Pig Pen... of noise

Sometimes (ok most of the time) I feel like Pig Pen - from the Peanuts cartoon. He's the one that has a swirl of dirt and dust swirling around him all the time - but with a smile on his face. But the stuff swirling around me isn't dirt.  It's noise and chaos. And Pig Pen's cute little smile... I have a smile, sometimes.
I used to just be very quiet and methodical when I shopped, ate out, or went anywhere. But now it's like I'm leading a parade float. The girls are either screaming about wanting something - to walk, to grab, to eat, to drink, to do. Or they are saying "hi" and hello and asking questions to everyone we see. This is when it's more like a parade float.  When I go somewhere, anywhere, I'm going to be loud and have a large cart or stroller or children running. You see us coming. You see us going. There is always something going on around me.

Today, a fast shopping trip was more adventurous, while in our large double stroller - that we recently got and I love! Since one of the girls is a runner (and fast) and the other one gets pitiful and doesn't want to walk, I needed a stroller that would work for both of them.  And they both get equal "footing" in this tandem stroller. So side by side, it's wide. There are a few places that I can't get to, but mostly I can do doorway sized aisles (and doorways!) and other places. Today, I took a clothes rack with me - it got hooked on the stroller canopy and I got stuck. So the girls are chatting and squealing and grabbing at clothes, and I'm the crazy lady stuck in the clothes rack with the chaos. Fortunately I was in the kids department and another mom (sans kids) too pity on me and freed us.

I am learning to live in the chaos and love it. That these little years days are loud and active and crazy.  And they are so short...