Adult interaction and my knight in shining armor

Mondays are always a little rough. Coming off the weekends are usually a bit of a letdown. There is plenty of cleaning and catching up to be done, and getting back into the swing of things with just me taking care of the boys can take it’s toll.

Yesterday Andy texted me at 4:30 telling me he was still in class (meaning it would be a while before he would be home). I’ve been working on our Thanksgiving shopping list and KNOW it’s going to take at least two trips to the store, if not three. So when Jackson woke from his nap in a pleasant mood I knew I needed to seize the opportunity. I got everyone dressed and headed out the door. I always park near a cart rack and use a cart to carry everyone inside. No luck today. ALL the racks were empty. Jackson very obediently held my hand and I lugged Benny and the diaper bag on my other arm.

Once inside we wandered the Christmas aisles. (Anyone who complains about the Christmas decorations out too early obviously doesn’t have small children.) We stopped to smell the holiday candles. Jackson enjoys doing this too and even names the colors (Orange! Green! Purple!) that he wants to smell. I chat with a lady with a toddler in her basket too about how whenever you ASK them to name a color they look at you like you are from Mars. I’m generally not a ‘chatter’. I’m just not good at it and unfortunately often keep on moving without making eye contact. Something I’m trying to do better on. Trying to be more ‘present’ in life. Later I ran into another mom with THREE boys. You know how you keep ending up in the same aisle with people sometimes? And you feel like you get to know them (as crazy as that sounds)? We kept running into each other and I stopped to ask about her THREE boys. She shared that she did also have a girl and another on the way! I love big families. I don’t know why, I just REALLY do. And there really isn’t much of a point to this story other than that it’s funny how sometimes exactly what you need is some ‘adult interaction’ in the form of a shopping trip to Walmart J

As the often do, things quickly started to turn downhill. Jackson was getting a bit cranky and Benny was getting restless. Or maybe Benny was getting cranky and Jackson restless, I forget. I quickly hit the produce section and made my way to the checkout. The first one I got to was the 20 items or less. I quickly estimated I had ‘about’ 20 and stood in line. While standing there I start counting and realize I may be over, but only  by an item or two. At this point I made the decision to stick it out, overage and all. I manage to get everything up on the counter. Jackson is ‘helping’ me unload and Bennett is getting fussy. REALLY fussy. I’m starting to stress, trying to find my credit card to pay and someone comes up quickly behind me, touches my back, and approaches my kids. It took a second to process, but it was my dear husband, who had come home from school, realized we must still be at Walmart and drove the couple of blocks to come ‘rescue’ us. He helped me load the kids and groceries into the car and then met us back at home. Could I ask for anything more?