Very Brave Night

Being a renter sucks. Even though it's short-term, I can't say enough how much I miss living in my own home.

I'll fill you in on the bizarre adventure that ended with three firemen in our place at midnight on Monday at a later time.

Tonight after work, we had a different experience. I pulled into the driveway, hit the garage door opener, and nothing happened. So, I parked, turned off the car, locked the girls inside, and went inside to unlock the man door and hit the opener from the inside. Total darkness. No power.

Dumb me, I didn't think to run upstairs and see if we had power in the apartment before taking the girls out and getting them all the way to the top of the steps. Everything's a game, you see, so it's up three steps, down four, up a couple, down one. Poke your sister, grab your hood, try to touch the railing, and up and down a few more steps. After about 10 minutes of dancing and holding my pee, we finally get to the top, just in time for me to race into the bathroom and hope the girls are inside the door before the heavy door slams shut. Dang pregnancy bladder. This is our routine every evening.

Anyway, we got to the top tonight, with me doing a full-blown potty dance, and then realized there's no power. Great. So I peed fast and back down the steps we went. And up a few steps then down a few more... we finally made it out the car, got everyone buckled in, and called the landlord. While she was worrying about trying to figure out the problem, I was worried about the logistics of feeding the girls.

DH was working late (a given these days), so I racked my brain about double-stroller-friendly restaurants. To the mall food court we went. Once inside the mall, I realized that nothing whatsoever sounded good. No matter what we'd order, I'd still have to balance it on top of the stroller and then find a table near highchairs. So we decided to go to Grizzly's - a real restaurant across the mall. I just wanted to be served.

Until tonight, I've never been brave enough to take both girls to a real restaurant without another adult to help. But today, we did it. Though I barely squeezed in a few bites for myself, the girls ate fabulously! They had mac and cheese, fresh pineapple, watermelon, and strawberries, and a lot of samples of my food. I had a side salad (they ate my raw onions, cukes, tomatoes, most of the croutons, and some of my lettuce), a cup of chicken tortilla soup, and a bread stick. Breanna absolutely loved the spicy soup, while Lillian took one gulp and made the funniest sour face! I walked very tall and proud, pushing the double stroller out the mall to the car. Yay for me!

By the time we returned home, it was well past bedtime, but the power was back. We brushed teeth, changed diapers, put on jammies, and then they crashed. Now it's my turn.