Hope's First Stroll Around Our Neighborhood

Summer arrived in all its glory this week. After a long winter and spring spent traversing the route from Fox Point to St. Joseph's Hospital, a warm evening stroll with our daughter and dog sounded just perfect to wrap up an amazing week for the Piper family. The sun cast some beautiful shadows accentuating the colors of the bushes and petunias that lace our front yard walk way, and we thought this would be the perfect time to do something that we've dreamed of for months, walk our daughter and dog around the neighborhood.

First things first- we needed to get the ol' battering ram ready to go. As parents of twins, Jeni and I do not own a singleton stroller. We do, however, have a front-and-back stroller that the car seats can snap into. This stroller I call, "the battering ram." This is the king-daddy of the tandem stroller options. It is narrow enough to fit through aisles at the supermarket and department stores, yet has a sporty feel that makes you want to snap in the car seats and stroll around the neighborhood in style. Best of all, the thing can fold down with a few clicks and cranks of plastic levers and fit neatly in the back of our new car. While we also have a side-by-side dual stroller that we received as a gift, Jeni and I opted to take out the battering ram as Hope seems to do well in her car seat (which naturally fits in this stroller). This all made good sense. We clicked Hope into the back section of the battering ram so that she faced us, and positioned her apnea monitor in the front seat. Armed with our arsenal of hand sanitizer and wipes, we were ready to go.

"Maggie, do you want to go for a walk?" Jeni beckoned. Maggie the dog, who right now is craving attention of her own, bounded for our mud room and sat pretty, eagerly awaiting the arrival of her broken-in leather leash. Alright, 4/5 of the Piper family were all set for their first summer stroll, what could be better?

And off we went, with wide smiles on our faces and the warm breeze blowing at our backs. Jeni and I held hands and Maggie trotted amiably at our side. That is until we realized that the battering ram does not have shocks comparable to our Toyota Matrix, and therefore whenever we went over the slightest bump in the road, the stroller shook a bit, causing Hope to let out a grunt and a tiny whine. Kaboom, we rolled over a big bump, and our sleepy baby all of a sudden was wide eyed and rearing to go. She began to squawk a bit, and I thought her aggravation clearly had to do with her less-than-smooth ride.

"Oh my gosh!" I heard a familiar voice yell out as our good friend and neighbor Carrie drove by us in her van. She pulled over and hopped out eager to greet our smiley happy family. Hope looked extra cute, but as we chatted with Carrie became increasingly aggravated and continued her symphony of grunts and groans. Carrie was kind enough to snap a picture, and we all agreed that Hope might benefit from the motion of moving, so we carried on our walk.

However, despite the motion (and Dad's best efforts to maneuver the battering ram away from any possible bumps in the road) Hope's squawks and squeaks turned into an all out wail. Jeni did the "sniff test" to see if diaper drama was the culprit, but came up empty-handed. Hmmm, what could be causing this much distress. Then Jeni peered down at her watch. Hope had last dined at 3:00 p.m. while we were visiting Grace in the hospital. It was now 6:00 p.m. Hope's unpleasant demeanor had nothing to do with the bumps, the walk, or sharing attention with Maggie. Our daughter was hungry and wanted to eat right now.

Consoling her verbally did no good, so Jeni did what any loving mother would do- scoop her baby up and carry her. This did solve the immediate problem of Hope fussing. However, Hope, now a rooting machine, tried to eat Jeni's bright pink sleeveless polo in the process. In the meantime, I am left pushing the battering ram, which now housed the apnea monitor, camera, burp cloths, hand sanitizer and wipes, but no baby, at the same time that I had Maggie. Some people who drove by us on the road began to laugh, as we were becoming a sight to behold. At least mom and the baby had matching hot pink tops I thought to myself.

Walking side by side my wife and daughter I trudged on with battering ram in one hand and Maggie in the other. What happened next was inevitable. See picture below.









With some skillful maneuvering between stroller stuff and dog stuff, I was able to get out the yellow bag and take care of Maggie's "business" and hold onto that, the dog, and the battering ram. Jeni had the baby, and everyone who passed must have had a good laugh. We saw out friend Carrie pass us again and wave. Little did she know of the debacle that had transpired since saw her only moments ago. Jeni and I could not stop laughing on our walk home at what a ridiculous sight we must have been. Dad pushing empty stroller with monitor and dog (which I now hooked to the side of the stroller to prevent having to put the yellow bag in the stroller itself), Jeni carrying a small baby, and a dog with its tongue hanging out trotting along, proud to be part of her family.

Like everything in our lives recently, things never really seem to go according to how they were once envisioned in our minds. However, things are going very well and we are so blessed for the curve balls we are thrown each day that provide so many countless smiles.






While we have been talking a lot about Hope's homecoming recently, Gracie too has been making tremendous strides. She is now nippling all of her feedings and is 4 pounds 5 ounces. You go Grace. These days, I'm not sure who's more cheeky, Gracie Girl or her sister. Soon enough Gracie Girl will be in one seat of the stroller and Hope in the other, and with Maggie at our side we will stroll through the Village of Fox Point together with wide smiles on our faces.