Mommy Lessons From the Mall

Last Friday night the hubs and I went to the mall to accomplish a few errands. It wasn't the first time we've gone since Little Pirate has been born. We went a month ago when he was about four weeks old. But somehow this trip was more eventful than the first one. It even taught me a few "Mommy Lessons" that I thought I'd share with you all!

Lesson #1 - Some stores just simply aren't stroller friendly. We were in the store PacSun when I learned this lesson. Which is not a store I would normally shop in, but we were looking for a present. The rows of clothes were packed in so close together. I could barely maneuver through with our giant stroller. I was also in the way of someone at least five different times. And then Little Pirate started crying. I was just ready to get out of there! So I let the hubs finish the browsing while Little Pirate and I sat outside of the store on a bench. Definitely won't be going back in there anytime soon, at least not with a stroller.

Lesson #2 - It's not easy to find a changing table. No, seriously, I couldn't find one anywhere! There wasn't one out in the open in the women's bathroom. I checked the handicap stalls and didn't see a thing. I even walked around trying to find a family bathroom for a minute, but no luck. So I gave up. A few minutes later the hubs decided to check the men's bathroom, just incase. He returned with a triumphant look on his face and had Little Pirate in a clean diaper. I swear, there really wasn't one in the women's bathroom!

Lesson #3 - I'm officially in the "Mom Club" now. As I was wandering around the women's bathroom looking for the changing table, I had a lady stop me. She was in there with her son and said, "Are you needing to change him or do you need to go to the bathroom??" She sounded quite concerned. I think if I had told her I needed to go, she might have been about to offer to hold Little Pirate for me. Not sure I would have taken her up on that offer, but still, it was nice. A mom trying to help out another mom. It just made me feel special to actually be in that exclusive "Mom Club" I've been coveting for so long.

Lesson #4 - Strangers are really nice when you have a baby. The previous story is an example of this, but I have another one as well. After the diaper changing fiasco, I sat down in the food court to feed Little Pirate a bottle. I settled in at a table that was right next to a man who was probably in his early 50's eating dinner. He saw Little Pirate and immediately struck up a conversation with me. (He had a wedding ring on, so that means he wasn't a creeper, right??) He asked about if Little Pirate sleeps well, talked about his own kids, and just kept smiling at my boy. Soon enough Little Pirate was done eating and was sitting up just looking around. Before the man left he stroked Little Pirate's cheek, looked at me, and said, "He's going to be a fine young man some day." Normally a stranger touching my baby would creep me out and bother me, but for some reason this didn't. It was just a sweet moment from a sweet man that I really appreciated.

Lesson #5 - My baby is really cute. I know, I know...every baby is cute. But seriously, we get stopped like crazy! People "ooh" and "ahh" over him all the time when we're out and about. We went into Bath and Body Works and a worker recognized him from when we were there a month ago! When does that happen?? That just means that my baby's really super cute, right? That he's just so incredibly memorable. That's what I think it means at least. :)

Lesson #6 - I am now wider than I used to be. After the Bath and Body Works worker fawned over Little Pirate, I turned around to walk the other way and proceeded to knock over the corner of a display with our diaper bag. Slightly embarrassing, to say the least. We use a backpack as our diaper bag and I just can't seem to remember that I have some extra width back there now. The hubs helped me quickly set things back up and then we hurried out of there.

We were definitely done with the mall for the evening at that point! I'm sure we'll be waiting at least another month before we do that again. After all, I can find nice strangers who think my baby's cute just about anywhere! ;)