So, This One Time…
I’ve been waiting to share this story with you guys for awhile now—one year and two months, to be exact. When it happened, my husband and I both knew I’d blog about it, but we figured there’s a statute of limitations as far as parenting mishaps go. A year seemed like a good span of time…here goes nothing.
So, exactly one week after Julia was born, we planned out our first big adventure with her: an hour drive to the airport to pick up Grandma! We packed everything but the kitchen sink into my diaper bag, timed out her feedings, bundled up our little newborn, and set out for our mini road trip to Venice’s airport.
Julia slept the entire way there (naturally), so we took her inside, but left her in the car seat since we had no idea if my mom’s flight was on time or delayed. Getting excited to see my mom, I suggested we get Julia out and wake her up so she’d be alert to see her grandma for the first time.
My husband started getting her out by removing the blanket that was tucked snuggly around her, while I kept an eye on the arrivals door.
“Um, Jess,” I heard him say.
“Yeah?” I replied.
Hesitantly, he responded, “Um…you should take a look at this.”
Figuring she had a blowout while she was sleeping, I started digging in my diaper bag to find another outfit. And then I looked up (or down, rather, since the car seat was on the floor).
“Oh, crap.” I blurted out as I saw what he was referring to.
But this was not about poop.
“Yup. We’re definitely being nominated for Parents of the Year.”
So what were we looking at? We were looking at our seven-day-old daughter not buckled into her car seat. Parents of the freaking year.
You better bet your bottom dollar that I quickly thanked Jesus for getting us to the airport safely. I honestly have no idea if I put her in the car that morning or if my husband did, but the one thing I do know is that we promised to always double check that she was buckled in from that day forward.
Have you ever made a huge parenting mistake like that before?
*Linking up with Momma Moments
O goodness I am sure though you are not the first person to do this!!
Oops!!! I'd be lying if I told you I didn't do this before. It's scary but it happens!! Now I just kind of have a routine and I always buckle her in as soon as I put her in the car seat!
Oh my goodness, so scary! Praise the Lord the drive was okay. Every momma has those moments that you just feel terrible about, even though everything turns out okay. 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by the link up, excited to have you!!
You are not alone! My husband and I did that to. The top chest clip was buckled but we never did the bottom one, he was covered by the blanket and we never noticed. Thank god nothing happened!
I have those moments all the time! Coming over from the link-up. Excited to follow along 🙂
Sarah @ Year of Sarah Blog
http://www.yearofsarahblog.com
Heck yeah. I accidentally forgot to buckle my son in his car seat on the way home from day care once, and didn't notice until I saw him standing up in my rear view mirror. Immediately pulled over. Gah! After that he started telling me if we forgot, but now he's learning to buckle himself (since soon he'll be moving to the 3rd row and I really don't want to climb back there all the time), so I have to make sure I always check him to ensure he did it right and got his chest clip high enough.
I have a worse story of parenting stupidity on my part, but I don't want to post it here for fear of someone calling CPS…
Hahahaha- "let's see if we can keep her alive for a year, then we'll tell people about that time we were so excited about everything going on in life we forgot to buckle her in!" Bless you guys so much! I obviously have never had any experience like this, not having kids and all, but I think it's completely understandable to get caught up in all that excitement and forget! I mean, at least you didn't forget her at home all together! Y'all are brave for making that big a trip all together so soon! I laughed more than I should have as a non parent at this post, but I loved it!
I totally did that once. Luckily it was a short trip and we got to our destination safely, but man if I don't double and triple check he's buckled in now.
Oh goodness! So glad that ya'll had a safe drive to the airport! Love the pictures of Grandma meeting her for the first time.
Stopping by from the link up. 🙂
Yes it happened to us! It wasn't a very long trip, we had gone to Target and she was sleeping in the car seat. At one point she woke up and then later got set back down with a blanket on top and it didn't even dawn on us. So scary and makes you feel awful!!!!
Thank God everything turned out fine! As Mamas, we have ALL had those moments. I realized my 11 month old son could climb stairs…When I found him at the TOP of the staircase one day, looking down at me and grinning. My heart about stopped when I thought of what could have happened. Let's just say the baby gates are out in full force in our house now, lol! So, you are not alone, Mama! Thanks for linking up today! Loved having you:)
We did the same thing when our little boy was 2 weeks old! It happens and you're right just thank Jesus that he keeps them safe!
Yeeeup. Did that one time with each of my boys. It takes once to scare the **** out of you and motivate you to double check every time after.
Every now and then getting both boys into the car is utter chaos. Bertie always goes first and I triple check that he's buckled, but every now and then Walden gets forgotten. Thankfully he's a little safety nut and reminds me before I get out of park!
I've done this too…you are so not alone! I felt so bad when I saw she wasn't buckled and was so, so, so thankful that we didn't get into an accident!
Thank goodness she was safe!!!! It's not like your forgot her at home or anything. The worst I've done is drop my kids or let my kids fall, roll down the stairs, or other getting one lost at Target. Maybe I've said too much ;).
PS Cute photos of mom meeting baby for the first time!
I'm not a mother just yet, but glad you all made it to the airport safe and sound!
Whew! At least you can laugh about it now 😉
Yep, this happened to us at some point in her first 3 months. Ugh.