Oh, shopping...you used to be so much more fun!

Do you know what sounds like a much better idea than it actually turns out to be?  Taking a short trip to Target with a baby in tow.

I have to say, I very much miss the days of jumping in the car, running a quick errand, and calling it a day.  Now, that quick errand takes twice as long to prepare for as it actually takes to run.  And then, once you're finally in the store, you're afraid to stand in one place too long (like, for example, if you, for some unknown reason, decide to try to pick out a new hair straightener on this particular trip after your old one bit the dust at least a month ago) for fear that the fussing will start.  And if you do, by some miracle, make it out of the store before the baby reaches the end of her rope, you have to spend the ten minute drive home trying to shovel snacks into her mouth over your shoulder so she doesn't fall asleep, thereby rendering naptime nonexistent because you still haven't perfected the art of the carseat to crib transfer, even after all of these months.

But, sometimes, everything works out for you, and today just happened to be one of those days.  The trip is over, the things are bought, the baby is napping in the crib.  And I am super-mommy.  So there.

And, because I am me, I offer you the following photo essay, so you can see the many moods of baby B during the 30 minutes we spent in the store this morning...

Heading into the store, we were pretty excited...but I, of course, missed the smile she gave me, and ended up capturing this weird grimace/half-smile instead.  Because that's the kind of photographer that I am.

Brigid, she loves the stuff, that's for sure.  She takes after her mommy in that way.  When she actually gets old enough to do anything beyond point and grunt at the shelves, we may be putting an end to these trips, since I don't want to be the one trying to pull a screaming toddler up off of the ground after I tell her she can't have something.  I just have a feeling it might come to that...

That would be Brigid waving to Elmo.  Because, of course she is.

She started fading pretty quickly, poor kid, as we got closer to naptime.

And by the time we were checking out, she was over the whole thing.  But I think it was a good way to spend the morning, considering how easily she's been getting bored with her toys lately.

And now?  Napping peacefully, like a good little girl. 

Do I have good timing, or what?