Babies, babies, babies!

Last week Caleb had the chance to get to meet some of his future friends.This is Annabel (in utero), Arden, Myleigh, and Caleb.

Myleigh.

Arden.

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The last two weeks I've been figuring out how to venture out of the house with just me and the boys. Previously, the only place I'd been without Terry was to my grandparents. Honestly, after our first grocery shopping trip as a foursome where Caleb cried the whole time, I can't believe I thought I could go anywhere with both boys.

But, due to those awful few weeks after your delivery where neither your old clothes nor your maternity clothes fit, I had to go somewhere to buy some decent things to wear. I was planning on putting the boys into my double stroller (thanks for the gift Mel!) but when I got to Target I discovered the greatest invention ever! I'm guessing they've had these for years and I just never noticed because I never had need for them.

I was thrilled when I could plop Caleb's car seat down on top and buckle Micah into the seat below. He thought it was a cool ride and I left the belt loose enough that he could stand up if he wanted. This was SUCH a great discovery and after I bumped into a few poles (and one annoyed sales clerk) and knocked down an entire row of hangers, I actually became used to the long design and even squeezed all of us into a dressing room!

This outing was in large part much more successful than my attempt at a day at the mall yesterday. My obgyn's office is in the same parking lot as Willowbrook Mall. So when I was pregnant I always rewarded (bribed) Micah with a trip to the play area if he behaved while I talked to the doctor. Yesterday was no different. BUT, it took me over an hour to get from my doctor's door to the play area...

First I nursed Caleb in the car (I'm still amazed that Micah sat in his car seat happily listening to music while we let Caleb eat). When we finally made it to the mall I realized that I hadn't practiced setting up the double stroller and getting both kids in. I fumbled with it quite a bit as more experienced moms were in and out of their cars within seconds. Finally we were all strapped in and ready to go shopping... but first we had to take Micah to the bathroom.

After I finally fit the stroller in to the stall and got his little potty seat in position, Micah (of course) got stage fright and wouldn't go. I was wary of how I'd be able to clean my beautiful new stroller if it got peed on, so we waited, and waited, and waited for him to go. No such luck. So I reached down to pull Micah off the toilet and when I did, his little spiderman toilet seat cover stuck to him just long enough to be lifted up... and then fall directly into the public toilet.

These events (and the stop at cinnabons that followed) all lead us to waste an entire hour of the day doing... well, pretty much nothing.

I can laugh at how exhausted and sweaty I was by the time we began shopping because I remember how hard small things felt when I first had Micah. In fact, I read an old post earlier about my first attempt to take him for a walk. It doesn't sound like much when I read it now, but I remember how "fish out of water" I felt back then.

I'm not sure when I adjusted. Or how, even. But I know that now I take my "mommy-prowess" for granted and think of many of my actions as second nature. I wonder how long it will be before I look back at this post and wonder what in the heck made a simple visit to the mall so complicated!

(And how crazy was it to run into Emily, Hazel, and the Roberts girls while at the mall? Hazel- when Daddy got home last night and asked Micah about his day, all he could talk about were your awesome high-fives!)