Ikea

On Wednesday, Ella, Julia, Sara, and I all made a trip to Ikea to pick out shelves and baskets for Julia's new playroom.

This is how we started out: with Ella in the basket of the cart and Julia in her seat in the cart itself.

In this fantastic photo note that Julia's not crying, and Ella's wearing her red hair bow and white tights. This happy and pulled together look did not last the entire THREE HOURS that we were at Ikea. By the end, everyone was cranky, Ella no longer had her bow and tights, and Julia was not her smiley self.

Shopping with two children was a challenge and we managed the two kids in a variety of ways including, but not limited to:

Ella in the basket, Julia in the cart, Lisa pushing cart

Lisa holding Julia, Sara holding Ella, dragging cart behind us

Ella walking, Sara carrying Julia, Lisa pushing cart

Sara carrying Julia, Lisa walking, Ella pushing cart

Ella in the cart, Lisa holding Julia, Sara pushing cart

Ella in the basket, Lisa pushing cart, Sara carrying carseat with Julia inside

The permutations are endless! Finally, we came up with a system that worked well: Lisa & Sara look at throw rugs and Ella watches Julia (as shown below)

The two of them are sitting on 2-foot pile of rugs that Ella adopted as her playspace. The rug area was right next to the area for pillow and throw blankets so Ella had me get one of each. She proceeded to make herself a bed on top of the rugs, then said to me, "but Mommy, I'm not tired."

We spent a long time at Ikea but walked away with a great plan for a playroom for Julia.

Below is a picture of Ella at Ikea when she was 7-months old and Sara and I were shopping for items for Ella's playroom.