I need a backiotomy

Yesterday, I took Jack and Cooper out to run some errands, and it SHOULD have been really pleasant.

We started at Starbucks, where I enjoyed a tall, decaf, nonfat, no whip pumpkin spice latte and part of Cooper's blueberry muffin.  Jack picked out a glazed donut right away, but he debated the merits of a caramel apple spice or a hot chocolate for a few line-stalling minutes and finally went with the old standby hot chocolate.  We waited FOR.EVER for our drinks because a group of hipsters in front of us got iced drinks when they ordered hot ones-- seriously, the whole group.  There was much shrugging and scowling.  I wanted to hug the one guy who accepted his cold white mocha.  Both Cooper and Jack were pleasant and chatty during the wait.  Jack scampered to the back of the store and found a table in the middle of people working furiously.  We ate our snacks until Cooper got screamy, at which point I hustled us out the door.  An older man stopped me and said, "It's part of life, we don't mind the noise. Don't worry."  But I assured him that I wrote a dissertation in coffee shops, and I hated the screaming kids.  That wasn't actually true.  I hated their indulgent mothers.

Cooper has this awesome new trick where he cries like he's being murdered every time he gets buckled into his car seat.  It's SO CUTE.

I wrestled him into his chair and threw his sippy cup on his lap, and we headed to Stride Rite because he is a full time walker and needs real shoes. He's scraping the leather off his Robeez, a sure sign.  He adored being the little customer, having his feet measured, and trying out his new kicks.  I would have taken his picture, but he was climbing on all the kid-size furniture in the store, so I had no free hands.

Here he is post-car seat-wrestling hysterics:

Next stop?  A different mall to hit up H&M for more leggings (their leggings are terrific--only 9.95, resilient, and stretchy without getting saggy, which is more than I can say for F21) and large stretchy shirts.

This is where the day turned to total shit.  I stupidly parked far away from the store, had no money for the gross police car shopping carts that customer service rents, and did not have the energy so close to the lunch hour to force Cooper into his stroller.  So I carried him.  But he wanted to walk in his new shoes. In the street.  In a jewelry store.  Into a toy store that he wouldn't leave.  I ended up holding a thrashing ball of angry toddler, and he kept grabbing shirts off the racks, ripping them off the hangers, and shoving the hangers in his mouth.  Poor Jack trailed behind us with his kid-sized Starbucks cup, picking up sweaters and blouses and throwing them over his arm.  I couldn't leave, though, without my stretch clothes, you guys.  Because seriously.

Today, my back is killing me.  But only when I try to move, so that's good.  I blame H&M and Cooper.  And maybe also baby #4.

In other pregnancy whining, I lost control of my eating and spent about 4 days making and devouring peanut butter cookies with peanut butter M&Ms and eating pizza or 2 or 3 meals a day.  But!  I am back in control. I am tired of waking up full and puffy.  Back on the SparkPeople.  Pulled out my food scale this morning.  Packed 5 servings of fruits and veggies in my lunch today.  It felt good to eat all the crap food I wanted, but it also made me feel dirty.

16 weeks!  In 22 days, we'll know if this baby is a boy or a girl! (Probably a boy, but I'll think girl for a few more weeks).

As much as I would love a girl for shopping purposes, it would not be bad to have another one of these toddling around

And besides, Harry is way into accessories, so I already have a shopping buddy

Oh yeah!  We baby proofed the TV FINALLY, but now we have a huge empty space in the main room.  We are thinking maybe a large console table to have room to put stuff on when we come in from the garage and to old a big basket of decorative balls or a house plant.  OR maybe a computer desk with an iMac for the kiddies.  OR maybe a piano because all of their friends take lessons, and we need to get on that.  Only I don't really like the look of a lot of pianos, and I hate noise.  So.  we need to fill this space.  With something.  A couple of chairs?  I don't know.

We are also taking baby steps toward actually doing something with our damn bedroom.  We went shopping on Sunday and bought nothing, but we thought about stuff, and that is more than we've done in 15 months.  Soon!  There will be pictures on the wall and furniture upon which to rest our charging appliances!  It's just so easy to never buy anything for our room because there are fifty million other things to buy/do instead.  Over winter break, we are planning to redo the downstairs toy room for Harry and Jack, move Cooper into their current room, and redo the nursery for a new baby.  I bet you a million dollars after all that, our room with still be generic and plain.  But we can dream, right?