Mom Shopping

Since I have become a mom my life has changed drasticaly! Being a mom is great, I love everything about it. I am enjoying being a stay-at-home mom a lot more than I ever dreamed I would. I love being with my children everyday and watching them grow and develop and learn new things. There is no better job then being someone's mommy.

With all that being said, there are a lot of things in life that change when one becomes a mom that I never really thought about before I had children. One of these things is the way I shop.

Before I had children I could spend hours upon hours at the mall shopping for clothes, shoes, and accesories for myslef. I loved browsing a store and grabbing everything I thought was cute and taking it to the dressing room. I would spend a ton of time in the dressing room trying everything on and admiring myself in the mirror. I would stare at myself in the clothes and imagine where I was going to wear certain things and how I could match the new clothes with things I already had. My goal was to wear something different for two weeks straight.

I loved to shop for myself. It was a hobby. The smell of a mall (you know the smell of Cinnabon, Bath & Body Works, and the food court all rolled into one) thrilled me. A crowded mall was my favorite place to be.

Wow, how things have changed!! I still find myself at the mall fairly often, only now I am pushing a double wide stroller and visiting the play place and Antie Anne's for a pretzel after play time. If I do get the chance to shop at the mall (when my children aren't crying or whining about wanting to ride the rocketship that costs 75 cents!!) I find myself in children's stores. Shopping consists of clothes and shoes for my kids, and the quest for the cutest hair things for my daughter, but now that I am a mom that's how it should be. Shopping for my children is enjoyable, but now it's more of a chore than it is a hobby.

So how do mommy's get new clothes? Although I would say 60% of everything in my closet has been in there since we were married 7 years ago, I have acquired some new things. On the extremly rare occasion I have been able to go shopping all by my self for a new outfit, but this is usually for an "occasion specific" outfit. For instance my mom recently watched my children so I could shop for a new outfit to wear to Spencer's work Christmas Party (don't want his co-workers to think I am a slob!!) Even on these rare occasions time is limited, and I find myslef in a hurry to get in, find something as quick as possible, and get the heck out of there!

Other than the few outfits I was able to buy alone, everything else that I have purchased for myself has been with my children. And for all those mom's out there, you know how fun clothing shopping for yourself can be with little ones!!! If you are not sure what I am refering to, let me paint you a picture:

First of all I will never shop for myself at the mall with the kids. The mall has too many distractions for them and all they do is whine about going and doing something else. My stores of choice are Kohl's and Old Navy. So here I am at Kohl's pushing the double-wide (knocking down stuff as I go since the stroller is really too wide to fit down the aisles) grabbing anything that looks decent. At no point can I stop moving because if I do my son thinks that means it's time for him to jump out and hide in the racks of clothing. So I am walking down the asiles just grabbing anything as I walk, not even taking the time to grab it in the right size. Then I head to the dressing room. After forcing the stroller to fit in the biggest stall I quickly start trying things on. Usually at this point I am shoving crackers down Audrey's throat to keep her quiet and trying to convince Owen that crawling underneath the door is a bad idea. Now that Owen can open the dressing room door, I now have to be prepared just in case the door goes flying open while I am standing there in my underwear...good times.

Needless to say clothing shopping for myself almost never happens, and trying things on is completly out of the question!! Every once in awhile while I am at Target I will grab a cute shirt that is hanging on the outer aisle as I am heading to the back of the store to get baby food. I never try it on, I just throw it in the cart and pray that it fits. There is no time to think about where I could wear something (like I go anywhere!!) or if I have something I could match it with, now my thought process goes like this: "Can I wear it with jeans? Does it look comfortable? Will it disguise spilled baby food?"

Oh the life of being a mom!! I love it, even if it means wearing the same pants a few times a week and choosing tops based on patterns that hide stains well, it is soooo worth it! Kids are my top priority now!