Yeah, not our brightest idea...

I believe that IKEA may have met it's match. There were so many factors conspiring against it yesterday that it didn't really stand a chance. Of course, not the least of which was our toddler. To be fair, though, I made a major misstep leading up to our trip.

I was worried about how well Evan would behave cooped up in a store for a few hours, a worry that proved to be quite valid, so I thought I'd try to prep him by really talking up how "fun & cool" it was. Plus, and even though I never specifically mentioned it, I think I was secretly hoping the childcare area would have changed it's "fully potty-trained" rule...stupid potty training! Apparently all my positive PR worked, because Evan was completely psyched to go, IKEA was all he could talk about.

My plan backfired in my face. Of course, Jeff and I love IKEA, but it wasn't nearly as fun or cool from Evan's perspective as I'd described it. And, since he doesn't forget anything, he was intensely disappointed. He kept asking where the toys were and begging to play. It was sad really. He didn't respond well to the disappointment, and proceeded to whine and throw tantrums most of the morning. It. Was. Awesome.

Luckily, we were on borrowed time and our wish list was fairly short, although not as detailed as it should have been, so the misery was short-lived. Because, one of the other factors working against us was Jeff's work schedule. He's had several big projects lately, one of which he'd worked on the night before (until way too late) from home and needed to get back to after our trip. Jeff on 3 hours of sleep, shopping (even at IKEA,) and a grumpy Evan is NOT at pleasant combination.

Making it even worse was the knowledge that we still had to tear down our old set-up, which he hates to even look at, let alone move, put everything together, and organize all the new tv components, before working even more that night. Oh, and did I mention that the guy planning to buy our old tv backed out, so now we have a mammoth tv on the floor of our den that I swear takes up a fourth of the room. Nice.

Needless to say, it was a very long day. But, it was worth it. I don't get too excited about superfluous electronic purchases, but the tv is pretty sweet. Even my apathetic eye can tell the difference in the picture, our living room looks way bigger, and the media set-up is super cool (thanks, IKEA!) Now to find the time to enjoy it...