Trial and Error

That is how I do things around here. (Doesn’t every parent?) Like, when I want to get out of the house, whether it is to the park, to a friend’s house, or to the store, etc. I try it one way, and if that doesn’t work, I try it another way, until I am doing things the way I feel works well for me. There are a lot of things to take into account. When/where to feed, how to get them from A to B, how much gear I have to bring along, or how long I think they’ll last. I have learned a thing or two in my adventures, and the learning continues as time goes on, as the babies change, and as my ambition grows.

It’s all about low expectations, right? Expect to not get anything done or go anywhere (that was my plan for the entire first year of their lives), and when you do get something done, or get out of the house, you feel like such an accomplishment has taken place.

So I felt pretty accomplished today when I decided to take the babies to Target. They have come a few places with me alone before, and don’t have a history of behaving badly, but there is a first time for everything, so I crossed my fingers and walked through the automatic door (my best friend when it comes to shopping these days). I started out with them in the connected umbrella strollers, with little girlie strapped to me. Here is where the trial and error comes in during this trip. It was insanely hot, and that little heater on me didn’t help. And, if they were going to cooperate, I wanted to get a few more things on my list, but didn’t have a place to put them as we perused the store (I had originally planned to just do some returns and pick up a few small things). So I just grabbed a cart, and put Ruby in the front and the boys in the back for a fun little ride. Their awesome sitting up skills made this set-up possible, and since this is a pretty recent development, I was hesitant. I wasn’t sure if they would be able to stay up with all the turning corners we would do. We wouldn’t want them rolling around the bed of the cart, now would we? But they seemed stable and happy, so it worked.

Around the store we went, with nothing but babbles, smiles, and giggles from the sweeties. There might have been a few seconds of crying when toys were stolen, but it was hardly noticeable. I don’t plan on trying to take the babies on all my Target runs. In fact, I hired a babysitter to come every couple weeks for me to get things done without the their lovely, but slightly high maintenance, company. But as a spur of the moment, let’s-just-get-out-of-the-house-for-a-change-of-scenery type activity, it was great. Especially this time of year when walks are out of the question. And it was just a bonus that I actually got my current shopping list taken care of.

A nice lady behind me in the line at check-out commented on how calm I was. My response was that when the babies are calm, I am calm. Thankfully that was the scenario today. (It’s not that way everyday, but on those days, I make the wise decision to stay in the confines of our own home.) I was so proud of them, I told them we could all get milkshakes (he he). I must say, Chick-Fil-A makes a mean Peach.