Slowly life begins to change. The spring/ summer hockey season is approaching and it may be my last one, for a long time, and maybe forever. Hanging up the skates, sticks, and longboard....and trading it in for high chairs, strollers and diapers. Get use to it I tell myself, it's only the start.
This morning was the Toronto Parents of Multiple Births Association (TPOMBA) annual spring sale where parents of twins, triplets and super twins come and buy gently used baby items. The sale started at 7:30am and guess what time I got up....7:30am. Frig, how am I going to be a responsible father when I can't even get up early to make the sale. Now all the good items are probably taken. Getting out of my bed reluctantly, I eventually hauled my butt to the sale.
Upon approaching the parking lot of the sale, I see a long lineup, 30 deep, I would say. Crap, why didnn't I wake up earlier. In a sea of parked cars, I found a spot to park and ran to the line. I was quickly approached by a woman with a clipboard in her hand.
"Sir, are you a member?"
"Yes Ma'am. Lastname Leung."
"You are not on the list sir. Are you here by yourself."
"Yes, my wife is working today."
"Maybe her name is on list?"
From my pocket I pulled out a sheet of paper with my confirmation.
"Ok, guess you are a member. You are number 152."
Damn...152. I thought having twins was rare but after today, I think it's more comman than people think. I looked around akwardly. Guess we're not in Markham anymore 'cause being the only Asian male, make me standing out like a sore thumb...let alone all bymyself. Let's face it, I had no clue what I was doing there. No clue as to what I wanted to buy. I was going in guns blazing. From the other couples that were coming out from the sale, they had bags over there shoulders, boxes full of baby toys, some even brought their travel luggage to fill up. Never let a man do the baby shopping because we will fail so badly. I had no choice.
I finally get in, and the place is small and filled with people. The line up to pay curled around the perimeter of the room. In the center aisle, they had cothes. Along the walls were various other items of tables. I spent an hour inside and ended up with the following:
1x fisher price space saver high chair
1x first years baby tub
1x fisher price bouncer thingy
1x disney tigger jolley jumper
2x toys for my wife's nephew.
Now some people may think, what the hell are you doing buying used stuff. Put it on your registry, someone will buy it for you. I hear you, but having twins really puts a dent in your wallet, like the government does, like the prices of gas does. It's like someone punctured a whole in your bank account and money is leaking out. I'm hoping our families help us with the bigger items that will last longer than a year. If saving money isn't your strong point, having twins willl definitely make it your strong point. I'm Chiniese, I should excel in this. Of course safety cannot be compromised and as an engineer as well, everything is inspected. We strive for 6 Sigma here in the Leung household.
At the end of the day, looking at all the baby stuff in the living room, it really hit me, this is really happening and fast!
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