Even though I’ve only been a mom for four months now, I
learned within hours of my son's birth that finding just five minutes
for myself each day would be a challenge. My
blog entries will be your excuse to finding your five minutes even if it means
you read it aloud to your little one while he’s watching you on the toilet.
This past weekend my husband, my four-month old son, B, and I
were going to bring our 1949 Packard “Hugo” home. My husband was going to drive Hugo while B
and I followed him in our SUV.
You don’t know this about B yet, but he doesn’t travel well
AT ALL in the car. He always wants someone
in the backseat with him, and “Miss Bee,” one of his favorite toys, although
this formula doesn’t always guarantee a smooth ride.
Since the ride home was 40 minutes, we were planning to pick
up my Dad to ride in the backseat with B.
Just minutes before we were to pick up my Dad, something came over my
husband and I. B was so sound asleep, we decided that I would try to make the
ride back home with B alone in the back seat. Do you see where this memorable adventure is
headed?
I was feeling pretty confident in our decision, that is until
we hit a bump as we pulled into the driveway to pick up Hugo. You guessed it. B woke up! You can only imagine the look on
my face. I was praying he would fall
back asleep. Once I saw his poopy face,
I knew we were in for a long ride home, longer than 40 minutes.
It was less than 5 minutes after B woke up that I called my
husband to pull over. B needed a diaper
change and feeding. After a change and
feeding, B was wide awake. My husband
suggested he sit in the backseat with B and we drive around the neighborhood
until he fell asleep. I thought it was a brilliant idea! We just didn’t discuss
how long we would drive around for.
We had only been driving for a few minutes and I was ready
to call my Dad. My husband suggested we drive for 15 minutes. I knew sooner or later
we would need to do this so I kept driving and praying.
Fifteen minutes seemed like an eternity, especially driving
up and down the same three streets. My
husband acted like he was asleep while B watched him. When I had given up 12 minutes ago, now B was
asleep. My husband quietly jumped out of
the SUV to get back into Hugo. I still had my doubts that B would wake up and cry. Forty minutes later we pulled into our driveway,
B still soundly sleeping. Mission
accomplished!
Looking back on this experience, I learned life lessons that
aren’t taught, but rather come with personal experience.
#1) Don’t worry...until whatever you’re worrying about
actually happens. I anticipated the ride
home with B would be full of tears and screams. Little did I know, it was one of the most
peaceful rides.
#2) Listen and try. While I
wasn’t thinking clearly and wanted the easy way out (to call my Dad), my
husband had a plan and it worked!
#3) Get a back seat mirror if you don’t already have
one. I can’t tell you how many times I
looked at the mirror during that ride home. I bought that mirror for $20 and I
would have paid $100 for it. I breathed
easier seeing B’s face whenever I wanted to, not to mention keep the roads safer.
#4) Never underestimate the power of prayer. Prayer was probably not necessary in this
situation, BUT it gave me hope.
#5) Don’t give up. I’m disappointed that I didn’t believe in
myself and B at first. Here’s to believing this holiday season.
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