all the time, even when we are holding you.

- You still spit up so much! We haven’t been nearly as phased by it this time since MB prepared us but it still catches us off guard sometimes. The other night you threw up almost everything that I had just fed you and I had to call in backup to help me. MB saw the mess and looked at you and said “It’s okay Ben, we all have accidents. Don’t worry Ben, it’s okay, I have accidents too”. I loved that she wasn’t phased by the mess but concerned about your feeling first.

- Some of your favorite things: Me! You think I am the best thing ever and I feel the same way about you. I tell your daddy that I hope you always love me as much as you do now. It’s the best! You also love raspberries on your belly, kisses on your neck, being naked, bath time, being held, pinching our skin and pulling hair! You have a very tight grip. You love to laugh and you now have this hilarious fake laugh that you do a lot.

You are so much fun and we just adore you!

Here are some recent pictures:

Such a good sport.

This was taken at your six month appointment right before you got your shots.

I was amazed to find you sleeping in your jumping exercauser! One minute you were a bouncing wild man, the next you were out cold.

So excited about the warmer weather and showing off those chunky thighs.

Look mom, I'm doing it!

This is how I often find you in the morning. You don't like to be bothered when you are sleeping like this.

Wordless Wednesday (discovering the joy of blowing dandelions)

He's sitting!

These videos are proof that Ben is growing up and that his big sister is encouraging him (and apologizing to him) along the way. Check out his natural mohawk! It's awesome!




My favorite is "sorry Ben, again"!


Teddy and MB should never be left out of the video. :-)

Food, Glorious Food!

Ben is eating food now, how crazy is that? I totally feel like the infant stage with him is flying by way faster than with MB. We started rice cereal at five months and it was a big hit. We started other foods at six months and sweet potatoes and bananas have been the favorite. Squash and sweet peas have not been so popular. He also likes prunes, carrots, mashed potatoes, pears, applesauce and avocados. I am making most of his food like I did with MB and so far it has been pretty easy. I have decided not to make prunes this time around. Those things are so hard to puree so I am buying those for the little guy.

Not sure why we didn't think to get a bib on him before we started feeding him rice cereal for the first time. He only wears a bib 99% of his awake time due to all the spit up so this is just odd to me.

Oh well, it's nothing a little bath time can't clean up. This is far from the relaxing baths that Ben is used to. He was wise to keep his eyes focused on MB during his first bath in the big tub. She is a wild woman!

Squash was the first food besides cereal that he tried. He was not a fan.

He started smiling so I thought maybe he was changing his mind about the whole squash thing. And then...

This is the face that I got! I wish you could have heard all the gagging and carrying on that he did, it was seriously awesome. I have tried to give him squash a few other times and he's just not having it.

Bath time solves everything around here. He has loved being back in his own private tub! He likes to splash at his own speed and enjoy the peacefulness. What a sweetie.

Wordless Wednesday (Just like mama.)