When Will I Learn....

....That 2 hours at the mall during regular naptime with an 18 month-old, a shop-aholic teen and no stroller is not a good idea?

This is the 2nd time we have gone to the mall without the stroller. We took the stroller out of the back of the car a month ago when we had to take the dog to the vet after getting hit. I keep forgetting to put it back. I even told myself 2 or 3 times this morning NOT to forget the stroller...yet I forgot it AGAIN.

We survived Old Navy reasonably well although I need to go back and try on pants. However I may wait a few weeks since I have FINALLY started working out. Thank goodness Old Navy has buggies. Jed lasted in the seat for a short while but I turned around one time to find him standing in the front seat part about to dive out of the buggy. At that point we put him in the buggy part of it. He sat right down and rode around for awhile. (It must of reminded him of his little red wagon at home...boy does he love to ride around in it.)

After Old Navy, we walked down to the Cingular kiosk to see about my cracked phone. 30 minutes later and half a dozen baby tantrums we were done (unfortunately they couldn't...or wouldn't do anything about my damaged phone however I did find out is just the case which can be replaced rather inexpensively.)

During my wait at the kiosk, Shelby took Jed over to the Sleep Number Bed store because they had balloons. The kid is crazy for balloons, spoons, balls, bells, and cows. He came back with a green balloon tied to a weight disk. So here we go walking down the mall, holding Jed's hand to Hot Topic so Shelby can spend a bit of her birthday money. We were half way there when he let go of the balloon. We found out that the weight disk was worthless as the balloon drifted to the ceiling and Jed started screaming. To tall goth kids walked by and tried multiple time to jump and grab it. After a few attempts at jumping and lifting one another, a girl came out of the Footlocker with one of the bars used to take clothing down from the highest racks. Once we got the balloon back, I tied my spare work keys onto the balloon so we wouldn't have to do that again.

We finally made it home. Jed is currently sleeping and I am think I may just go take a nap...after I put the stroller back in the car!!!!