Buggies, prams and bad weather!

I love the snow – I love the way it looks when everything is covered in white, I love playing out in it and sledging with the kids, before coming into hot chocolate. However, I have had enough now of the icy pavement. Trying to push Hannah & Georgia in the double buggy today was a NIGHTMARE!! A couple of weeks ago I had to resort to getting the large pram back out the shed. When I tried to let them walk, they slipped over on the icy paths and it inevitably always ended up with BOTH of them wanting me to carry them, which is virtually impossible at the best of times, but throw in a couple of school bags and reading folders and there is NO CHANCE! (and Millie wanting to hold my hand because she too is slipping). I tried the little buggy with the board on, but every school and playgroup run, Hannah & Georgia were crying about how cold they were and how their hands & feet hurt. I tried the umbrella fold, forward facing, double buggy, but it was impossible to push in the snow & ice with two three year olds in it!! So I decided to get the large, backwards facing, nice big bouncy wheels, easy to push, pram out of the shed, why struggle when it’s just sitting there? (yes I know we have a whole array of prams and buggies, single buggy & board from Abbie & Millie days, double folding buggy for the car, big pram from when they were little). My first challenge was to put the dam thing back together again, Rob (in his wisdom) had taken it apart ready for us to wash & sell it. But determined not to let the task defeat me, I duly set about the job of re-assembling the pram, a number of choice swear words later, I have a pram which looks generally the way it should – a triumph!! (until a screw drops off on the way to school and I have to get Rob to sort it out when he gets home – humph!) Anyway, for a short while my journeys in the snow get a bit easier, I wrap Hannah & Georgia up in a blanket when we go out, they face backwards, which is a help & I even resort to giving them a hot-water bottle each, in an effort to stop the crying and whinging about how cold they are! Then this morning – THE RAIN! The ice is still there on the pavements and now there is cold, icy, heavy rain thrown in for good measure. The big double pram doesn’t have a rain cover, so I am forced to get the folding, impossible to push double buggy from the car, as it has a full rain cover. I put it up in the porch and start loading the girls, once Hannah & Georgia are in, I start sorting the other two, boots on, coats, umbrellas and by the time I get back I find that Georgia has now climbed back out the buggy again – arghhh! It’s safe to say, this morning’s school run was fraught with stress!! I get Georgia back in and we get underway, only to find that the buggy is seriously IMPOSSIBLE to push on the icy pavements, the whole thing slides off the path on numerous occasions, and most of the way I am pushing (sliding) the buggy sideways on up the path as it refuses point blank to go forwards. On the plus side, the muscles in my arms are now aching and I feel as though the whole buggy pushing fiasco gave me a bit of a work out!!