Happy 4th of July! Preemie Adventure #2

Happy 4th of July!

First let us start off by thanking Auntie Kirsten Stone for our totally awesome personalized bibs! They are way cool and now the boys can't fight over who's bib is whose.

This weekend was not the best weekend to show the boys their first holiday outside since coming home from the NICU. It was too hot, rainy, muggy and fireworks can scare the begeesuz out of a preemie. So we stayed in.

On Friday we did try our first trip to Arundel Mills mall which went very smoothly and no weirdo questions from anyone. Thankfully it wasn't crowded at all. We don' mind the standard ones, but some people will ask some odd questions. I am getting used to covering the car seats with blankets so people can't get a good look at the boys. It makes me feel like they're on display, and they both have their own issues that are glaringly obvious. This also works to keep them from being overstimulated with the sights and lights. It also keeps them warmer, which has a downside because the mall isn't well air conditioned and we were all burning up, especially in the stores with their overabundance of lighting.

Our adventure out wasn't that big a deal but more of a way to fend off some cabin fever without the kids coming into close contact with too many people. It was nice. But I do have a complaint to retail store owners everywhere. Stop putting random odd shaped crap in the aisles on the floor!! Sure it might be decorative but damn if it isn't a PITA to get around the store. There were so many stores (Pier 1, Kirkland's, and Carter's are major offenders) that have narrow cluttered aisles that we couldn't get 10 feet into the store. And I know my stroller is really really long, but it has a really great turn radius and is only as wide as our bathroom doorway and we still couldn't get down most aisles. It's really nice to set the store up with those walkways all akimbo with islands of tables and displays in random places but it's impossible to maneuver around. And it's really sad because all I could think was some person in a wheel chair can't shop comfortably in these places because they can't get even as far as we can with our stroller because a wheel chair is wider than our stroller.

Anyway, that won't stop us from perfecting our going-out-abilities. It really is a production to get out the door. Once Cameron can get off his oxygen we'll all breathe a collective sigh of relief (pun intended) because one major hurdle every day and all day is how to get around with his tubes and wires. If we could just eliminate the need for the oxygen assistance we'll be a thousand times happier. We're constantly trying to figure out how much portable oxygen he has, how long that will last, where we can go that won't be a breathing issue for the babies (try shopping for large area rugs with a baby in tow).

All in all it was a nice afternoon out. It will be a few more days before we try another one.

I hope everyone had a pleasant and inexpensive holiday weekend!!