angels in disguise

last week, we had the great honor of hosting our niece julia while her parents were off on a much-deserved babymoon in hawaii.  her mom,  thais, and i were pregnant at the same time (julia and cruz are one month apart), and really grew close during that experience. it's so fun to see these babies growing into toddlers. julia and cruz got along pretty well, considering that they'd only met each other twice before. as soon as they each woke up from a nap, they started asking for the other. but one afternoon, that sweet moment came much, much earlier than i had planned on.

new rule: when babies wake up too early from a nap, you fill the extra time by going shopping. 

once we got downtown, however, i wished we had stayed at home.

the paseo nuevo parking lot has access to four elevators from the ground floor. like a smart mama, i parked as close to the main (and largest) elevator as i could get. 

a note: we were borrowing a double stroller. if folding-a-double-stroller-and-then-putting-it-into-a-crv were an olympic event.... i would be very, very terrible at it. a sweaty ten minutes after we parked, i had both kids in the stroller, ready to rock. 

the elevator was out of order.

move on down to the next elevator.

out of order.

y'all... it was a really hot day. i was pushing sixty pounds of wiggles and cheerios around.

the third elevator works. it arrives. we don't fit in it.

everyone else gets off, and after a group effort, we get the stroller in. i rode alone.

so this was a little bit out of character for me, but we went to abercrombie. well, we tried at least. the girl working the front of the store wearing what this old mama would consider to be sexy pajamas told me straight up, "you're not going to fit in here with that thing. sorry."

it was always my fear as a teenager that i would not be cool enough for abercrombie, and it turns out that i'm not. ugh. mama needed an iced coffee. i huffed across the street to starbucks. oh, the moves i made to get us through the door! lunges! splits! flying leaps! gabby douglas would be impressed (makayla? not impressed). we made our way through the line, but got stuck at the cash register between some confused ladies to the back and large signage to our front. "would you mind backing up so i can get the stroller out?" i asked, over the sounds of my child alternately yelling, "muuuffffffiiiiiiin!!!" and singing ("twinklicious crazy star...").

"not yet," she replied.

at that point, we had to get the muffin before they kicked us out.

we wound our way to the fountains in the middle of the mall so that the kids could run around and splash.

closed.

closed!

i sat, utterly defeated.

sweaty, frizzy, crumb-y.

i decided to chuck the shopping trip and head home. we went to the last untried elevator, which is inside nordstroms. we could not fit through the door. disaster!

we walked back slowly. i was feeling so low. and then suddenly... an angel!

"oh miss... you are so beautiful!"

(i was not)

"please, sit down. take a moment for yourself. please... check out our hair straighteners."

so. bless you, joe of the hair straightener kiosk in the center of the mall. you saw this tired mama and treated me like a fancy lady. you made my hair look amazing. you flattered me up and down, and made me feel like a princess. i did not walk away with samples, i walked away with prizes. jewels! typically i run from you and your heavily accented kiosk brethren. never again. i asked you where you were from, and you said heaven. i believe it. a crowd formed while you transformed my hair and my day. you called me your model, and i don't even care that it wasn't sincere. 

reader, i bought that hair straightener.