My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

Two kids + Two books = Too Good to be True!

The temperature briefly rose above freezing today, so I seized the opportunity to get some fresh, but not frigid, air.  I drove down to a nearby outdoor shopping center, wrestled the bundled-up girls into their stroller, and quickly ran a few errands.  It was refreshing to be outside in the sunshine, and judging by the girls’ contented silence for the most part, they seemed to enjoy the change of scenery.  Then again, maybe they were just too cold to protest.  Don’t they look happy?

I also had an ulterior motive for our outing today.  I’m experimenting with how to keep them happy in their stroller.  Lord willing, our family will be flying to Florida in the near future to go to Disneyworld and I’m a little unsure about how the girls are going to handle all the stroller-riding that is involved in vacationing.  They usually do well in the stroller as long as I’m moving at a brisk pace.  And most of my errands, such as grocery shopping, are indeed done at breakneck speed, so we get along well.  However, I’m hoping to do some leisurely outlet shopping with the girls while we are in Florida, and that pace is sure to be considerably below their tolerance threshold.  The last time I attempted to shop for pleasure at the mall, both of the girls loudly made their annoyance known and I ended up abandoning all hopes of browsing and simply zoomed them through the aisles while I cast wistful glances at the sales.

I can just envision us at Magic Kingdom, sprinting back and forth between Frontierland and Tomorrowland, praying that the roar of the crowds and the rumble of the pavement will lull the girls into contentment for long enough for us to get our money’s worth out of the park.  Of course, I love Disney so much that simply stepping onto Main Street, U.S.A. is enough to justify the (admittedly exorbitant) price of entry in my book.  But I do hope that the girls behave themselves long enough for us to enjoy more than just that.  I at least want to see Mickey.  Is that too much to ask? 

So for now, my plan of attack is to brave the cold and get them into a stroller more and more often so they can build up a tolerance for stop-and-go stroller-riding.  I guess that entails more shopping on my part.  I guess I’m willing to sacrifice!      

Other than a few moments of what my mom calls koala-baby time (where Susie essentially glued herself onto my body and refused to let go), the girls had a very good day today.  Their noses are still running, and their coughs are still hacking, but at least their spirits are higher.  In fact, they had so much extra energy tonight that I decided to put them to work.  I handed them a toy broom and vacuum and told them to get busy.

Here’s Becky sporting the hand vacuum and the broom handle (the girls swiftly decapitated the broom head).   Looks like she’s practicing her blind-man cane skills instead of her homemaking skills.  

And here’s Susie cleaning up after her sister with the detached broom head.

The girls were so pumped by their cleaning session that they went a little crazy.

Here is their crazy running:

And here is their crazy spinning:

They were feeling so crazy that they even obliged when I asked them to give each other kisses:  

Here’s a video of their display of sisterly affection, but I’ll warn you that there’s copious slobber involved!

I hope their craziness is a sign of health, not feverish delirium.  But either way, it’s a lot of fun!  

Some days are longer than other days.  Especially days that are preceded by long nights.

Both girls are still sick with colds, and yesterday Susie was diagnosed with a double ear infection.  She hadn’t been pulling at her ears or acting like she was in pain, but she wasn’t her normal peppy self, so I took her to the pediatrician and came home with good ol’ Amoxicillin.  But my biggest concerns for both the girls right now are their coughs.  Becky sounds like she’s been a pack-a-day smoker for fifty years, and Susie gets on these coughing jags where she can’t stop.  Hence the long night last night. 

I really shouldn’t complain.  I’ve had so few nights like that in the last year that I consider myself extremely blessed.  And even when the girls are clingy and tired and their noses are running like faucets, they still melt my heart.  Susie laid in bed with me for a minute this morning  (for literally only a minute – she’s not into laying down anyplace other than her crib), and I gazed into those blue, blue eyes and she grinned at me around her wet thumb.  Later today, Becky was sitting on my lap and Susie requested to come up as well.  I anticipated a revolt on Becky’s part for having to share my lap, but once Susie was sitting beside her, Becky leaned over and planted a slobbery kiss on Susie’s forehead. 

It’s moments like those that get me through the long nights.  And it’s moments like those that reduce me to a softie.  A softie who can’t say no when Susie wants to have Elmo at the dinner table. 

Susie: “Elmo makes everything taste better when you have a cold.”

Becky: “Hey!  Where’s my Elmo?  Oh well.  I still think everything tastes good.”

Those are my girls.  My germy, sticky, amazing little girls.

The girls have had miserable colds the past few days, but that hasn’t put a dent in their appetites. 

I guess you don’t need to be able to breathe out of your nose to enjoy a good snack!

Susie (on right): “Hey you with the camera!  What are you doing taking pictures?  My bowl’s almost empty!”