Bravery Turned into Exhaustion

Today I decided to be brave.

I. Just me. Yup that's right, I took the boys to the park all by MYSELF. I have taken the boys plenty of places by myself before. Places where they need to be strapped in here or put in there. Never have I taken them somewhere completely by myself where they could be on the ground and run.

I threw the diaper bag over my shoulder scooped up one baby in my right arm and scooped up the other babe in my left arm. Finagled my way to open the gate at the top of the stairs and made my way to the car. When I got to the car (thank you for automatic sliding van doors - They are THE BEST!) I gave a little tug to the door handle and viola the door slide open. I put one babe on the floor of the van propped my leg in front of the opening so he couldn't escape (fall) and put the other babe in the car seat with a big smooch. I 'clicked' him in and then grabbed the other to 'click' him into his seat with a smooch and all too. Once we were all buckled I wiped the 'glisten' from my forehead and pulled down the driveway.

When we were driving to the park I decided to call Dada and tell him what I have begun. He was impressed and wished me luck.

Once we arrived to the park I started to question my decision in taking the boys to the park alone. I shook it off and started the unloading process. I opened both van doors. I put the diaper bag on my shoulder. I unbuckled one babe and scooped him up (gave him a kiss too of course). Then we walked around the car, again I placed this babe on the floor of the car and propped my leg in front of the van door opening so he couldn't fall out. I scooped up the other babe (after his kiss) grabbed the other one from the floor of the van and pushed the button on the van to close the door. Holding both babes I hurdled the railroad beam and began walking to the park.

Once we were far enough from the parking lot I put the babes down to walk the rest of the way, holding Mama's hands of course.

When we got to the park I let go of the boys hands. They were so timid when I first let go. They just stood where they were. Stood there long enough for me to grab my camera and take the one and only picture of our adventure today.

There were a lot of medium sized kids in the little kid area today. I was not too happy about that but they boys loved watching them, at first. Then they wanted to be able to do all the things that the medium sized kids were doing.

The boys couldn't really do much with just Mama being there. I did put them in the swings for about 5 pushes then they told me they were all done. We walked around the play area for really only 5 minutes. Then we left that area and walked to a shaded part of the grassy area. I put sunblock on the boys faces but no where else on them. The sun wasn't as bright at my house as it was at the park and I wanted to get my pasty whites out of it. I thought we would stay in the shaded area for a while but we only lasted maybe another 5 minutes.

When we were done I walked with them holding my hands all the way back to the car. When we got there I did the same routine as every other time I'm alone with them and put them in the car.

Then I decided that since we were out and I was being brave I would take them food shopping too. They were still in a good mood and we desperately needed food. I mean come on, for lunch before the park, I gave them peanut butter and jelly on a hot dog bun. That's how much NO food we had.

We got to the store and actually had a blast. We always start in produce (I think most people do) so that we can eat grapes while we shop. We ate grapes and picked up all (ok only most) of what we needed. I get all of our milk and deli meat from a wholesale club. There was no way we were going to the wholesale club. Everything that was in our car that needed to be refrigerated would spoil. So we headed home.

When we got home I quickly ran the bags into the house and then began the process of unloading the babes. I brought them up to their room, changed them, and put them down for a nap. A nap that G decided wasn't necessary. Which was sad because I could have REALLY used a little bit of time to nap myself.

I was thrilled when Daddy got home. I was already feeding the boys an early dinner. When they don't take their afternoon nap we always feed them an hour earlier and put them to bed earlier. When hubs came home the boys quickly finished their dinner so they could play with their Dada for a few minutes.

Now we are having a movie night and ice cream before bed. I'm going to go to bed early too. I need my beauty sleep for my exciting date with hubs tomorrow!