Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Day We FORGOT We Were Parents

photo credit: http://blog.gracobaby.com
I think it's time we embarrassed my husband, don't you think?? When he has a wife who is a blogger, it's sort of just par for the course, isn't it? I mean, he's made it this far seemingly unscathed. It's about time for his rite of passage being married to a writer who wishes to divulge all of my families deepest, darkest secrets online. . .here's a doozy for ya!

When we were new parents, we were a bit scatterbrained. This is an understatement. We brought our new baby boy home from the hospital and oohed and aaaahed over him and sat and stared at him breathing and just "being" for days. Isn't that what all parent's do? And we sat and talked about how crazy it was that we were parents. . .that God actually entrusted a tiny human to us and that so far, we'd kept him alive. Go us!  This was a miracle in itself! (Thank you grandparents for the first few weeks. You may not have toddler grandchildren if we had been left to our own devices. . .what with colick and acid reflux and sleep deprivation. . .)

So here we were, on week 6 of keeping a tiny human being alive and we experience a catastrophe. Our dog, Daisy goes missing. Now this is actually kind of a funny thing, since we actually found her (apparently lost) in an empty parking lot in the snow and ice only three months prior. She was new to our home but had adjusted nicely, taking up residence under the baby's bassinet. She had become part of the family. Some days, we resolved to the fact that she was a RUG. . .perfectly content to lay and sleep her existence away at our feet. It was quite a convenient arrangement that we had, considering we were still trying to make sure we didn't kill an infant everyday and didn't have time to devote much attention to a dog. Until. . . .she escaped. 

That's right, the dog pulled a Houdini and was out the fence and into the neighborhood faster than we could catch her. In fact, it wasn't until after we woke from a nap (much-needed!) that we realized her disappearance. I was immediately devastated and set out to find her. I left Mr. Thinks-He-Wear-the-Pants home to tend to the baby while I drove all over the neighborhood in search of Ms. Daisy, all the while, keeping in contact at home via cell phone. "I can't find her! I don't know what to do! She's probably so scared! What if she gets ran over?" My husband was on pins and needles as he listened and was there for moral support. Finally, we decided, as darkness was quickly approaching, that we needed more ground covered in the neighborhood and hubby would have to set out in his own vehicle to look as well. We drove up and down street after street, communicating by phone and making sure we hadn't missed any roads. She was nowhere to be found. Finally, I decided that we should give up for the evening, and head home to make flyers to distribute for tomorrow. All I wanted was to come home to the hubby and curl up with the baby and---wait a second. . ."Honey, what is the baby doing? I haven't heard a peep out of him this whole time. . ."

Silence. . . .then. . . ."OH. MY. GAH. . . . We're parents."

That's right friends. My infant, a mere 6 weeks old was left at home. Alone. 

Cue D.H.S. and Child protective services. 

In all fairness, he had only been left for about 20 minutes. My husband was MORTIFIED that he actually FORGOT for any length of time that we were parents. Can you imagine?! How did he FORGET??!!  

Upon returning and finding my son STILL in his bassinet sound asleep, I allowed myself to laugh at the situation. It could have happened to anyone, right? (I'm telling you, sleep deprivation can do crazy things to your mind!). And surprisingly, I've had conversations with numerous parents who did something very similar. 

Today, my son is happy, healthy, and won't be in a room alone without an adult. Yes, he's still traumatized. :) 

No really, he's totally functional and doesn't suffer from any PTSD. I promise. His parent's eventually stopped beating themselves up over it. 

I'd love to hear some of your stories. . .any parenting failures of this caliber? Let's compare notes!

15 comments:

  1. What a cute blog you are darling!!
    Excitet to follow ya
    xox
    Ash
    http://abpetite.blogspot.com/

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  2. OMG!! Sometimes I am still afraid this may happen to me and my son is now 17 months old hehe!
    Whenever I get a rare day off and he's at grandma's house it is completely normal for me to give myself about 15 heart attacks thinking I didn't hear him wake up or if I'm outside I freak out thinking I totally forgot to take the monitor with me... Yeah, parenthood makes you go crazy doesn't it?

    Love your blog. First time here from the blog hop, following and excited to read more :)

    sophie
    http://theforgestyle.blogspot.com

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    1. The feeling never goes away Sophie. I still forget the children are at grandmas on a saturday and wake up thinking someone must've snuck in during the night at kidnapped them! Ha!

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  3. OMG! I have had nightmares of forgetting my kids - they are never ok in the nightmare when we get back to them of course.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. :-) Following you via Facebook now.

    Ashley @Bottles, Diapers... Babies
    http://forgetfulmomma.com

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  4. Oh my gosh what a funny story!! I always had fears of forgetting my daughter but thankfully never did (amazingly). Thanks for sharing! New follower from the blog hop :)

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  5. I loved that story.

    Once when my children were playing little league baseball we would all end up at a field for games. Jessi and Levi were playing at this time. No cell phones... to early for that. We arrived in two vehicles and we went home in two vehicles. Our youngest Esther was around 6 I believe. Dreama had went home without speaking to me directly and left me and Levi at the park or so I thought. Levi and I walked into the house and Dreama said where's Esther. I'm like "What?" "Esther she came home with you".... NO.... I ran to my truck and drove the fastest I ever remember driving the 10 miles or so back to the ball park praying the entire time that she would be there and safe. Levi and I found her sitting with her hands folded by herself at the top of a set of bleachers. The look on her face said "how could you leave me here". I thanked God and got her in the truck when she promptly started crying. Apologized I did over and over. It still hurts knowing she looked for us all over the park and could not find us. She not knowing what had happened.

    I still thank God she was safe.

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    1. Mark, I'm glad she was safe too! I think all of us parents have had similar stories. God gives us these moments to teach us things. Sometimes it's just to apoligize or laugh at ourselves.

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  6. Replies
    1. That means a lot coming from YOU because I think everything you say is hysterical! Thanks for reading Diane!!

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  7. I came over from the blog hop and absolutely loved this! I can agree, sleep deprivation makes you do crazy things! I'm your newest follower and can't wait to read more!
    Jessie
    www.jessieandconor.blogspot.com

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    1. Jessie, thank you so much! I'm gonna click my way over to your blog now too! Glad you enjoyed it!!

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  8. Scary! I have successfully allowed both of my babies at around 2-3 months old fall off a chair or the bed. Agh...I hate even admitting it happened!!

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