To the lady with the baby at Target

I was at Target this week. I realized that morning while dressing my children that almost all of their pants are too short. It took me 3 pairs before I was comfortable enough to let Spencer leave the house. So I added to my to do list: "Pants for children." Speaking of my "to-do" list, it was long that day. This was Tuesday, I think.

The night before I had a bad night with my sweet Dunken. He seemed to be really uncomfortable, so I was up with him off and on trying to soothe him. I was exhausted and emotional and thinking that maybe this was it. So I got up that morning, showered and got dressed. I got Jessa up, argued with her about why she could not be homeschooled as I dragged her across the street to the bus. I then went to get Spencer ready, and had the pants problem.

Dunken and I took Spencer to school and then went to Jessa's school real quick. There were a few PTO things that had to be done, like yesterday. So then we headed to the vet. No appointment, but I was so worried. When I walked in, with tears in my eyes and my baby boy in my arms, they worked me in real quick like. The kind vet gave him a thorough check and even drew blood just to be sure and he told me to relax. That Dunken seemed to be still holding his own. His vitals were all good. AND he gave me some new dosages for his pain meds, so I left there feeling somewhat better.

I then took Dunken to Hardee's for a biscuit. He has been losing weight, so I made the executive decision that he is going to eat like a king. We ate our biscuits in the car while we waited on Spencer to be finished with school. Then we dropped Dunken by the house before we headed out for more errands.

We went to Target first. We needed the most things there. When I say needed, that is an important distinction. We only got things we needed, not just wanted. We needed new pants for the children. And the pants needed shirts to match them, no sense in getting lonely pants. The kids also needed socks. I noticed that Jessa left for school one morning last week with pink socks on that had the grippy stuff on the bottoms that said "2T-3T." She loves the socks, but I am thinking that when you are almost 7, you need bigger socks. I needed lots of other things. I needed to get Jessa the new Barbie movie. I needed to get Spencer a new Lightning McQueen car, the one with the tongue not sticking out. He said he needed to "closed mouth one." I agreed. I also needed to get Dunken a heating pad, part of my plan for him to be more comfortable. I needed some more of those granola square things with peanut butter. So good. Jessa needed some shoes because her 27 pairs of flip flops are not appropriate for school, and she cannot be expected to wear the same pair of shoes every day. Or so I am told.

Anyway, we were rushing from place to place in Target trying to remember all the things that I knew I needed and notice all the things I did not know I needed until Target provided me with a cute end of the row display to explain to me how great my previously unknown need was. And in the midst of all the back and forth, I noticed a lady slowly strolling up and down the baby aisles. She was wearing a Baby Bjorn with her very small, quiet sleeping baby asleep on her chest. I paused for a moment and tuned out Spencer's begging me to hurry so we could go to the snack bar and get him an Icee. I looked at her and knew exactly how that used to feel. I smiled and hurried on.

We left Target and had to go to Michael's for a few things for Awana. Then we headed to Petsmart. Max is now on allergy shots and needed new food that agrees with him and his delicate needs. So we rushed through the dog food and checked out. We headed from there to the commissary. I needed to pick up 7 things. I know that it was 7 because Spencer was more than ready to go home and it was about 45 minutes til the bus got Jessa home from school. I convinced him to power through since we only had 7 items to get. We mainly needed chicken because I am cooking King Dunken chicken every day. And since it was only 7 items, I let Spencer be my check out dude at the self check out. It only took 11 minutes to scan and bag the 7 items. He is a very efficient check out dude, after all. We hurried home and unloaded all the loot from a long day of errands. We did not have time to put the anything more than the chicken away before Jessa's bus stopped out front.

I got her inside, fixed her a snack and got her changed for soccer practice. I then loaded Max up in the car for a vet appointment. We went to the vet and it took a little while because, well, Max is a ball of trouble. The kids were tired and getting ill and very antsy. And by the time we were ready to go, Jessa was hysterical and so mad at me because I would not let her have one of the kittens that was in the lobby. Never mind that we already have more pets that we know what to do with AND that I have already been to the vet twice in ONE DAY. Never mind that the kittens already had an owner who was not giving away any. Yeah, we need another pet. And Jessa is also having this meltdown because she does not want to go to soccer. "Mom. When I said I wanted to play soccer, I was only joking. Couldn't you tell?" But we were waiting on our prescriptions to be filled, and we were already 20 minutes late for soccer. I have never been more ready to leave a place in my life.

So we get all loaded back up into the car headed home to drop off Max before soccer. After I fussed at the kids for a while about their inappropriate behavior at the vet's office, I looked in the back and they were both ASLEEP.

I called Momma to make sure that she did not think I was being a bad mother when I decided that we were in fact not going to go to soccer since they were ill, asleep, and we were already late, even after I gave Jessa the whole "you will let your team down" speech. She said, "go home!" So, we did. But we had to go back out because I had planned on picking up something to eat on the way home. So after we took Max home and checked on Dunken, we headed back to Burger King for a healthy supper.

We ate, and then I became a night time Drill Sergeant to get everyone in the tub, dressed for bed, homework done, backpacks ready, teeth brushed, meds for all the dogs, shots for Max, kitchen somewhat cleaned, all the loot from the days errands mostly organized, and all of us to bed before midnight.

And as I was getting myself ready for bed, I let my mind drift to the lady in Target. I used to be her. I was on my baby's schedule. Some days we did not even leave the house. Some days we did not even get out of her pjs. Going to Target and strolling up and down the aisles checking out the cute little socks and the latest deals on Pampers. The baby did not argue or talk back. And for a few minutes I was so jealous of how much simpler her life was. No sick dogs, nothing she has volunteered for to do, no soccer practice, no spelling tests to study for, no teeth to brush - just a Momma and her baby enjoying an outing together.

Then I zapped back to reality. I do miss those baby days so much, but I also love the craziness of these days, too. And I know that they go by all too fast. So I am going to enjoy them as much as possible. But if I could say something to the lady in Target, I would tell her to never take slow days browsing in Target with a precious sleeping baby on your chest for granted. Before you know it, you are the crazy, frazzled mom with children who don't have pants that fit, don't want to take a bath, and think that you are just the worst mother ever because you won't let them have a kitten.