Tortuous Trip to Target

Ok...so it wasn't the trip to Target itself that was torture... it was the drive home.
Since I had a doctor's appointment in Newburgh, I decided to take advantage of the baby sale at Target. I'm always looking for a good bargin on diapers, formula, etc, and with my coupons and the sale prices, I thought I'd do ok. Nancy and Rachel perused the store while I loaded my cart with the necessary baby items. When I was done with that, we all three hit the toy aisle. Tommy, a family friend, had generously given Rachel a gift card and I wanted to get her something fun. We looked at all our options, weighing the pros and cons. I was a bit indecisive, so it took a little while. Finally selecting a Fisher Price Ocean Wonders play mat, we headed up to the check-out. FINALLY, Rachel seemed to be thinking.
We loaded up the car and off we went to venture home. We didn't even make it to the stoplight before Rachel started fussing, thanks to the hiccups. Nancy was sitting in the back doing her best to entertain Rachel, but it wasn't really working. Nancy gave her some water from the extra bottle I'd packed and the hiccups subsided. But Rachel was tired of her carseat and the fussing quickly resumed. Buy the time we got to Boonville, fussing had turned into all out wailing. We decided that she was hungry, but since she'd had some water to ease her hiccups, the formula I'd measured was too much for the water in the bottle. So, we headed to McDonald's for some water (and sodas). Nancy mixed the bottle, but by this time, mad didn't even really describe the meltdown in the backseat. She was so mad she wouldn't take the bottle. Now, Rachel is like me in that she loves her food, so you know she was mad if she wouldn't eat. We went a few more miles, my nerves becoming more frayed with every second and stopped at the Methodist church outside of Boonville. I parked the car, got Rachel out of her seat (her face and eyes red and teary from crying), and she finally calmed down enough to eat. She snoozed the rest of the way home.
I've never been so glad to get home in my whole life. By that time, her belly was full, she was out of her carseat and was content to play on the floor, all smiles and coos.
What did I learn from this experience? When making a long trip to Target, Rachel would be happier hanging out at home. It was also enough to rattle my confidence to make the 8 hour drive to my mom's house by myself with Rachel.
But, today, once her new toys were set up, Rachel decided the trip to Target wasn't all bad. It might have even been worth the torture of her car seat.

NOTE: This is where the really cute picture of Rachel enjoying her new play mat would be if it would upload. I won't type the words that are bouncing around in my head after 4 upload attempts and the computer locking up. They are not ladylike.