maybe tomorrow

Just about every day, for the past week, I have gotten up in the morning and said "I'm going to try to take them out for a walk in their stroller today."

Yesterday would have been an exceptionally good day for that - weatherwise. The sun was shining and it was relatively mild out. But their schedules were off. While BabyB was awake and cranky or feeding, BabyF was sleeping. While BabyF was awake and feeding, BabyB was cranky and needing comfort (sensing a trend with BabyB yet?). So it never seemed to be a good time and it never happened.

I opened the door a short while ago to let the dog out and felt the bitter cold in the outdoor air. I decided its much too cold to take them out today. The sky is grey and the air is heavy - we're supposed to have some freezing rain. That would make for some far from ideal conditions to be taking my little babies out. So it looks like we'll be staying in yet again.

I know I feel intimidated by the whole ordeal of getting them ready to get them out. In my mind it seems so complicated, but maybe I'm just making it more complicated than it really is.

I need to exit the house from the garage door through the basement. This is because exiting through the main entrance would involve going down a flight of stairs - not possible with a huge double-stroller and two little babies. I mean, how would I safely get the stroller down by myself with the girls in it? If I bring the stroller down empty (still very heavy and possibly impossible to do by myself), then how do I get the girls in there safely? I can't put one in, leave her out by herself while I get the other one. And I certainly can't carry them both safely down the steps at the same time.

So I absolutely MUST exit with them through the garage in the basement. This means I have to go through the following steps:

1. Make sure the girls are somewhere safe upstairs (preferably cribs or bassinette)

2. Bring their winter gear (and mine), their blankets, and their diaper bag with all necessities (depending on how far we'll go) downstairs.

3. Get the stroller ready for the girls.

4. Bring one child downstairs, place her somewhere secure.

5. Bring the other child down.

6. Dress both girls quickly. (Quickly because they HATE being dressed in their winter clothes and always end up screaming and crying.)

7. Secure both girls in the stroller quickly. (Quickly for the same reason as above.)

8. Cover them up, get myself dressed, grab everything I need (keys, garage opener, pacifiers, diaper bag with potential necessities) and EXIT!



Of course all this needs to be done after they've both been fed and changed and aren't feeling too cranky. Ha! Like that ever happens!

I'm going to keep this list handy so that just maybe it won't seem like such a daunting task the next time (hopefully soon) I decide I should try taking them out by myself. I can do this... really, I can. No, really!