Success! (Or was it?)

As some of you know, Mommy graduated from the panic-and-anxiety class and moved on to the "I-LAUGH-at-your-ONE-baby!" class . . . or perhaps it's just the "must-have-VERY-low-expectations-when-you-have-twins" class . . .

Trying to stay ahead of Hanna/Ike/Josephine (i.e., hurricanes), Mommy decided she had to return her too-big shirt for Susan's October wedding a.s.a.p. and drove 45 minutes (NOT even during naptime!) to the Mt. Pleasant Towne Center, an outdoor shopping heaven. During the drive, though, she realized she'd forgotten the stroller. Still, she surmised, certainly they rent strollers--no, they don't. A Mommy of Twins doesn't give up, though, so she parked near the Belk store, where they offer shopping carts, which can serve as a stoller in a jiffy, despite the "Do-not-place-children-in-cart" sign. She ushered/cajoled/redirected the dawdling/walking twins past 4-5 stores, including a jewelery store with teddy bears in the window (curses on that store!), and finally arrived at Belk.

Pushing Chance in the cart into the Acorn store (they're closing nationwide, btw, the Mt. Pleasant store by the end of the month!), she shoved the shirt toward the clerk but then paused to stare at the new "50% off everything in store" signs. Mommy grabbed almost anything in her size and locked herself and the twins (and the cart) in a dressing room. About 10 minutes later, 3 new items in hand, she picked up Gracie--and felt a spongy diaper. Stripping the tyke, Mommy reached for a clean diaper just as Gracie stood up and announced "Pee pee!", after which a stream of liquid trickled down the babe's leg and onto the carpet. Mommy then saw Chance with his sippy cup upsidedown, pushing the nipple against the bench and enjoying the view of juice/water leaking all over.

After hastily paying for her purchases (where the clerk said her cousin with twins, now 10 yrs old, never thought she'd live through the age our twins are now), Mommy decided that she was deserving of a cappucino from Atlanta Bread Company.

Heaving the cart through another set of doors, she set up two highchairs, pulled food out of the diaper bag for the kiddos, then waited for the chicken soup to cool and for the cappucino to arrive. Chance quickly discovered that if he pushed against the table, his highchair would roll backward, a major breakthrough that called for repetition and much grinning. Somewhere in this, the cappucino arrived, and as Mommy turned to pull Chance back to the table, Gracie reached for the hot drink, announcing "copy" (aka "coffee"). Simultaneously proud of Gracie for her verbal acuity and yet confused over the feeling of hot droplets on her leg, Mommy turned back to Gracie and saw--in horror--the coffee cup turned sideways, brown liquid flowing from the lid . . . thankfully, though, NOT onto Gracie (huge sigh of relief). A patient and kind couple brought napkins over to us--several times over. God bless that man and woman!

As challenging as this morning seems, Mommy never felt stressed or upset or angry. In fact, it was quite fun. Our twins were just being themselves, and as their Grandpa says, "It's a great story for later!"