cured

Ikea. I love Ikea. Well, I loved Ikea.

I have been hither and yon the last few days traveling down to the sweltering coast to see my sis and her hubs and to meet their darling daughter Booger Bear. She is precious! I took just a *few* photos of her as she was introduced to the Auntie La's photo torture.

On the way back, my parents graciously agreed to stop at IKEA.

Let me set up the scene for you. 5 people traveling in a 5 person suv for 4.5 hours when we get to IKEA. 1 Gram, 1 Papa, 1 Mama, 1 Moo and 1 Ella Bella. Moo has not napped in days and went to bed way later than usual. Ella Bella equates anytime she is not in her car seat with eating. Gram and Mama (me) just want to shop. Poor Papa gets drug along. It's a Saturday and IKEA is BUSY.

My dad takes Moo to go jump on the beds and my mom and I begin perusing all of the wonderful offerings of IKEA, and quickly realize Ella Bella has soaked through her clothes. We take the redneck route and change her on one of the dozens of desks on display. Her pants are soaked and we are not about to loose one minute of shopping time so we leave her in just a shirt and diaper. First Mistake.

We continue shopping in relative IKEA induced bliss for the next 10 minutes. My dad and Moo meet back up with us near a train table. Moo wants to play trains and my dad watches him. Since Moo is completely train addicted and isn't going anywhere, my mom hands my dad Ella Bella and we proceed with our shopping. My mommy instinct is immediately nagging at me that Ella Bella is going to start screaming and I should just carry her. But do I listen.....

Nooooooooo.

About 5 minutes, okay maybe 10 minutes... it is IKEA, later... I can't ignore my instinct anymore and go back to get Ella Bella.

Oh goodness... the scene I found.

My dad had made it about 30 feet from the train table where Moo is screaming in a full on tantrum on the floor, undoubtedly because he had to leave the trains. Ella Bella has gone all angry tomato face and is full on screaming with her diaper falling off. My dad is frantically trying to dial his cell phone and hold her while this lady tries to "help him" by taking Ella Bella. He was full prepared to deck this lady if she even touched his grandbaby.

I felt sooooooooooo bad.

My poor dad. I don't think he will be so eager to go on another trip ANYWHERE with us. Needless to say, the IKEA experience went downhill from there. Moo screamed the rest of the time mourning the trains he left behind, I was walking around while feeding Ella Bella (thank goodness for hooter hiders!), my mom was trying unsuccessfully to calm Moo down, and my dad, well, he was understandably rattled and, umm, MAD. I bet my sis is having a good laugh right about now....

By the time we found our way back to the car and got everyone loaded up, we were all CRABBY. I am sure some expletive or off color description would more accurately convey the mood, but this is a family blog. Let your imagination fill in the scene. And we were still 8 HOURS from home. Oye vey.

So, I am cured of IKEA.

More accurately, I am cured of EVER taking my children there again.