Thrill of the hunt!

It's 8am and my house is still quiet. Which isn't too unusual since my kids normally sleep in until 8 or 8:30. Although, we did have them in bed at 6:50pm last night (which for Sadie came with a price tag; in the middle of the night she wanted to eat at 11:30pm, 1:30am, and 4:00am!). So my point to that last sentence is, I would have thought the kids would have been awake by now. I should be in bed too...but I have a problem; one I hope will go away after Christmas. I have been obsessing over finding a certain sold out toy online and in stores for 3 weeks. I get up early every morning to see if Target has gotten any 'in stock 'so I can send Ryan to wait for the doors to open. If nothing there I check to see if Kmart has any online, then Amazon to see if their price has gone down on their stock, and then reluctantly check [gasp] Walmart (we are not on speaking terms, maybe I will write a blog post about my defective jogger I bought that they refuse to return someday).

The problem with my problem is that....We already have this toy purchased, and in our possession, tucked way back in the guestroom closet. I should be happy we found it, and move on! So why can't I give up the hunt? Because, it's the thrill of the hunt. It's exciting.

Last week, to my surprise the Target online said at 7:05am the Target on Decatur had the toy 'in stock.' I woke Ryan up and he waited the freezing cold (35 degrees) outside Target to race the crowd to the toy....actually he raced one woman who was dressed in a rent-a-cop uniform. Ryan swooped down grabbed one, and she swooped down and grabbed the 1 other. He came home with this toy, and secretly I was a little disappointed because I thought I had to give up my hunt. I haven't, and probably won't until this toy is back in stock everywhere, then hunting would be pointless obviously.

This is a bunch of rambles! But my point to this post is that, when Connor was younger it didn't matter what we got him he loved it either way. But now that he is getting older, I feel much more pressure to get him what he wants, with some surprise factor still and within a budget. Am I the only one who feels this toy pressure as their kids get older?

P.S. We saw Santa at the mall a few weeks ago and Connor asked Santa to bring Grandma and Grandpa a present. Santa asked "Well, what do they like and what do they do?" Connor said, "Oh, they just walk around their house all day."

HO HO HO!