I am beginning to understand the true meaning behind Mothers never get a break. Picture this. Mark, Caleb and I take one of our first family vacations to the beach and where do we end up...the outlet mall. My sister had the pleasure of joining us and her overall opinion to the day was...I don't know how you do this in and out everyday. Let me explain what she is referring to here.
Saturday morning as usual I was up early with Caleb and ready for the day by the time Hope was just waking up. I rode my bike with Caleb down to the park to give her some time. Of course by the time Caleb and I are finished at the park and arrived back to the house, Hope and Mark are ready to get going; however, I see Caleb is nearing a nap.
What do we do - that is the question.
Do we wait around a few hours for Caleb to nap? Do we go for an indoor swim and shop later? Do we shop now and see how far we can get without a nap? We opt for the latter and much to my surprise have a very productive day.
The whole nap thing is overrated anyway, right? Yeah, right. Our family spends 3 hours on the road Friday and Sunday and Caleb fights every second to keep his eyes open. We travel 5 minutes to the local outlet mall and he falls asleep. We arrive needing to eat lunch, baby is asleep, and we forgot the stroller on the trip. My sister insists upon carrying Caleb who looks just as big as she does. Of course, he is awake by now. We stand in line to rent a stroller.
When we approach the counter we are informed there are no single strollers available. Our only choice is to rent a strolling car for our toddler. That's fine. He seems to like it for at least the first five minutes. Then it's off to eat. Since more than half his lunch ends up on the floor, I'm expecting a pretty cranky guy, but he was good.
Mark heads off alone to shop and Hope and I are left to stroll Caleb in this large car buggy in and out the crowd. I try to shop but it is nearly impossible with a toddler demanding all my attention. Plus the buggy is much too large to stroll around the stores. So we hang out in the pet store where there are lots of balls for him to play with. Once I finally feel I can get a break to shop, I realize we need to find the restroom. Stinky diaper time!
At this point, I've decided if I don't find Mark I'll never have an opportunity to shop. We meet up and I hand off the baby and buggy. Hope and I walk into Dressbarn for our own time. I take a deep breath and try to collect my thoughts. Of course, I have a hard time really allowing myself to enjoy the shopping since I know Mark and Caleb are out there doing who knows what. Then as I'm standing at the sale rack I hear this wailing. I turn my head to look out the floor to ceiling windows and see my child crying because Daddy put him in the buggy. Mark comes to the window and pretends to be pulling his hair out. If he only knew-Mommy doesn't catch a break!
But you know what, I'm more than happy with it! Looking back on this day I find it quite comical actually. Humour is full of healing power.
