Flying Solo

Last summer - when we first started announcing that we were expecting another baby - Chris and I received a lot of comments like, "Oh wow, two so close together? You're brave!" They weren't all exactly like that, but  many were something along those lines. 

Honestly, those comments kind of made me laugh. I mean, I don't see two years as being all that close together, but whatev. It wasn't until I was much further along in the pregnancy that I had a few moments of being nervous about having two little ones. Those moments, though, were pretty few and far between. I was always more excited than nervous or scared. I never (or maybe I should say rarely) felt like I wouldn't be able to handle two littles.

For the most part, it's been a really smooth transition. Brianna and Brenson's schedules sync up nicely . . . I even have time in the middle of the afternoon {almost} every day where they are both sleeping. Not every day has been perfect or smooth, but overall it has been great. Except (did you see that coming? *grin*) that I had yet to take them both anywhere by myself. 

With Brianna, I waited months (yes, you read that correctly) before I took her to a store by myself. I was SO scared that she would start crying in the store. Of course, Brianna was never the type of baby to cry much at all, let alone in a store, and I'm not sure what I thought would happen to me if she did start crying. After all, babies cry in stores all the time and it isn't the end of the world. But, I had HUGE mommy confidence issues when she was an infant, and I honestly thought for the longest time that I couldn't handle taking her out by myself. I was so afraid of doing something "wrong" and having the whole world witness it. I'm pretty much over that now {mostly} because hey, who doesn't make mistakes?

Anyway, so I decided this past week that I was tired of staying in all the time or waiting for Chris to get home to run errands. Plus, Chris (who travels some with his job) took his first out-of-town, overnight trip since Brenson's birth, and I needed a few groceries. So, I loaded up the kids and headed to Wal-mart!

I had to put Brenson in his adorable new kicks. Seriously, how cute are these???

Brianna loves going to Wal-mart (well, really just shopping in general), so she was excited!

Oh, and she had on super-cute shoes, too. Love her little Pumas!

Brenson was ready for an adventure! He doesn't generally fall asleep in the car like Brianna always did . . . too much to see.

This is how we roll:

Notice Brianna's super-fake cheesy "smile". This is what I get most of the time when I try to take a photo of her. Silly girl! With both kiddos in the cart, there isn't much room for anything else. Of course, that might be a good thing :-).

As I was walking in - feeling all proud of myself for venturing out without another adult - I saw a MAN pushing a cart with an infant in a carrier and TWO toddlers. Yeah, that pretty much put me in my place, haha!

After surviving Wal-mart, I thought I needed a Sonic cherry limeade. YUM. My usual drink of choice is iced tea, but I'm not drinking caffeine right now since I'm nursing. Cherry limeade (diet Cherry limeade, actually) is a pretty good substitute.

It really felt so good to get out of the house. I'm sure that my readers with more than one child are laughing at me right now, but I feel like this was a big step! I'm very happy that it didn't take me months this time to muster the confidence to venture out on my own.