Journey to the Mall

Today we went on a big, exhausting outing to the mall two miles away so I could buy one shirt.

At 10:45 this morning I got the bright idea that I wanted us to get out of the house because I had cabin fever. We could go grocery shopping at Trader Joe's. We could even stop by the mall to try to buy me a nice postpartum blouse to wear to Mary's baptism (whose date has indeed been moved). We thought of two more fun errands to do before I remembered that we would have a newborn in tow and were no longer pros with just one toddler, so we had to limit ourselves to one errand.

I thought we could throw our stuff together and dash out the door. Again, I was thinking like a pro with only one toddler. As we were trying to get ready, Mary moved into a cluster nursing session, so I kept having to sit down to tend to her. Ninety minutes after our plan was hatched, we finally got to leave and I felt like I was embarking on an epic journey, weighed down by all the luggage we needed. Coats, hats, diapers, and supplies for two children is so much more than for one!

The whole outing was utterly exhausting for me. The bright side was that I did find a pretty blouse that actually fit me at the first store in about 20 minutes (clearly, God was smiling down on me). We only left for the mall when Mary finally fell asleep and she stayed asleep in and out of the van and while I tried on the blouse. I just slipped her off in the Maya wrap, set her on a chair, then slipped her back on in the Maya wrap! (One of the benefits to being a second-time mom: With John, I think it took me six weeks finally to carry him semi-successfully in a wrap. With Mary, I was wearing her three days after her birth.)