Adventures in Wally World...

Saturday, I did something pretty stupid. I went grocery shopping. That's right, grocery shopping. At WALMART. With my 7 month old. ON VALENTINES DAY AND THE DAY OF A LOCAL MARDI GRAS PARADE.

I'm nuts.

My mom went with me, thankfully, or I might not have ever returned.

It was a disaster from the beginning. Audrey settled in the front of the buggy (such a big girl now!) with her buggy protective-toy-pad-blanket thing she sits in (what ARE those called? buggy covers?) and played with her toys like a good girl.






Until I pulled out my grocery list.


Audrey wanted to play it with SO bad. I don't let her have paper since right now, everything she touches goes in her mouth and that's just not a good idea with paper, plus it could scratch her gums. She kept fussing (she's trying to understand that the entire world is not her toy. lol) and so I realized it'd be easier to just shop from memory and keep the list in my purse.


It worked for awhile. I remembered my list items, Audrey played with her buggy cover toys, we made good progress despite the growing crowds and the fact that my mom and I were sharing one buggy and trying to keep our items separate from each other to make for an easier check-out time.


We got to the frozen food section and my mom realized she forgot an item further back. I stayed with Audrey and the buggy, and pulled out my list to double check some items. Audrey immediately wanted the list, and since her pacifier was in her mouth, I said "okay, just for a second".


I grabbed a few Lean Cuisines from the freezer section, turned away, and....blue. Soggy blue clumps of paper everywhere. The pacy was gone, and the list was a drooled mess stuck in pieces to her chin, her hands, her shirt. One big clump was in her mouth and so of course, this new mom panics that she ate it. I snatched it away (and yes, littered blue soggy list on Walmart's floor) and dug my finger around in her mouth until I was certain it was all gone.


Audrey's staring at me like I'm insane while I'm list-fishing but handles it quite well, I must give her props. Probably she knew I couldn't handle anything else at the moment. lol


My mom comes back when the excitement is over, and we laugh about it once I realize its not that big a deal and she's fine. We continue our shopping, wait in a huge check out line. Audrey at this point is ready for her bottle and a new diaper and there is just no good place to do those things, especially in line. I figure as soon as we check out we'll rush to the car, change her diaper in the backseat, and then Mom could feed her while I drove Mom back to her house. (we came in the same car)


We had a plan.


However, we didn't count on the lady at the register accidentally ringing up half of Mom's order with the guy in front of us, and having to separate that out.

We didn't count on getting to my car just as a girl knocked over a full cup of soda, inviting a swarm of bees to hang out by my driver's side door.


We didn't count on my trunk being full of packing boxes from my sister's move (long story there) and having no room to put even my groceries, let alone mine AND my mom's.


We didn't count on the bees growing in number and aggression.


We didn't count on having to stand outside in the middle of the parking lot with full buggies of food, waiting on my dad to come pick us up and give us another vehicle for grocery-loading. (my hubby was at work)


Audrey handled it all like a champ. Her wet diaper and hunger apparently went away for awhile during the chaos, because she stopped complaining and watched the excitement with wide eyes. My mom kept her and the buggies away from the bees while I risked jumping in the car and moving it to the other side of the lot so we could at least load the cold groceries inside and turn on the AC while waiting for my father.


Finally, we got everything sorted out, Audrey and the groceries and my parents all loaded in their prospective cars. Audrey blessedly stayed asleep in her carseat while I unloaded the car, then once the groceries were put away, she got a new diaper, a big bottle, and then we both took a long nap.


While I swore never to go to Walmart with a baby - or bees - again. =)