The one where I cry on the floor of Walmart

I wish I were joking.

Typically, I don't go to Walmart. I made an exception today; I just needed one thing, and Walmart was closer than the grocery store. It was close to lunch, and we'd had a busy morning.

I go into Walmart, get my one item, unload the girls and head home.

As I'm getting Hadley out of the car, I notice something terribly wrong. The stroller is not in the back of the car.

Panic sets in.

I fasten the girls back in their car seats and tell them that we need to pray. Hadley answers by giving me the sign for "truck" (one was driving past us) and Brynne answers by giving me the sign for "drink".

Yes Hadley, Mama is praying that our abandoned stroller doesn't get hit by a truck too. Brynne, Mama will definitely pray that there's enough wine in our house tonight.   

On the way back to Walmart I'm imagining how I'll tell Brad.

So, you know that $650 stroller I just had to have? You know, the only stroller we own? Yeah. Well, I decided to give it away to someone at Walmart.

We arrived at Walmart, and I went back to our parking spot.

No stroller.

I get the girls out of the car, take them by the hand, and begin walking. We see a shopping-cart-bringer-inner-person, so we head over to chat with him.

He hadn't seen our stroller.

Brynne decides she doesn't want to walk, so I'm carrying her and holding Hadley's hand.

[Side note--I never take the girls into any store without the stroller. Not. Ever.]

I'm praying as we walk into Walmart that I can act with grace, because I feel myself crumbling.

I'm walking too fast. Hadley trips and face-plants into the asphalt. Great.

Tears.

I pick her up, apologizing to her profusely.

So, now I'm carrying both girls into Walmart. One in each arm.

I head strait to customer service, where there is clearly no stroller present. As I'm telling the woman behind the counter that I'd driven off without my stroller, I burst into tears.

She goes to get a manager.

Hadley demands to get down, and begins to throw a fit.

So, there I am, sitting on the floor of Walmart, right in front of the automatic exit doors, attempting to pacify Hadley, holding Brynne, and I'm crying.

Not just crying. Ugly crying. Sobbing-tears-snot-running-down-my-face kind of crying. So much for grace.

This lady stops to ask me if I needed help. She opens a just-purchased box of crackers and gives some to Brynne and Hadley. Clearly, sobbing on the floor of Walmart brought me to an all new low, where in I would allow a complete stranger to give my children food.

There were three manager-type people trying to figure out where the stroller was. They assured me that if it was taken, they have security cameras in the parking lot. That made me feel a little better.

Then, the head manager guy comes around the corner pushing our stroller. Hallelujiah!

I had no dignity left at this point, so I did what any thankful, dignity-less person would do--I ran over to that Walmart manager and gave him a big hug. So not like me. I'm pretty sure I left snot on his shirt.

I hugged cracker-lady too.

Someone walked my stroller to safety in the lawn and garden section, answering Hadley's prayer, protecting our stroller from getting hit by a truck.

And as to Brynne's prayer about drinks, the wine fridge is fully stocked. Can't wait till Brad gets home from work. There's a bottle of red zin with my name on it.

In leiu of tattooing a reminder across my hand, check out my steering wheel:

Duck Tales

A couple weeks ago we took the girls to the zoo.

They loved it! They would point at the animals, and babble excitedly. (Hadley is looking beyond the camera at a monstrous black rhinoceros--man, those things are big!).

I love that the girls can read about animals in books, and then see them in real life too!  

I have no idea if they made the connection that they were seeing the live version of what they've seen in books, or not, but it was fun to see all the animals. I pointed the animals out, and referenced lines from our books all along the way, anyway.
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So, fast forward to today. We're transitioning to one nap. They are so very tired in the mornings, so I've been trying to get them out after breakfast, before the heat of the day, to take a walk or run an errand, so that they can rest in their carseat or the stroller.

One place we visit a couple times a week is a nature reserve, comprised of wetlands, prairie and forest. Much of the path is shaded and cool and it is teeming with wildlife.

Part of the path goes out over the marsh. I'm so thankful that the path is wide enough to accommodate the double stroller. On the path we: hear frogs singing, see dragonflies dancing, ducks floating, turtles sunning themselves, fish tails flicking, snakes slithering *shudder*, and one day we even saw a beaver carrying a log to his dam!

Today, as we went along, I was pointing out the dragonflies and the sounds of the frogs singing, as usual. Just ahead of us I saw something moving in the reeds. Suddenly, five startled ducks were madly flapping their wings, one of which flew up on the path right in front of us! It waddled along in front of the stroller for a few moments before hopping back in the water.

The girls got so excited, exclaiming, "Duck, duck! And making their duck noises. All the way home Brynne was repeating the word "duck" and then making her duck noise, which actually sounds like a siren, "Aawha aawha aawha."

