Shopping Saga

It is always something these days. Now that I have Gavin all day long and no relatives around to help watch him, I have had to be a bit creative in the way I now run errands. With a baby I've learned it is all about timing. We do not dare leave the house in the morning until he has played and pooped. Right before we depart, I will fill his belly, change his diaper and then we GO. He usually gives me about an hour or two before he has had enough. Well, today, my mission was to go to Kohl's. My dad told me about these oversized tv trays on sale for 50% off. We've been wanting to get some tv trays since we will have a lot of company soon and are in need of extra "dining" spots. Of course my extremely generous parents said they wanted to buy us the trays as an early Christmas gift and would not take "no" for an answer.

So, we headed to Kohl's. I didn't want to bring the stroller because it has dog poop all over the wheels. Once we got there, I could not find any carts that had a seat in it for Gavin. Well, there was ONE stroller/cart that had TWO seats in it and a cart attached. I figured that was the only choice I had. So, I strapped him into the front seat, put the diaper bag in the second seat and began to push the stroller. Gavin grabbed on to the sides and smiled big for the older gentleman who was talking baby talk to him. As we began moving, Gavin turned around to try to find me. Usually I am right behind him, but the look on his face was hysterical as he noticed me about 8 feet behind him pushing this gigantic contraption. I started to laugh because I felt ridiculous all of a sudden pushing this long monstrosity. And the look on Gavin's face as he strained to turn all the way around was classic. Anyway, we headed toward the right and to the back of the store. Every Kohl's I've ever been in is laid out the same....except for this one. Everything was flip-flopped. We circled the entire store in our cart "limo" without locating the tv trays. An associate directed me to the front cash registers where there were "several right by the door". So, I got into line and when it was my turn I indicated that I wanted to purchase the tv trays. I grabbed the box (which weighed a ton) and returned to the counter. A nice lady behind me was occupying Gavin and offered to help me carry the box out. I told her thank you, but said that it was very heavy and asked the cashier if there was anyone who could carry the box out to my car. I asked, "can someone help me out?" The cashier (an elderly woman)responded, "you want out?" I said, no, can someone HELP ME OUT?? The little lady behind me again said that she would carry it out for me. I looked at this lady.....she was like 5'2" and weighed probably 100 pounds. I again thanked her for the offer, but said that I would rather have an employee lift it because the box is very heavy. In the midst of all this, another lady standing behind us in line asks, "do you want me to help you carry that out?" I was like AUGHHHHHHHHHHHH! Everyone was being so nice, but I was so annoyed. I did not want these two tiny women carrying a big heavy box out to my car. I would have just done it myself, but I had Gavin in this supersized stroller cart and could not do both. I just wanted the cashier to call a guy to come do it and do it quietly without all the commotion. In the meantime, Gavin has pulled his socks off and is trying to squirm out of his seat. The cashier finally gets on her walkie talkie and asks for assistance at the front. While she is trying to explain to me that someone is on the way up to help, a lady approaches me and asks if I am done with the double stroller cart because she has two little girls and there are no other carts. I felt guilty for using the double stroller cart even though it was the ONLY one available at the time so I went into detail about why I was using it even though I only had one child. She was totally uninterested in my story and just wanted the cart. So, I pulled Gavin out and left to get the car. As I was walking out, the nice lady who offered to help me was getting into her car in a HANDICAPPED spot. She saw me, got out of her car, and said that she would carry the package out for me. It was all I could take. My eyes filled up with tears, partly because I was so frustrated with all the chaos, partly because I am hormonal, and partly because I could not believe that this little handicapped older lady was going out of her way to try to help me. No one ever stops to do that anymore (except for my husband). The guy finally came out with the box, put it in the back of my car and said, "whew, that was heavy!".