My Full Hands

Earlier this week we had a piece of mail that needed to be mailed for next day delivery.  Of course you can't just walk to the mailbox, put your letter in, put the flag up and leave a sticky-note for the mail-lady to send it "next day".  :-)  We had to take a trip to the post office.

Running errands by myself with both girls is usually not a big deal.  It can be, but I try my best to keep it from being that (mostly by keeping errands to a bare minimum!).  When we do have to run errands, we just make the best of it and it is what it is.  It takes a little longer, a little more patience, a watchful eye and the art of juggling.

When it is just the girls and I, whenever we are walking anywhere (most of the time) I am carrying Sylvia in her car-seat and I have Susannah hold on to the other side of the car-seat handle (because my other arm/hand is usually full of diaper bag, wallet, etc.).  Then we slowly make our way to wherever we're going.  On this day, that mean into and back out of the Post Office.

We had a good time in the post office, Susannah was well behaved and for the most part kept both hands on Sylvia's seat (what she is to do when I have to use both hands to do something).  I did have to tell her to not lie on the floor; I'm not sure where that idea came from!!

On the way out of the Post Office, we had to cross the parking lot to get to our car.  Another car was pulling into the parking lot and the gentleman stopped so that we could cross in front of him (a kindness I really appreciate when it is obvious to the person that we aren't going to just dash across really quick!).  After we were across, he pulled into a spot close to our car as I was getting Susannah into her seat and buckled up.  I nodded to him in thanks for his courteousness, and he commented in return "You have your hands full, don't you?"

Even though he did not say it rudely, it took me by surprise a bit.  I stuttered back something like "Yes, but it's good!"  I really don't think he meant any ill meaning at all, just commenting that I had my hands full, and he was correct - I did have my hands full!!

However, a split second after I replied, I wanted to say "Just wait till you see me in a couple more years when hopefully I'll have TWICE this many kids!!"  :-)  I didn't say that, though.  The rest of the way home I mulled over the situation and thought of different replies I could give in the future when similar situations arise. 

I think one reason the comment caught me off guard a bit is that with 2 children, I don't expect to get comments like that.  Those are the kind of comments that I think larger families would get.  I suppose that since I would like to keep adding to our family I should probably get used to the idea of strangers commenting on how full my hands are.

Right now, with "just" two, yes, my hands ARE full and I love it!

~We don't have specific plans for how many children we will have.  Right now we do want to have more, but we don't know what "more" means.  :-)