When we got home, we had lunch and then settled down to read a few stories before naptime. I asked the girls to pick out books to read. Brynne very excitedly brought me Little Quack Counts, full of dragonflies, fish, frogs, turtles and ducks.

She made the connection. Be still my heart!

Purple Thanks

605. Bluebells

606. Walk with Jackie and Laila.

607. Surviving two days as a single parent.

608. Drinks and good conversation on the deck with Laila.

609. Breakfast in bed.

610. Hiking at Watershed with the girls.

611. Purple.

May I Have Your Attention, Please?

Babies attract attention. As a parent of a new baby, you will inevitably run into several different types of people. The first kind are the people that will "Ooh and ah" over your little one without directly speaking to you. The second kind are those who will directly speak to you about how beautiful your child is, and how great it is to be a parent, maybe even comment on how blessed you are (while this is true, when you've had next to no sleep for the past five nights in a row, this is not a particularly helpful thing to hear). Next are the parents who have some sort of comment to make, as if they know exactly what it is like to parent your child saying things like, "I bet you're not getting much sleep" (these people make me want to divulge that our girls are sleeping through the night, the only reason I don't is because it is none of their business, nor is it helpful, just as their initial statement is not helpful). These people really aren't looking for a response, they just want to let you know that they know more about being a parent to your child than you do. Worst of all, you'll have those especially brazen individuals who feel like they should talk to you and bestow to you, a perfect stranger, parenting advice. The last kind are the ones that I have to especially bite my tongue. I realize those people really think they have it all figured out, but really, most people don't launch into parenthood anymore without reading a few dozen books on the way it's done--we've all heard the titles that start with word phrases like What to expect..., healthy sleep..., happiest baby...--I mean, with words like that in the title, you'd be foolish not to at least skim the book before becoming a parent. Suffice to say, I think we've done our homework.

I have quickly learned that twins attract attention times two. Perhaps you've even caught yourself gawking at a family that has twins. This phenomenon has been something to get used to as we've bravely ventured out into public on a more regular basis. I've found it both amusing and annoying to answer, "yes," when asked, "Are they twins?" One of these days I'm liable to smart off something about being able to gestate at a breakneck pace, or admit to stealing the second baby from the hospital. Perhaps this is another one of those moments when people should contemplate their words before they speak. When there are two babies close in age being cared for by the same parent--chances are good that they are twins, it's okay to go ahead and assume this. So, we field this, often in addition to the regular "baby attention."

After a venting session to my dear friend while on a walk at Creve Coeur Lake, we decided it would be entertaining to count the number of people who made comments, or otherwise gave our family attention. Grand total--14. Yup, on a short, call it a three mile walk, we encountered 14 people who had something to say about or to the mama with the two little babies. One woman even started veering over towards us as she was running. Perhaps in addition to being a sight to behold, twins carry some sort of magnetic force field that physically draws curious spectators towards us. Who knows?

Going mobile

This past week was pretty exciting for us! The girls slept for seven to eight hours at a time each night, AND--we went mobile! While we appreciate and revel in the extra sleep we are getting, we also recognize that at 11 weeks of age, this is most likely a fleeting event, so we are acknowledging it for the gift that it is for as long as it lasts. This whole mobile thing though--this was an exciting moment in mommyhood for me!

The girls and I have gone on lots of walks, but we had yet to get in the car, and get out in a different location. Earlier in the week I met a friend at a local park across town with great success, so on Friday I decided that it was time to try shopping with the girls. My body literally hummed with excitement as I got myself and the girls ready to go! Friday was a dreary, rainy day, so I checked the hour by hour feature on weather.com, which said I would be clear to go for the next couple of hours. I loaded up the stroller, the reusable shopping bags and the girls and we were off!

We got to the parking lot of the grocery store, and I was careful to park with two open spots on either side of the car, so that I could open the doors all the way, and push the stroller right up to the car. Just as I was loading my second daughter into the stroller, the sky opened up in a torrential downpour--so much for weater.com's accuracy. Our stroller is very much waterproofed, so the girls stay relatively dry, Mama, on the other hand was not so dry.

Shopping was a success! I intentionally chose a noisy grocery store for our first outing, so as to disrupt shoppers as little as possible. The girls only fussed for a moment, then spent the rest of the time looking around at all the bright lights. Hadley even fell asleep. I filled my basket (the days of pushing a cart on my solo shopping trips are over for me awhile), checked out and headed out. People stopped to check out the girls and make comments, but no one touched them--thank goodness!

Getting back out to the car, it was still raining--hard. Leaving the aforementioned spots on either side of the car meant parking a distance away. One of the store employees offered to watch the girls while I went and got the car--really, leave them with a stranger?! Thanks, but no. So--we got wet again. As I lifted Hadley out of her seat a few drops splashed on her face and she flinched jerking violently and making a very funny face. Poor girl--what an awful way to wake up!

So--our first shopping trip was not without hiccups, but we are mobile now, and THAT is a good feeling!