Why is it?

why is it...

that i could take these people shopping all day long ?

(all day every day)

but there is no way in heck i would take these people?

as i lay in bed in my virtually silent house at 9:45 am ( all of the kids slept in)

i started debating with myself going shopping this morning before Therapy this afternoon.

just a quick jaunt to the outlet mall.

alone would be my ideal.

then , i considered taking one child with me. since I'm not totally sure of his shoe size. a fun mom and kid date.

then i considered taking all of my kids with me. assuming if i was properly equipped with the stroller, I was almost sure shopping with 6 kids in tow wouldn't be too bad. I used to do it all the time.

of course after recalling yesterday's delights with only 4 kids,

i completely decided against it.

plus they wouldn't wanna walk to the far reaches of the mall "just to see" what certain stores had, not necessarily buying anything.

doing that at multiple stores is out of the question, I'd probably have an outright mutiny on my hands.

did you know there was a time i would troll the mall on a regular basis? which happened to be DAILY. or at minimum 3 times weekly. with all of my kids ! all day long!

THEN CAME THE SELF ANALYSIS-

HOW DID I DO THAT? what has changed?

why is that not even an option now?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? (that I'm too intimidated to take my herd shopping? )

i confess at my best/worst (depending on who is telling the story, me or the hubs)

• i would hit multiple malls a day.
  
• the people at every Gymboree knew me by name some even by my voice over the phone.
• Peyton (my #1) mistakenly called the mall HOME more than once.
  
• at the age of 4 if you asked Peyton's favorite pastime, it was...SHOPPING.
• thousands of dollars were spent every year on kids clothes.
  

somehow i managed to haul 3 kids 2 and under to the mall that often.

then it was FOUR kids 4 and under.

by the time #5 was born. #1 was in school so it was mostly only 4 kids shopping and going to the kids clubs , and walking the mall with me spending MONEY LIKE WATER. the kids matched daily. the girls matched and the boys matched every freaking day. but we'd go all summer long. on weekends etc. 5 kids and me. we'd go to the zoo and stuff too but shopping, i did it. taking kids was no big deal.

when #6 rolled around 3 were in school full time, but I'd been broken of the habit of daily mall shopping.

you wonder what broke me? what led to my downfall?

• it was that year i had cancer again and got pregnant, i was too exhausted to walk into the mall.
• we were destitute that last year of school so there was no gratuitous spending on clothes we didn't need.
  
• I'd replaced my shopping addiction with blogging. free entertainment from the comfort of my home.no need to even get dressed.
  
• the hubs was home in the evenings finally after YEARS of him rarely being home. and i could go alone to the store.the places i went were open past 9 pm. long after the mall had closed.
  

Thus ended the training of good shoppers. by that point my gymboree addiction was (finally) gone.

SO where did the self analysis get me?

• it reminded me , my little kids don't love shopping and aren't well behaved.

• my big kids whine now and ask when we are going home wanting to sit and play computer instead of Browsing with me.
  

so there it is.


if i leave now and come back fast, i might not have a huge mess at home to recover from before Therapy?

i'll be going to the mall alone.


all it took was a little self analysis.
:)

now lets analyze the pics. holy cow they grow up fast!

can you believe this picture?

the kids were 6,5,4,3, and 1

here they are essentially.
10,9,8,7,5,and 3

WOW the difference is appalling to me.

© 2009 crazymamaof6