Retail Therapy

Well, probably half (the male half) of the population will disagree with me on this, maybe even more, but I'm posting today to prove my case that retail shopping (not even necessarily buying anything) is in fact therapy. I was able to enjoy 2 hours of this much needed therapy today and feel revived. Here's why:

Well, if you've seen our photo site, we started our week celebrating Kyle's 30th birthday. We went to Pump It Up, an indoor inflatable bouncy gym. We had a great time and were exhausted at the end of our hour and twenty minutes there. Good 'party' for him. The next day, the weather called for SNOW! We celebrated Tuesday of this week with 2-3 inches of snow! Being near the coast in NC, this area doesn't see snow often, so pretty much everything shuts down with the threat of the white precipitation. So, everything was shut down, Kyle didn't have to work Tuesday, so I thought it would be a good time to start potty training Vivi (again) with my new information. It went okay. Also, we went outside and played in the snow! What fun! We don't have too much cold weather gear, so we weren't able to stay out too long. But none the less, it was very exciting to see big white snowflakes falling. Vivi had a great time watching it all and playing out in it; until she realized she was co-co-cold!

Anyway, Kyle went back at work on Wednesday (drove 10 miles on black ice to get there...safely though) and Vivi and I trudged on through the potty routine; still having accidents, but still doing okay. By this time, we've been in the house for 2 days and were starting to get some cabin fever. But, wanting to promote the potty-ing (not to mention Kyle not wanting us to go anywhere b/c of the bad road conditions), we stayed put yet another day. So Thursday comes and goes and our 2.5 year old attitude combined with potty accidents and cabin fever was really getting to us. Vivi's been pretty good at listening and obeying most of the time. I've never felt like if she was running towards the street full of fast cars and I told her to "Stop!" that she wouldn't. So danger-wise, I felt like we were okay. But, the past month or so she's been pushing things further and further. SO, the stress of her not listening (not necessarily for the naughty factor, but for the safety factor) has really been an issue that has come to a head with the compoundedness of cabin fever and potty training (maybe some pregnancy hormones, too....you'll have to ask Kyle about that one though...he came home yesterday to find all the 'junk' on top of his chest of drawers - 2 toboggans, random receipts, old alarm clock that was not in use, spare socks, Ipod Home accessories, etc - that had been compiled for months shoved in his sock drawer. I didn't care that that's not where the 'junk' went, I was just in a mood and tired of looking at it. Problem solved, right?). Well, Thursday night was an interesting one. We went to Quiznos for dinner (I guess I did leave the house this week after all) after Kyle got home. It was worth it (at the time). I got a grilled chicken salad, Kyle got a club sandwich, and Vivi ate some of our food and a bag of Cheetos - and I didn't care one bit that that was her dinner. Again, it had been a long week. So, we got home, praised Vivi for having dry pants while we were out, put her to bed, and settled in to watch The Office, a comedy on NBC that we thoroughly enjoy. Again, great evening during a stressful week.

Sitting on the couch watching our show, I started having some upper stomach pain. It didn't really concern me until I noticed that the pain was coming in waves every 3 minutes, lasting for about 30-60 seconds each time. I didn't want to concern Kyle (he was doing work stuff at home), I started looking up 'preterm labor' info online, with no definitive info found. But over the next hour as the pain got more intense, I decided to call the doctor (and tell Kyle). Now maybe I'm the only woman who doesn't know 'labor pains' or uterine contractions from normal old stomach pain. But, having a history of IBS and a somewhat easily irritated digestive system, I think I've felt every pain in that region that could felt. So, again, I didn't know what was happening, just knew I was in pain and it was getting worse. Anyway, the doctor called back; I described my symptoms and he said that I needed to take some Tylenol and a warm bath. He didn't think that I was contracting at all. That was good. But come on, Tylenol isn't going to cut it. Oh well - can't take anything else. Well, I took the Tylenol, but no bath. It was almost 11:30 at this point. I went to bed and tried going to sleep, with no avail. I got up an hour later, threw up a couple of times, and then slept all night. Felt great this morning. I guess it was something I ate. Still a little scary though. I'm only 29 weeks, it's the middle of the night, think I'm having contractions every 3 minutes, and the hospital and NICU is over an hour away, with Doogie Howser on call.

Well, today, Friday, we had a good morning, played, read, cleaned, did laundry, pottied, etc...and around noon I knew that we still had some time before I could put her down for a nap. So what did I do? I took her to Playdate, an hourly drop off child care play center. I really wanted to get out of the house, (haven't left since Tuesday), shop (for nothing in particular) and wanted a break from the constant attention that is needed during the first part of the potty training process. So, I took her to the experts at Playdate. I dropped her off and headed to JCPenneys where I found some things on clearance. I got a couple of maternity tops (I know, I know, it's a little late in the game to buy maternity clothes) and some hospital pajamas. I felt very revived at this point. Most moms, especially full time stay at home moms, can probably understand the beauty of 2 hours in alone in a store with no real 'list' of things to look for and no little 'helper' by your side. It was great. After that, I went to Target (the other store in New Bern..not a lot to choose from). Target just got their spring clothes in, so their winter items were on big time clearance. Not just 50% off...but big time! (and their clothes are pretty inexpensive to start with, if you can find things you like). So, I left Target with 3 plain ol' navy sweaters (thick zip up sweaters) in 3 sizes (for little bit. They were 2.98 each,and will be perfect for layering!!! How could you not get one for the next couple of seasons!), 2 striped sweaters for Vivi, a couple of shirts and jeans for little bit (size 3T), some Clorox 2, another set of pajamas for me (I remember living in lounge clothes for a week or two or three after V was born) and some Valentines Day items for Vivi (located in the dollar spot). Oh - and I got myself a treat today - goldfish pretzel crackers and diet dr. pepper for lunch - nothing better! So, I felt a huge sense of relief, accomplishment, and renewal as I was driving from Target to Playdate to pick up Vivi. This feeling of accomplishment was heightened by the fact that Vivi had dry pants when I picked her up. Big girl! She tee-teed as soon as we got home, and thus got 5 of her 'pink treats'. The 'pink treats' are really Yogos - small round sweet bits of something, not sure what really. Anyway, while I was putting my treasures from Target and Pennys away, I saw Vivi putting her Yogos in the 'gas cap' of her little red play car. Too funny! Well, we read a story and she went down for a nap. And, I'm writing this blog trying to convince everyone that today, I was emotionally healed and revived from some Retail Therapy. With all the 'therapies' that are available through health insurance companies, maybe we can try to push this one through? It really worked.