First Road Trip

Since the past Monday was the oh-so-originally-named holiday Family Day, which coincidentally was another-originally-named holiday President's Day in US, we decided to hit the QEW and cross the border.


What for, you ask?  Shopping, of course!


Isaac's eczema has gotten worse, and, in the hope of improvement, I took Isaac to see the paediatrician last week, who, in addition to prescribing a 1% hydrocortisone cream, advised us that the zipper on his sleeper would rub against his face when we hold him.  Upon hearing that, I immediately halted dressing him in any sleepers with zipper, which was the majority of his sleepers, unfortunately.  And since I hate kimono-style tie-on clothing with a capital H, we're pretty much left with sleepers with snap buttons. We had about 6 of them, 2 of which he had pretty much outgrown.

Hence the need to shop for new baby clothes.

I went to Toys'R'Us and Walmart numerous times, even hitting Dear Born Baby once.  The sleepers offered were mostly a disappointment though -- they were either not using snap buttons, not soft enough, not cute enough (very important too!), too expensive, or any combination thereof.

(I did, however, buy a bottle of Seventh Generation baby laundry detergent at Dear Born Baby.)

Since Daniel has been raving about the great selection and price of baby stuff in the States, especially at Target, we had been contemplating a trip down south for quite some time.  A long weekend seemed as good as any excuse to hit the road anyway, so of we went on Sunday.

We didn't plan to do any sightseeing stuff -- after all, Isaac's not going to know the difference between Niagara Falls and our own shower, and it was too cold anyway.

Instead, our trip was squarely focused on shopping.  We checked the location and hours of the Target, Walmart, Babies'R'Us and outlet mall closest to the border and planned our route accordingly.

Despite being supposedly busy helping out Daniel's brother's family with the new baby, Daniel's mom said she needed a breather and joined us on the trip too.  May as well, I'd say, since she is shopping for 5 grandchildren!

Our first stop was Prime Outlets.  The stores we visited, in this order:

1. Gap Baby & Kids -- nothing of good value (we checked out the adult side as well, and bought 2 pieces for ourselves).
2. The Children's Place -- nothing of good value neither.
3. Carter's -- decent price and styles.  We eventually went back and bought 2 sleepers, a pack of 4 onesies, plus a toy.
   
4. Osh Kosh -- too expensive.

In case you're wondering: yes, they are all children/baby clothing stores!  Daniel's mom bought a few pieces of clothing at Carter's for one of her granddaughters as well.

Daniel kept reminding us not to get too worked up, since we still haven't gone to Target yet, and he promised we'd love shopping there.  Of course, he spoke from experience, because he was the one who bought most of Isaac's initial clothes when he was on business trips to US!

Since Isaac woke up right at the beginning of our shopping--and I didn't like the idea of him strapped in the car seat for too long--I carried Isaac in my trusty Moby Wrap again.  That drew quite a few other shoppers' attention.  They thought it looked quite cute, I think.  All the time in the mall, I saw one other mom carrying her newborn (less than 1 month, I'd say) in a wrap, and that was it.  All other babies were in strollers.  A higher proportion of toddlers were carried, possibly because they were awake.

After visiting all these children's clothing stores, I needed a break, and Isaac was getting hungry.  Since Isaac hasn't re-mastered drinking from bottle, finding a spot to breastfeed him wasn't easy.  Unlike many shopping malls in Toronto, Prime Outlets didn't have a nursing room.  The "best" I could find was an accessible bathroom stall with an extra chair--and frankly, who likes eating in a bathroom?!?!

Initially, we found a table in the food court behind a pillar, but there wasn't enough space between the (fixed) chair and the table.  We decided to go back to the car instead (which I didn't like, because it was still too cold outside), but then I saw a free bench inside the mall.  We took that spot, and I nursed Isaac with a blanket covering him and myself up for a little more privacy. 

It was the first time I've ever nursed Isaac in public.  I must say I was a little surprised how people didn't seem to notice at all.

After I finished nursing Isaac, my MIL told us to get some private time and she'd stay there to take care of Isaac.  Naturally, the first (and ended up being the only) store Daniel and I visited was Nike.  It just seemed that Daniel always need new running shoes or basketball shoes.  Not that he has a lot of shoes or he goes through them fast, but he's very particular in what shoes fit him, and he wouldn't buy them unless they were real bargains.  He found a pair of basketball shoes he likes, but they weren't available in his size.  He also almost bought a pair of bargain running shoes, but there was a minor thing he didn't like (something about the toe box) and he thought they weren't cheap enough to overcome it.

I bought a pair of lightweight running shoes myself.

By the time we went back to Grandma and Isaac, it was almost closing time.  We left the mall and visited our next stop, Target.

The baby's department was like a heaven to us!  I bought two more sleepers, a top, and a pair of sunglasses for Isaac.  I also picked up a babyproofing kit--you know, plugs for power, latches for drawers, etc.  A doll playard for Jessie, and an onesies for her new sister Kelly.

(We even contemplated buying diapers, but found them not much cheaper than TO.)

If I was happy, then Grandma was ecstatic.  She bought two packs of onesies--one for Kelly and another for the upcoming grandchild.  She also bought two outfits for her grandson in HK, and a doll for Jessie.  We dropped almost $150 in about an hour at Target!