Venturing out into the real world

I took the kids out (on my own) to Target this afternoon. It went better than expected. I purposely tried to time our trip around their nap, but that proved to be pointless. We got all packed up and into the van without trouble, luckily they have learned that being in the van isn't a bad thing anymore. We got into Target, and made our way straight to the formula (the only thing I planned to purchase, quick in and out) and of course...Target only had 3 cans of formula! Seriously?! So... I grabbed the 3 and headed to checkout. Of course that is when Jack decided he didn't want to be happy anymore. He started fussing and although pushing the stroller back and forth seemed to make him a little calmer, he was still whiny. Now I've been in stores where I've heard babies crying, and I've always thought, "Aw, poor little one." or "Aw, poor Mommy." Never have I been annoyed or as the lady who was in front of me in line did...GLARED at the parent with the crying child. I was quite taken aback. I certainly wasn't standing there pinching him to make him cry and it wasn't like he was screaming bloody murder. He was just crying in a fussy baby kind of way. AND- it was 1 in the afternoon on Thursday, so it wasn't like it was inappropriate for me to be out and about with my kiddos. Needless to say, my feelings were pretty hurt and I immediately got the feeling that I couldn't do "this". I quickly made my way out of the store with my 3 cans of formula and got the babies packed back into the van. It is a lot of work to just get in and out of 1 store! By the time I was driving back towards home they were both asleep, so I put on a brave face and headed to the other Target in our area. Once inside Maggie did wake up, but she was happy to just look around and Jack stayed asleep. Fortunately this Target had tons of cans, so I was able to get a good stock supply (I go through 1.5 cans per day!). This time while in the checkout line Maggie began to fuss (pretty much because she was sleepy, but couldn't get back to sleep) and this time around the only comment was from the cashier, "Uh oh- double the trouble." and my reply was "Nope, double the fun." :) So we successfully made it out into the real world today. It was nice getting out of the house, I feel quite cooped up and lonely some days. Next week we might try taking a walk inside the empty Cincinnati Mills Mall. I really can't wait for Spring!