Good Days and Bad Days....

Well, lately I have been posting about our good days...I guess I was due for one of the other kind. Today is Jack's birthday and I needed to run to the grocery store to get a few items for dinner. I asked him to leave me the car so no big deal, right? Wrong. I was a little stressed out right before we left b/c C was taking his usual sweet time and I wanted to go RIGHT THEN b/c I had just fed the boys so I thought they would be good to go. Finally, I convinced him that going to the store was more fun than driving his new taxi repeatedly off the bridge. So I get the boys buckled in and they are happily looking at their little wrist rattle things and I think "Woohoo! This is going to be cake!" Ummmm....not so much. G decides to completely meltdown in the car. Still no big deal. I figured he was tired and I was planning on wearing him in the store which would put him right to sleep. Yeah...not quite. I get him in the wrap and he immediately stretched out into standing position and started crying again. I shushed and bounced him a little and he calmed down so in we went. I thought for sure he would fall asleep in the store. Nope again. He pretty much cried off and on through the store. It made things a little harder b/c he kept wiggling in the wrap so I had to keep one hand on him most of the time. You would think people seeing me with a toddler & baby in the cart trying to comfort a crying baby in the wrap would have the courtesy to at least not deliberately steer their carts in my path. Apparently, I was doing such a good job juggling everything I should also have to steer around an obstacle course complete without annoying people peering into the cart or telling me that G "must be hungry". Yeah...thanks...I've only taken care of him 24/7 for the last 16 weeks...I'm sure the 3 minutes you've heard him cry qualifies you as an expert. Anyway, we finally get back to the car and C's GIGANTIC new shoes get stuck in the cart leg holes. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Finally, I get him free but by this time BOTH boys are now crying in the car b/c if they are in their seats they MUST be moving. I had my own huge meltdown on the way home telling the boys they are freaking ridiculous & they are ruining Daddy's birthday and C never acted like that in his whole life...etc...etc... Of course, it didn't even make me feel better. I just felt worse for losing my patience, raising my voice, and just being mean.

BUT I didn't let that stop me. I decided that I needed to try again once every was back in good moods. We needed diapers so I made the executive decision to try WM this time. After the boys were fed and had played for a little while, I loaded everyone back into the car. E & G both protested until the car was moving so I decided that this trip was only going to happen if they were calm. I wasn't going to push it AND I was going to keep my patience this time if it killed me! Well, VOILA! The change in attitude and the lack of urgency about the trip made all the difference. When we got there, E got pissed that the car had stopped moving so he went into the wrap. [ I did make the discovery that the boys are too big to sit "froggy" anymore and put his legs to the sides (that might have helped earlier with G). ] I put G in the cart with C and off we went. No problems at all except they were all out of size 2 Swaddlers. We even walked around to find C a scarecrow. The funniest part was when we were standing in line...a lady 2 people back came up and asked me if the person directly behind me could go ahead of me since she only had 2 items (I only had 3 but apparently that 3rd item is the real time-killer). I said "Of course!" and she peeked in the cart and said "Oh my! There is another one in there!" Yep! There sure is. I think she might have thought the baby seat was items in my cart or something?
Anyway, I am moving today from the bad column back to the good one. :) We'll see if it stays there...