The grocery store, its my sanity, my alone time, and the one thing I look forward to doing. That is, until today.
I woke up this morning and the cupboards were bare, the fridge was basically empty, and there was a lone frozen waffle in the freezer. Being the great mother I am I decided it was time to go grocery shopping. The only problem? My husband was at work, so that meant I either let the kids go hungry all day or I buck up, get the kids and myself dressed and take all 3 of them WITH ME. Yes 3 kids alone in the grocery store. Fun.
Before I unbuckled all of them I looked into their eyes and said "we are going into the store now, don't ask me for this, or that, don't try to run off, don't cry when I say no, and please PLEASE don't make me yell at you" All three of them looked me in the eye and simply said "OK". My kids are liars.
The first 5 minutes were fine, we went through the produce department with no problems. I got the things I needed and moved onto the hot dog/lunchable area. Braden starts "ooooo I want one! Can I get one?? Please can I get just one??" "Fine" I said "just one." My first mistake. One of the rules of grocery shopping (or any kind of shopping for that matter) is when you get one thing for one of them then they ALL have to have one. Elle starts yelling "mine mine mine!" then Brody. I had to think fast, then I got it, the bakery! Who doesn't remember going shopping with their mom and stopping at the bakery for a free cookie? I said "Who wants a cookie?" in unison they all yell "MEEEEEEE!" Great off to the bakery we go, everyone got a GIANT cookie and I continued on my way.
The next five minutes were quiet, and it was so nice, until Braden did the unthinkable to Brody. I am looking at the pasta aisle and hear a blood curdling scream behind me. I turn around and Braden, brace yourself, BROKE.BRODY'S.COOKIE.IN.HALF. That's right, right in half. Brody is very particular about things, he likes everything a certain way, he is a little OCD courtesy of me, so to him this was the end of the world. I looked at Braden with you know "the look" because he knows not to mess with Brody and he looked back at me with the "oh shit" look. I tried to calm Brody down but it wasn't working. He was pissed, crying, screaming, having a complete meltdown. People were looking at me probably thinking I was killing him. Then a lady said "Um excuse me, your daughter" I turned around and there's Elle standing straight up in the cart with the proudest look on her face. I said thank you, sat Elle back down, grabbed Brody and just started walking away.
I finally calmed Brody down after a few minutes (basically by letting him yell to Braden "THAT WASN'T NICE BEEDEN!) and was now rushing through my shop. Things were going downhill and fast. Shopping is normally a thing that takes me a few hours, I like to compare products, prices, etc. so I take my time to try and spend as little as possible. Not today. I looked crazy throwing things in the basket, not even stopping, just slowing down enough to grab things off the shelves. Then came the frozen aisles. They were all yelling for different things "pizza! waffles! corn dogs! ice cream!" so pretty much anything they saw they wanted (remember in the beginning they said they wouldn't do that? yeah.) Braden keeps opening and closing the doors and saying "oh we need this!" to EVERYTHING. I finally stopped him, got real close, and in my quietest most stern voice said "Stop opening and closing everything and STOP asking for stuff". There I thought, that set him straight, I'm totally winning now.
As I was looking at the vegetables I hear boxes start falling. I didn't even want to look. I knew what I was going to see. I slowly glance over and theres Braden watching frozen pizza after frozen pizza fall to the ground with Brody laughing hysterically. I just stood there, in shock. How did this happen?? I WAS WINNING! I gave him another look (which obviously doesn't work but whatever) and he quietly and slowly started putting the pizzas back. I didn't yell, I didn't even talk, I just let him pick them up and started asking God, Mary, and Baby Jesus, to give me the strength to get through the rest of this trip without having my own meltdown. It didn't work. We made it to the next aisle so I could get cheese and Elle starts picking up the frozen boxes and LICKING THEM. Every time I would take one away she would grab another. Ugh so gross, I had no choice but to give her a stern "NO!" that was it, she lost it. She started screaming crying and trying to get out of the cart. I had one thing left to get, paper towels. I could have left without them but I was going to get those paper towels dammit. We make it to the paper towels, I'm winning again, they wont fit in the cart so I ask Braden to hold them. Brody loses it HE wants to hold them. So there I am in the paper towel aisle, Elle crying, and now Braden and Brody fighting over who gets to hold the single paper towel roll. I felt it coming, I was no longer winning again, I had held it in this long but couldn't anymore. At the top of my lungs I yelled "WOULD YOU GUYS KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY???" "ENOUGH! THAT'S ENOUGH!!" They all stopped and stared at me, yep they did it, they made mommy that crazy lady in the store with the kids, we all know THAT mom, and today it was me. People were peaking around the aisle corners, the pharmacist looked up, and even the meat guy were all stopping what they were doing to get a look at the crazy lady. I was so embarrassed, no make that mortified, I needed to get out of there. Braden gave Brody the paper towel roll, Elle stopped crying, and we made our way to the checkout.
The cashier looked at me, visibly frazzled and said, "long day?" I just smirked instead of saying something smart ass like I wanted to. I felt like I was winning again so I decided to treat myself to a small Starbucks, I earned that. The kids were quiet, groceries were paid for, and I was about to enjoy a hard earned coffee, I won. I did it I won! HA! I turned my back to the kids to pay for my Starbucks and I hear a man behind me "um excuse me ma'am, um excuse me" I turned around to see what this man needed and Elle was missing a shoe standing straight up in the cart again, and Brody was starting to pull down his pants saying "I have go potty".
I lost.
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