logistics

there are a lot of logistics to be worked out and planned just to get through each day with minimal stress and tears in the life of a mom, but i came across a few new ones on tuesday that i thought i would share.

of course it was snowing on tuesday because it was my morning off and i had several errands to run. the first was easy. (other than driving on the slushy roads. not that it was dangerous, grandmas! i just had to drive slower.) we went by the library to drop off books, but with the other errands we didn't have time to get new ones.

next we went to the dollar store to get valentines for madelyn to take to school next week. it was early and the weather was poor so we got to park pretty close. i always struggle a little with getting in and out of the car because i have to get them out on both sides of the car. (did i mention that i am really excited about not having worry about that with a minivan?) since madelyn is older and can stand on her own, she gets out first and stands next to me while i work on getting mason out of his car seat and grab my diaper bag/purse.

i feel bad making madelyn stand in the falling snow while i try to get mason's arms to cooperate with my removing him from the car seat. i always have a little panic because i can't see madelyn while i am doing this either. i just keep asking her to stay close and within the protection of the open door. by the end she is so close that i almost can't lift mason out and stand up; i have to ask her to please move so that i can close the door.

so anyway, returning to the car it was snowing a little harder and i quickly put everything into the car and got to work on getting mason settled. once i was done with him, i turned around and looked at madelyn - her head was covered in snow! she had decided not to wear her hat and her hood had fallen off. i just laughed and brushed off her head as we worked our way around the car.

mommy dilemma #1: prioritizing when loading the car.

next we were off to buy produce and other food items for mason's baby food. madelyn loves the organic market because they have little wire frame carts that she can push. as we were making our way through the produce department madelyn exclaimed that she needed to go to the bathroom. madelyn seemed to be a little panic ed so i took her cart and hunched over to push it and the full-sized cart with mason as quickly as possible to the restrooms. i am sure i was quite a sight practically running to the other side of the store!

once at the restroom entrance i grabbed mason and the diaper bag from the cart and hurried madelyn back to the ladies room. since madelyn was all bundled up she couldn't get her pants down and onto the toilet by herself. all i could think is - what am i going to do with mason? so i made a quick decision to put him on the floor. i put my purse as far from the toilet as possible and put mason's back towards it as i sat him on the public restroom floor - yuck. thankfully it was a very clean restroom in a clean store, but i wasn't fond of setting my infant who puts everything in his mouth (including the hands he was now using to explore the floor) on the floor of a public restroom.

mommy dilemma #2: multiple kids in a public restroom.


after we finished our shopping i needed to get everyone back into the car - including the groceries. i had two bags of groceries, a diaper bag/purse, and two kids to get to the car with no one (including me) slipping and falling. not wanting to try and push a cart through the snow i started to gather everything up. first i put the diaper bag and both grocery bags (at least 30lbs.) on my left shoulder. i could barely put my arm down far enough to pick mason up. as i pulled him up he lost both shoes and a sock! thankfully, madelyn helped me out. but at this point i just couldn't put everything back down to get his shoes back on; so out into the snow i went with my barefoot boy that i was holding with one arm. he was flailing (happily) and i was trying my hardest not to drop him with the weight of the groceries on the same arm. i had to hold madelyn's hand with my other hand. i am sure that, yet again, i was quite a sight.

mommy dilemma #3: braving judgement when your kids aren't wearing socks/shoes.

i hope that you have enjoyed my reflections of everyday logistics. love.