Everyday Fun

The camera on my iPhone is pretty decent (not so good at always focusing on what I want it to focus on!) and it's so handy to have a camera with me to capture all of the little everyday moments that make me smile.
The other day I was grocery shopping at Publix where they have those fantastic shopping cart cars with room for two children. Usually I shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, where there are only the single-seaters, so I put Finn in the seat of the cart and wear Carolina in the sling. She weighs nearly 20 pounds and Finn requires lots of interaction to keep his booty in the seat (if I walk away from the cart for a minute to grab something or focus too much on my shopping and not enough on him, then he starts trying to climb out). You can imagine how tiring it can be to go grocery shopping with the two little ones! Anyway, it was nice to be able to put both Finn and Carolina in the shopping car and they looked so cute in there I just had to document the occasion. My M.O. when taking the children's photos is to take several photos right in a row and hope I get a decent one. Then later I go through them and delete the bloopers. The cashier must have thought I was a little nuts for taking their picture about ten times while we're in the checkout aisle.
I've also started exercising again for the first time since I was 8 months pregnant and was put on bed rest. I've taken lots of walks around the neighborhood but no hard-core exercise. That means I'm back at the YMCA and the kids are in the childcare there for about an hour each weekday. Everyone's done pretty well being there but occasionally Carolina will have the odd little meltdown. I was in the middle of running last week when I got the dreaded call on my cell phone asking me to come back downstairs, that Carolina was falling apart. I went right down and as soon as I got there I saw Carolina sleeping in the swing! Apparently she had been crying for about 10 minutes with them trying to comfort her and when they gave up and called me she just conked out. When I walked in there Miss Ernestine (the sweet elderly lady who's logged many hours holding all of my babies) said, "Go! Go do something else! Go take a shower or read a magazine! She's fine!" Since I had to walk by Finn's childcare room to get back out of the nursery and I didn't want him to see me and get upset, I crawled through the little hallway on my hands and knees. I felt (and looked) insane, but I was able to finish my run and then read a magazine in peace and quiet for 30 minutes until she woke up. Of course I had to photograph her sleeping in the swing, too.
I hope these little stories aren't too boring but this are the kind of events that make up my days and I want to be able to look back and remember the sweet, funny, and odd little things that happen.
Every Sunday Grant stays home with the children during nap/rest time and I RUN out of the house to sit at Panera for a couple of hours to drink coffee, read a book, or do whatever else I feel like doing! It's so rejuvenating for an introvert like me to get this time and I love Grant so much for recognizing my need and making it happen. It energizes me and gets me excited to jump back into my 24-hour-a-day job as a mom. I'll leave you with what I get to go home to after my little rest time: