It’s that time of year, where the stores are a buzzing and your to do list never gets shorter.

When we found out we were expecting our second child we were thrilled! We started shopping for double strollers right away. I had put miles and miles on our old stroller with our daughter. Going for four to five mile walks daily, weekly trips to the mall to window-shop; just a ton of miles spent using that stroller.

We were blessed enough to receive an AMAZING double stroller from my parents as a baby gift, top of the line. I was thrilled until…. I realized what life with a double stroller meant.

We recently went out to get a few errands done before my son’s baptism. Two kids buckled into the stroller and off we went. Here is what I learned:

This time of year, the stores are packed with Holiday ‘stuff’. Even the aisles are packed with stacks of gift ideas and holiday decor. Its hard enough on a regular day to maneuver those aisles, now you add more stuff to my road way. It’s like the adult version of Pac-Man, just with two crying kids in tow.

Ok, so you finally get to the back corner of the store where of course they are out of the size or item you need. Then you encounter the dreaded non-kid friendly adult! Of course they are standing right in the middle of your only escape. The friendly excuse me won’t work on these people. You can have two screaming kids, hands full of your purchases, sweat dripping down your forehead, stress and tears welling up in your eyes… and these adults will take one look at you, roll their eyes and continue to stand there and pick up items one by one and examine them.

Then there are those dreaded words that your toddler sweetly mutter, “mommy potty’. You find the closet bathroom like a NASCAR driver; you maneuver the thin long hallway to the “DOOR”. All moms know what I am talking about. The door that weighs more that a small Buick. You pull open the door, probably causing a small hernia in the process, and with one hand you hold the door open and the other you push your stroller through.

Another one of my favorite people I always seem to come across is the overly loud adult. You have to understand my kids have never been good sleepers, so by the gift of god if they fall asleep in the stroller. Please don’t loud proclaim “SHE IS ASLEEP!” I am well aware of it. Or the stores you walk into and they start shouting from the way depths of the store “WELCOME” and continue to shout out what is on sale that day. Thank you, however knowing that it’s buy one get one of candles is not worth waking my toddler over.

I love my adventure out with my kids; we sure have the giggles by the end of it. However, there are two things I have realized. One, there are kid people out there and there are people where as an overly tired mom you some times want to punch, (I am not condoning violence). The second is the fact that the people who design, or make these strollers are probably men or childless adults. I mean come on…. All you moms out there know what I mean.