Marching for Babies

In spite of the fact that I didn't get my act together until the very last minute, we managed to hit our team goal and raised over $500 for the March of Dimes. A huge thank you to everyone who donated to our walk, sent friendly email, or generally tolerated my yearly fund-raising messages. During Max's hospital stint and my difficult pregnancy with Molly, it was so encouraging and wonderful to know that all of our friends and family (and sometimes veritable strangers) were thinking of us and cheering us along. We're still glad to have you checking in on us!

Having missed the deadline to order team t-shirts (and having an irrational need to always do things the hard way), I had planned to make our team shirts again this year. In support of a preemie mom who had designed shirts to raise money for the MOD (and because the shirts were insanely cute), I bought Max and Molly their "Miracle" t-shirts to wear on the walk. Having run across a neat tutorial for making custom t-shirts with freezer paper stencils and fabric paint, I designed a Buying Mockingbirds logo and gathered all the necessary supplies. Unfortunately, the t-shirt making plans went awry and, since I'd left the t-shirt production until the night before the walk, the shirts didn't get made. I gave the Big Kids a t-shirt IOU and told them that we'd make shirts with the design of their choice later in the week (which they thought was cool anyway).

Although the forecast was calling for rain, the day of the walk dawned sunny and cool. Hoping to be better prepared for this year's walk, I had packed a LOT of snacks, little bottles of water, sunblock, coats, sunglasses, etc. Of course, getting two small children up, dressed, fed, and ready to leave the house ALWAYS takes longer than you expect it to, so I was running around like a crazy person shortly before we left. Dad kindly offered to help pack up the car and I asked him to grab the double stroller for me and throw it in the back of the car. He called up the stairs to ask where the stroller was, and I think my ever-so-polite response was "In the back room, underneath all of your crap." ;) Since Dad had put it there in the fall when we shuffled some things around in the garage, I figured he would find it easily enough and didn't give the matter another thought.

We finally made it all into the car and were on our way (and only running a little late). This year there was no crazy construction at the expressway exit and we managed to make it to the walk site, park, and unload before the walk even started. I had a bit of a surprise when I was unloading the stroller. I wrestled the thing out of the car and was trying to get it to unfold. I had thought the release button was on the stroller handle, but couldn't seem to find it. Meanwhile, Big Brother, who was trying to help me, was saying things like, "This isn't the stroller we used last year. When did we get this stroller?" I told him that of course it was the stroller we used last year – didn't he remember the double stroller? As I was saying that, I finally found the release latch and unfolded the stroller – only to discover that it WASN'T our regular double stroller at all! Apparently Dad had translated the stroller whereabouts incorrectly – he mistook "in the back room with all your crap on it" directions for "in the basement with all your crap on it." Dad had gone and found a large double stroller that we had stored in the basement – a friend had given it to us and we'd never really used it. It was more geared towards twin babies (it had the tandem seats), while our normal double stroller had a regular seat for the baby and a platform seat/step for the older kid. Although not quite the stroller I had in mind (and MUCH heavier), I managed to make it work, although I had to call Dad up so we could laugh about the mix up.

After everyone was squared away, we walked over to the starting line, checked in, and waited for the walk to start. Max and Molly were fascinated by all the people and dogs – Max saying, "Oh, hi!" to everyone we passed and Molly squealing, "Puppy! Puppy! Puppy!" at every dog in sight. I was glad I had planned out snacks and drinks better this year, because before the walk even started Big Brother was begging for food and Max spotted the small bottles of water (or "little waters," as he called them) and clamored to have one.

Once the walk started, we let a lot of the walkers get a good head start before we joined the group. Molly was content to sit in the stroller (she was already missing her morning nap), but Max wanted to walk. Since distractible three year olds tend not to walk very fast (or in a straight line), I figured that we'd be better off at the back of the pack. Max ended up walking more than half of the three-mile walk. I managed to bribe him into sitting in the stroller for a couple of stretches by offering him some snacks if he sat in his seat. There were several different checkpoints, with different things for the kids to do. We stopped for a cookie break and to let Max play at one of the playgrounds we passed (the kid goes totally ga-ga over slides these days).

We definitely weren't the first walkers over the finish line, but we made it! After the walk, we took some time to wander around the event, eat some pizza, and have some play time. I convinced Big Brother and Big Sister to take a crack at the climbing wall they had set up – it was fun to watch them give it a try (although Max wanted to "climb up" too). I used to do a little rock climbing back in the day and wouldn't have minded giving it a crack myself! We saw some people that we knew at the walk and even met a fellow preemie mom that I'd only ever previously "met" online. We let Max and Molly have some play time at the kiddie playscape before heading back to the car. Everyone had a good time, but we were happy to be heading home. Even the indefatigable Max was wiped out – I ended up carrying him piggyback the rest of the way to the car, because he was walking at a snail's pace. Molly was sound asleep before we made it out of the park. I was more than a little tired out myself – pushing a heavy stroller full of heavy babies all over the place makes for a good workout!

Thanks again to everyone for helping make our walk such a success!