Lowlights and Highlights, All in a Mom's Grocery Trip with 3 Boys

So one of my least favorite things to do with all 3 kids is take them to the grocery store.  I usually try to slip in on my own at some point when my mom or husband is watching the boys.  On the rare occassion I take all 3, what results is typically mayhem and meltdowns.  So it was with dread that I ventured at grocery store trip this week with all three.  I did a lot of prep work with Pierce about being a good listener and such when we got there.  Meanwhile, Reid was feeling grumpy and sad, the result of a fever (which we found out later is from roseola - so yay for me spreading contagious gunk - oops!).  Cort was in an unusually chipper mood.

So we got to Kroger and I saw the race car double carts.  I couldn't find plain double carts.  So race car it was.  The race cars are just great for bored kids, but they are a nightmare for the parent. They are completely oversized, clunky, hard to steer, and the one I grabbed had a loud wheel.  Fabulous, right?  Here is what one looks like:

Pierce was totally into driving the race car, Reid sat next to him, and I carried Cort in the Bjorn.  Things were going well in our first stop, the veggies.  I loaded the bottom of the cart with wonderful colors from kale, turnips, acorn squash, summer squash, button mushrooms, grapes, and bananas.  Then we headed into the natural foods aisle.  Unfortunately, there was a man stocking the goods, and there was no way I could make it through with my monster race car cart.  So I slowly started backing away (no way could you just turn one of these carts away) and there was a woman standing right behind me.  I almost ran into her.  Immediately I apologized, but she let me have it.  Admonishing me, she said that I was lucky I hadn't completely knocked her over and thrown out her bad hip.  She went on and on.  Then she said "YOU stay right there.  Don't YOU move until I can get my cart safely away from YOU and YOUR KIDS".  Meekly, I did as she said, while she stomped off with her "bad" hip.

Gosh I felt bad the rest of the trip.  Nothing like a verbal lashing from a complete stranger to make you feel miserable.  And of course, to make matters worse, I continued to have difficulty steering the cart around corners, and it felt like I was always in someone's way.  Suddenly, I just knew that every single person in the store was giving me a dirty look.

I tried not to let on, though, that I felt so overwhelmed and disturbed.  I continued to pick our groceries, letting Pierce choose a lunch box for preschool and making my way through the store.  All three boys did just great, except for Reid, who had to cry a few times because he felt so bad.  Pierce took over the mothering role for me, patting his brother on the back and hugging him from his side.

We finally finished and made it to the checkout.  Pierce was sad he couldn't reach the checkout to help me load up groceries (the cart was just too huge) but he made up for it by being so sweet to Reid.  And I was still stuck on that horrible lady.  Running the whole thing over and over in my head, while putting goods on the belt and chatting with Pierce.

That's when a sweet lady behind me in line spoke up. 

"You know, I've never seen a mother with 3 kids as calm and attentive to her children as you are in the grocery store.  I can tell you are a really great mom"

My heart warmed straight out of my chest.

And then I burst into tears, lol.

I told her that moms never get compliments like that and it had absolutely made my day.

I don't know if she truly knows how much her kind words meant to me right then and there, but I know they will be positive fuel for grocery trips in the future.