NEVER Party Alone

Pool party that is. Last Saturday I took both of the girls to a firefighter friend's daughter's 2nd birthday party on my own. A pool party. My darling firefighter hubby took an extra shift to cover for a buddy to go to his grandfather's funeral in Kentucky so he couldn't make it but encouraged me to attend in both of our place. Having heard about the party the night before when we visited the station for dinner, I was completely unprepared gift-wise. So that morning I got up and did my normal routine of feeding the girls, the dogs, then myself and quickly cleaned up so we could all go get dressed and packed. It only took about an hour or so.

Once I had the girls in their suits, swim diapers and cover-ups, dry clothes and towels packed in a bag, I dressed myself. Then I proceeded to pack them, the swim floaties, the diaper bag, and the extra bag into the van and drove off to Target, our favorite place. Once I arrived at Target, I hopped out and grabbed the stroller from the back and loaded Loralei into it then rolled her to the other side to unbuckle Addison. We headed inside and said a quick hello to Nana since we were at her Target and she was on-shift, then strolled over to the toy aisle. Apparently Anna loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse as much as Addison does so I knew this would be hard. I had to pick something that was also Addi's favorite character theme without having to buy two of them. I found a whole adorable Minnie Mouse plastic tea set complete with plates, cups, treat boxes, spoons and more in shades of pinks and purples all housed in a giant tea pot. It was perfect and in my budget. We grabbed a gift bag and tissue and checked out.

Once everything was safely back in the van I put the gift bag together and typed the address of the party into my phone. Off we went! It was already almost 2PM. I fed Addison a PB&J I had packed and followed the directions for 20 minutes to a lovely neighborhood with large ranch style brick homes with grand porches and rolling green yards. The house number I was looking for was 100. Aha! Strangely there were only a few cars out front. It was 10 minutes past the party's official start so I just figured everyone was going to be fashionably arriving. I unbuckled Addison and Loralei and grabbed the diaper bag, the extra bag, the gift bag and put them on my left arm. Then I helped Addison down and told her to touch the doggy (picture of a dog on a magnet - our "safety spot" so she doesn't run off) while I grabbed Loralei then the pool floaties in my right arm. We made our way around and up the driveway and I knocked on the door. Millions of tiny barks sounded off. I waited. For a whole minute. Then slowly I turned with my arms loaded and noticed a small black car backing out of the driveway. Ok then, I must be at the wrong house. Fantastic. 

I maneuvered everyone and everything back to the van and carseats and checked my phone. I was on the right street name but it was the wrong ending. I was on "Court" and needed to be on "Lane". Luckily according to the map it was just down the block and around the corner. So I drove there and once again unloaded everyone and everything like before. This time there were cars everywhere but I noticed there were no kids voices, no splashing. Maybe they are all inside eating first or playing games. We walked slowly up to the door and rang the bell. My arms were on fire. A little old lady answered and informed me that once again I was on the wrong road. I was literally on "Street" and needed to be on "Lane". It was at the end of the road on the right she assured me. So I shuffled back to the van and just one more time loaded everyone and everything in.

Cussing the freaking idiot who decided to name 3 freaking streets in the same freaking neighborhood with the same freaking beginning, I escaped the unexplained collection of cars and drove to the end of the street, which was FINALLY called "Lane". Pulling up to this 100, I was a true sceptic. I even rolled down my windows listening for noises and cased the joint before parking. But said firefighter friend was standing right in the front yard greeting people as he did some yard project I'm sure his wife was thrilled he began on the day of his daughter's birthday party. For the last time I unloaded everyone and everything and shuffled up to the driveway. FF friend's wife, A, greeted me and relieved me of 14 pound Loralei while we made our way inside, Addison clinging to my leg.

I set down everything and stripped the girls and rubbed them a full 2 shades whiter in sunscreen. Their Daddy would've been proud. I'm pretty sure they didn't even really get wet in the pool when we got in. Water just seemed to hover around them and glide off their skin. Having only been in a big pool like that twice in her life before, Addi was nervous. I strapped her in a floatie and held tightly to Loralei, who hated her floatie, and with a girl in each arm we went into the 3-foot section and bobbed. That's pretty much how I spent the next 2 hours.

Loralei had a blast. She was splashing and squealing, delighting the bigger kids there. The other moms started drinking some Vodka mixed drink, I'm sure because they each wanted 10 more adorable babies. Addison warmed up and played on the stairs or held onto Mommy and jumped in a few times, making friends with twins born a week after she was. I talked to the very sweet mom of the twins, G, who worked with A. It was a very nice 2 hours though I didn't get to put a baby down once or eat or drink or go to the bathroom. That's just how it is when you have 2 under 2. Especially at a pool party. I'm sure someone would've watched my girls if I had asked for a minute but I'm just the kind of parent who will handle it alone unless I absolutely can't. No biggie. They are my babies and I love spending time with them.

After a little over 2 hours in the water, I got out with Loralei and helped Addison out and wrapped them up in towels warmed from the sun. We went inside and one at a time I changed them into dry clothes and we said our good-byes. Making our way out of the house and down the driveway with the diaper bag, extra bag and baby in my left arm, my right hand holding Addison's with pool floaties squeezed under my right arm we shuffled back to the van and loaded in. FF friend's mom ran back to the house for juice boxes for me and Addison then we drove home. The babies slept the whole way and for an hour at home. It was a good Saturday.