You are so BRAVE!

The title "stay at home mom" totally doesn't fit me.  Not because I think I am so much more than that (I am more than that, but I feel secure enough with myself to not feel threatened by the title), but because I don't actually spend a whole lot of time at my house.  Although I have had issues with leaving or not leaving the house thanks to my PPD/PPA, staying at home all the time just never seemed like a fun option for me. 

Interestingly, the fact that I go and do things, like grocery shop, with both boys seems to continually shock some people. I can't even begin to tell you the number of people (some I know and some I don't) that tell me that I am so brave and that they could never go out and about like I do with two boys.   

So to the people that I know that think they could never go out with their two kids the way that I do, you can.  I promise.  I don't know a single mom that couldn't handle it...or many dads for that matter, although they might need a little bit more of a pep-talk first.  Maybe it is because I surround myself with pretty awesome people, but I have never looked at one of my fellow moms and thought, "yeah, it would be way too much for you to handle, you should leave grocery shopping for when you only have to bring 1 kid. Or better yet?  You can't handle one kid very well either, so you should just go by yourself when your husband gets home."  Sounds ridiculous right?

To the people I don't know, do I look like it is totally overwhelming and exhausting and this is your way of telling me so?  If that's the case, I am not exhausted  because my kids are there.  I just look like crap because the idea of putting on make-up and doing my hair seems like a waste.  Or are you trying to pay me a compliment because I have two (happy) kids under two that I am shopping with?  If this is the case, can't you just pay my kids a compliment and leave me out of it?  I can't tell you how happy it would make me for you to compliment Superman on his ability to sit nicely in the cart or for helping me with the shopping.  But telling me that I am brave just seems a little ridiculous. 

All this being said, if you are honestly looking for tips on how to handle more than one kid out and about, stay tuned for tomorrow's post.  I will have my top 5 tips for grocery shopping with your kids.