Thanks, Deb!

Okay. So I have temporarily forgiven the Gods of Clothing and Footwear.

Yesterday hubby dropped me off at the hospital for Hayden's next cast change. I arrived in ample time, registered and took my paperwork over to the cast clinic. There was quite a line up of people waiting and when the cast tech came out, she looked at me in horror and asked "why are you here?" I said "I have an appointment". She asked if it was with Dr. Pirani and I told her no, with Milt (the guy from last week). She looked at me with something close to panic and said "Milt's sick today!" I said "oh." She told me to wait, that she'd make some phone calls and come see me. A few minutes later she appeared and asked if Hayden's casts were still on and I said yes. She said to leave them on and come back next week and apologized profusely. I told her not to worried and left mildly annoyed, only at the breakdown in communication. I understand people get sick and that's ok - been there myself. But a phone call might have been nice so that I didn't waste my time getting out to the 'burbs. Fortunately I had gotten a ride because if I had schlepped out there on transit, I would have been more pissed. No worries, though, as I had to Skytrain it home anyway and had plans to go downtown for lunch with a friend. My only concern with this is not that he'll outgrow the casts, but that his skin won't fare well and I am trying not to think about it too much.

Needless to say I was quite early, so I hit the mall and decided to look around. I spotted Sterling Shoes and decided I was "just going to look" at some boots to see what they have. Lately styles have been way too teenage for me and I guess that is because I am creeping towards forty. I found about four different pairs of boots that I'd like to try and asked the salesgirl for help. She found a couple of them in back and then told me she'd run to the stock room to look for the others. I tried on the two while I waited. Rejected one immediately (shockingly too big!!) and the other seemed pretty good. She returned with one other pair and I tried them on. They were calf height and zipped on the inside, and I kind of commented that they might be too tight. She encouraged me to try them because they were synthetic and stretched. She was right - they fit really well and felt great. Now I had a dilemma - two pairs of boots to choose from. This NEVER happens in my world. I have clodhoppers that are on the large size of ladies size ten. Shoe shopping has been the bane of my existence since about the age of 14 when I would watch my twin sister, who was a nice average size seven, get a couple of pairs of shoes and I would go to store after fruitless store and come up empty every time. I actually have some very bad shoe memories from that time where my mom made me get certain pairs just because they fit and I did not want them AT ALL. But I digress. My decision was made based on waterproofing because we get a lot of rain here. I wore the boots out of the store and wore them all day without any pain or grievance whatsoever.

Happy with my boot karma (and somewhat high on Ventolin because my asthma was acting up yesterday), I decided to take my friend Deb's advice and check Old Navy for jeans. As I walked through the door I felt my hope start to waver when I spied the new "boy cut" jeans on display and saw the tattery (again teenage) look to them. But I pressed on and found the denim section. Lo and behold they had a pair of jeans called "at the waist"! There was "low waist", "ultra low waist" and "just below the waist" - but the one I wanted was the above. I piled an assortment of pants onto the stroller and hit the change room. First pair I tried on (in a smaller size than I expected) fit perfectly. I gave them the "sit test" and sure, they rode down a little but not so much that I could feel the arctic air conditioning tickling my buns. Hayden wanted to nurse, so I decided I'd give them the longer sit test and sat in them while I fed him. They were awesome and the best part? $39.50! No $150 jeans for me, no sir!

I happily purchased them and ventured on to my lunch date. While walking home, I hit a paper store I've been meaning to go into for about a year and discovered a big sale as they may be shutting down. I went a little hog wild and bought lots of pretty pretty things and then had to stop at Laura's to show her what I got. The walk home was very pleasant as it was another classic Autumn day. There was an abundance of fog, you could smell the fallen leaves and it was crisp. I love this season!

But enough about me.

Hayden is just becoming a moose. I can barely hold him for any length of time. On the development front, he has started holding out his arms to me to pick him up and the other night he almost rolled over from back to front, using one of his casts for leverage. I was rooting him on, but he got tired and flopped back. But we'll keep at it. It's disappointing to me that he isn't a little further along in his physical development due to the casts, etc. - but I have to remind myself what happens when they are finally mobile. Then the baby-proofing, gate installations and general cautiousness begins. So I guess I should just relax and let it all happen in good time.