A narrow escape....

Nobody slept very much in the Hunt house last night. Nobody slept very much at all. I'm not sure how many times the babes woke up because I make it a point not to look at the clock, but it was a lot. So we had two (um, four) unhappy campers this morning that were tired and grumpy and were in dire need of a walk. Joel had to work so I loaded the babies up and off we went...I think we left at about 7:45am. It started to drizzle and so, of course, we had to duck into Paradise Bakery for cover. Sammy was still awake and Amelia was snoozing. I got my treats and sat down with Sammy and a People magazine in my arms to relax and recover from our night(mare). Sam soon fell asleep and I sighed a happy sigh. An older woman walked past and did a double take and came over to say ," Oh my goodness. Two! You have a big job!" "Yes," I replied...and then looking at the two sleeping babes and lots of articles waiting to be read while sipping hot chocolate I said, "but a good one." She smiled and walked to her table which had an easy view of the babes and I. I read and I drank hot chocolate and after about 30 minutes I thought, "You should probably leave while you're ahead." Amelia had just woken up and I knew she would probably be hungry soon. "But I'm having so much fun", I thought, "and I deserve it after last night!" So I put sleeping Sam in the stroller and got Amelia out to hold her. She smiled and talked and we were having a great ol' time until suddenly it wasn't great for her anymore. She started fussing loudly and so I tried to put her back in the stroller to make a hasty retreat. Her shoe fell off, her hat fell over her eyes and she started crying...really crying. "Well, i guess I better feed her." By this time the place was pretty busy, but being the lactivist that I am, I thought, "Just do it Jenny!" So I did. Ahhh, no more crying baby. Until about five minutes later when Sam started to stir. As he started to get increasingly fussy I reached down to end the current nursing session. When I looked back up Sam had squirmed so much that he was literally sliding out of his stroller seat onto the floor! In a move that can only be made by a desperate mother I managed to unlatch Amelia and thrust her into her stroller seat in time to catch Sam from falling onto the floor. Whew! I quickly buckled them in so I wouldn't have any more babies sliding onto floors, threw my trash away and headed for the door. Meanwhile I caught the eye of the older lady and we smiled a knowing smile.
" It is indeed a big job", I said with my eyes. "But a good one", she said with hers.

And out the door and on with our day we went-- a ragtag tribe consisting of a baby with one shoe on, one off, spit up waiting to erupt at any moment...another babe hungry and letting his mama know it....a mama who had on the same fleece pants and top that she as been wearing all week, with hair that needs to be washed and clutching a magazine still waiting to be read. And yet, a tribe we are and that makes me glad. And I know that eventually the babes will sleep through the night again and we will wake up rested and be on our best behavior. Until then, well, watch out world because we can be quite a mess, we three.....but your smiles and words of encouragement help us through.... they are little reminders to enjoy the moments, even the crazy ones, that are quickly flying by. Jen