A Day at the Mal

I've never tried a slideshow on a blog before, but here it goes! It works great when theres more than two photos :)

Well, George and Emilie did great, despite the rough beginning at the mall. At first, it seemed reality screamed at me for the insane idea, as Emilie started to cry immediately after arrival with me trying to rein in George. Without my mom there, I would have made a U-turn out of there on the drop of a dime. Seriously, my thoughts were "The mall is for couples and teenagers, not moms with kids!" It did get easier after I changed and fed Emilie, but again, it would be near impossible without just a little help from my mom! It also dawned on me that malls are really not family friendly, at least not the one we were at, when it comes to potties. They put bathrooms at both opposite ends with none in the middle... on only one particular floor in a five floor mall. Sure, great marketing tactics to make you pass stores, but with a newly potty trained toddler? Lets just say Pull-ups are a must. Anyway, I'm sorry I'm not very optimistic for the other moms out there, but I'd like to think I'm just being realistic. Moms drive the economy, but most malls probably get most of their economy driven by Victoria Secret's childless shoppers. Victoria is so not secret by the way. When George gets older, the mall (as well as the city) will be off limits.

George did have a blast at the mall, to my surprise, and Emilie did too while she was awake. Emilie loved looking around as we strolled through the walkways with interesting people passing by (including a pair of Russian women who cooed over her in their home language), flashy displays in store front windows, and towering displays of architecture. George loved being able to get on and off our sit and stand stroller, and had a blast seeing all the new interesting things around as well.

The highlight of going to the mall was George completely taken in by the grand looking clock adorning the lower level walkway, being ignored by all Kiosks (even the most aggressive ones - when that happens, you really know your mall days are over), and being able too see and pretend I could actually shop in Forever 21 (oh, I love that store, though most things are just 2 inches too short for me). It was all in all an actually good day, and being able to take pictures completely made my day. I love to take pictures ;) I know I made it seem like it was all bad in the first or second paragraph, but George did so fantastic that the "hard part" was mostly just in the beginning of our mall trip. Don't get me wrong though, it's no piece of cake!!! George is getting so responsible and, for the most part, stayed close by awesomely! I told him to hold the "leash" (seatbelt on the stroller) and he completely obliged! George never ceases to impress me. He has no idea how much he helps mommy out!