mall days

Kyle flew out of town on Wednesday afternoon to spend some time doing NFB stuff in Baltimore. He'll be back Sunday afternoon, but it has meant that Abby and I have been on our own this weekend.

Yesterday, Friday afternoon, it was finally sunny (after snowing & raining all morning) and I was not in the mood to be at home alone. So, I packed Abs up and we drove down to Natick/Framingham (about 20 mins away) and did some light shopping. My mission was to find an Easter dress, but that was harder than I thought it would be. I ended up getting a few items to bolster her spring wardrobe and some odds and ends we needed (and a few we didn't), but no dress.

Abs and I probably hit up half a dozen stores that afternoon. This is a tricky age. On one hand, Abs is easier than ever to take places. I rarely bring in her diaper bag places and it's relatively easy to pick her up and just go. On the other hand, she doesn't want to sit in a stroller or grocery cart while we shop. She *wants* to walk, to explore, to play, to hide. So, she often throws little fits. Sometimes she throws big fits. Sometimes she'll scream at the top of her lungs with tears rolling down her face, and when I pick her up out of the cart, she is instantaneously giggling. Stinker.

Abby playing in a crawl space she found at Babies R Us. She was quite pleased with herself and wouldn't come back out for a while....who needs toys?

I'm usually pretty good about ignoring her whining. I mean, I know there are people looking at us like I'm "that mom" but there are just as many people who have kids that understand. But, I do have my moments of weakness. And sometimes I just give up shopping to let her walk around and sometimes I just leave the store.

Anyway, it was still a good trip - just tiring.

This morning was great. I didn't set an alarm and woke up on my own time to find the sun shining in the windows and filling the room with sunbeams. There were birds singing outside and I immediately checked to see if I had forgotten to turn up the monitor - but no - Abby was simply still sleeping. I can't tell you how nice that was. Waking up on my own time - bliss.

who doesn't love a little diaper reading time in the morning?

We had some breakfast and decided to hit the malls again. Long story short, we tried a whole bunch of stores and finally found something in the last one that will work. Abby spotted the mall Easter bunny (who was super sketchy and kinda dirty looking) and thought he was pretty funny.

Abby lost interest in the sketchy Easter bunny once she saw this glowing beauty

Today was beautiful, but cold. After shopping we came home and Abs had her nap and then lunch and I was trying to decide what to do with our afternoon. We ended up going back out to Natick to their Huuuge mall that I read had a nice indoor playspace for kids. It was so crowded at the mall, and we ended up window shopping for a few hours. They had a really nice Easter bunny there - but I decided to spend that money other things. $17 for one 5x7? Sigh. Abby and I had a food court dinner and she got to play in the kids area for a while. She had a good time. We came home and had a quick video chat with daddy and then Abs was off to bed.

Abby opted to get some bunny ears instead of paying for the Easter bunny picture - wise investment I say. I'm sure you'll be seeing these again in pictures to come.

So, lots of mall time this weekend. Lots of running around and walking. But it was good - I don't like sitting around the house when Kyle's gone and I'm glad he'll be back tomorrow.