some days are better than others

what a crappy day! first off, today is the Stroller Strides field trip to the aquarium, which i really wanted to take Cruz to, but my ride canceled on me at the last minute and i was unable to hitch a ride with any fellow Stroller Striders.. no big deal.. i had a B plan. i arranged a music class preview for Cruz today. when we arrived at the mall for the music class, first thing i saw was the elevator was still out of order. i don't feel comfortable taking the stroller onto the escalators, so i went into Nordstrom to use their elevator. the music class started off ok. Cruz loved banging on the drum, but he had no desire to participate in any of the other activities in class and instead spent most the class trying to open doors in the back of the room. he ran back and forth giggling until he he tripped over another kid in the class and they both started crying. stressed out after class, i decided to take Cruz upstairs to the food court for lunch. because of the broken elevator at one side of the mall, the second elevator we now needed to take to the food court had a long line and long wait. also, the escalator going up the food court was out of service too. i took Cruz out of the stroller and had him crawl up the stairs as i carried the stroller to the top. a couple stopped and was nice enough to help me out by carrying the stroller so i could help Cruz up to the top. kudos to them :)

we eat lunch and wind down. i had high hopes that Cruz would take a nap following lunch so i could spend some money my mom send me for mother's day. after lunch and a diaper change, we head over to a clothing store so i could take a peak and see how Cruz would behave while i shopped. after a few minutes he fell asleep even with the loud music playing throughout the store. i take my time looking through the clothes. i had 12 items of clothing picked out when i went to the dressing room, but sadly only choose 3 when i checked out. the clothes looked much better on the shelf and mannequins then they did on me. plus the lighting in the dressing room was terrible! i saw every flaw in my body and that doesn't make me want to buy the clothes.

stores should really take that into consideration when designing their store. in the right lighting.. anyone can look good in the clothes, thus people will buy more clothes. that's just a side note.. back to what i was saying before.

i paid for my 3 shirts and made a pit stop at the family restroom for a potty break. i thought i could go in there real fast and then move on to more stores before Cruz woke up. it's usually quiet in there but some squawking kid ended up waking Cruz up. thanks a lot! when Cruz gets woken up too early from his nap, he's hella cranky! and then came the tears. now, i was mad because i knew my shopping day was over and i had only spent $38 out of the $150 my mom had sent me.

we leave the bathroom and Cruz is still upset and crying. we head toward the elevator by the food court to go down and go home. again, long line and long wait. grrr! i have NEVER attempted going down the escalator with the stroller, but it was looking like my only option to get out of there as quick as possible and soothe my angry toddler. i step onto the escalator backwards and the stroller follows. it catches the front wheel before straightening out. i almost have a heart attack thinking the stroller is going to fall over. did i mention i have a fear of escalators in the first place? i step off at the bottom and the stroller gives a hard thump exiting the escalator. everything on the tray falls into Cruz's lap and Cruz yells out real loud and starts crying again. it was a scary situation but no harm was done.

i'm still steaming and Cruz is still upset. i turn the stroller around to head toward the entrance when some old man approaches me and says, "you know there's an elevator over there you should use." OMG! this was not the time to butt into this already mad mama's business with unsolicited advice. i went off on how he needed to mind his own bee's wax and how terrible this mall was for not having everything in working order, and how he had no idea what i was going through.

now i'm super raging mad. i grind my teeth as i make it the rest the way through the mall and out to catch my bus. i went the rest of the way home in complete silence.. ignoring Cruz's occasional "truck" as one would drive by.

things are calmer now that we are home and i've had time to reflect and relax. venting through my blog doesn't hurt either.. lol ;)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

and what a wonderful mother's day it is! yesterday, i got a manicure, pedicure, and massage. my nails are super cute and i'm so relaxed. today, i got the sweetest card signed by Cruz (with help from dad of course) and a soft and fluffy pink cotton robe. to top it all off, i got a mother's day cake from Ben and Jerry's. OMG! it's so yummy. i'm in sugar coma.. lol

my hubby is the greatest! he did all the laundry and cleaned so i can sit back and enjoy this day! thanks to the two special guys in my life for making this such a perfect mother's day!

EDIT: i forgot to mention my mom sent me the coolest mama's day gift. it's a coffee cup with a photo of me kissing Cruz and it says "Happy Mother's Day 2007" on the other side. so cute!

Cruz discovers the water cooler

the other day, i was in here on the computer trying to get some stuff done after Cruz woke up from his nap. what i thought would take a couple of clicks of the mouse turned out to be more of a process. after completing my task, i went to check on my curious toddler. he wasn't in the livingroom; he was in the kitchen. i walk in and catch him over near the water cooler with his hand pushing down on the cold water lever. the floor was soaked beneath his feet. a puddle of water went from the wall to under the oven and covering half of the kitchen area.

"Cruz," i say in a fairly calm tone, "don't touch!" startled, he jumps and turns away from the water cooler as i approach closer. upon further inspection, i find my diaper bag on the kitchen floor in front of the dispenser. i pick it up and watch the water stream out of the cloth outer lining.

now i don't know about the rest of you moms, but my diaper bag is my purse and all of my personal items are carried in it. important items like my LifeDrive, digital camera, sun glasses, bus card, etc. are inside. fortunately, the inner liner kept everything inside dry, so no harm done.. thank goodness! i turned on an episode of Blue's Clues to keep Cruz's attention while i went about cleaning up the rest of the mess in the kitchen and salvaging the contents of my bag.

so yeah, good times! check on your kids and check on them often, i think, is the lesson here.. lol ;)