Shopping

Today, for the first time since I gave birth to Emmitt, I went grocery shopping with all three kiddos, ALONE. That’s 3 three and under and I did have available babysitters, but no, I wanted to give it a try and see what I was made of.
Stickers. That’s what I was made of.

The plan was Walmart, one stop shop. The reward for good behavior: stickers. I made a detailed list, we’re talking sectioning out items by their store location, detailed (but seriously, that’s how all lists ought to be made).

On the drive to town I told Jerusha “if you behave you will get to pick out stickers. If you won’t obey me and are bad at the store, mommys not buying you stickers.” Then I’d ask “what happens if I tell you to hold onto the cart but you run away?”
“I get a spanking?”
“No, you don’t get stickers. What happens if I tell you you have to ride in the cart and you get in just like I say?”
“I get stickers”. Okay. So she did understand.

Jerusha was somewhat of a pill but honestly behaved better than I expected. She picked out a Father’s Day card, her aunts graduation gift, and some of the grocery items which made her feel important and kept her attitude positive. She had a few rough moments but we got through them with reminders “Do you want stickers? Mommy will only get some for Éowyn and none for you” and etc.

The whole trip went pretty well. Éowyn was a peach most of the time, she happily rode in the cart. She only screamed once to get out but was bribed with holding pickles. When I did get her out as the cart was running out of room she did awesome holding onto my skirt or the cart to keep close. Her only altercation was popping a cherry from a display into her mouth as Jerusha shouted “look! Snacks! That’s nice of them!” Why do they even leave those bags open? They’re totally asking kids to graze..

Emmitt.. I chose to wake him when we arrived opting to carry him as to having to fit his seat in with the groceries as well as possibly his sisters. A decision I still stand by. He had to alternate between sitting propped up with blankets buckled in, laying sideways in the “seat”, being held, and being in the sling but he survived with few bouts of crying and never having to stop and nurse and fell asleep right as we were checking out.

All in all, we spent one and a half hours in Walmart so for $95.78 worth of product, I’m calling that a successful shopping trip with kids.

Sorry to all the people we cut off while Jerusha pushed, or the folks who got slowed up as my distracted child walked, eyes locked on a display, into their path. I’m also sorry to everyone who tried being friendly and wave or say hi to my girls. I promise I’m not trying to raise them to be rude. We’re working on it.

Thank you to that brave lady who put herself out there by offering to help me in some way. I wish we lived in a world where my first thought would’ve been “thank you!”, and truly, thank you. You looked like a perfectly nice lady and I’m impressed you were willing to be rejected, if it also meant the possibility of being helpful.

So, I know this isn’t interesting but my life is made up of mundane little things and this is as exciting as it gets.
~Haley

We survived and they got their stickers!

Cute baby bananas I let the girls pick out.