Today's Adventure OR Why I Feel Like the Worst Mother Ever

Lia sometimes has some trouble sleeping during the day. If this seemed to have any discernible effect on her sleeping at night I wouldn't be complaining, but it doesn't, so I am. She just gets so exhausted and I feel so bad for her. I want to tell her all she needs to do is close her eyes and she'll feel so much better. Combine that with the constantly whining Lily (who was put on Prozac yesterday), and my afternoons can get pretty bad if Ben's not around.

So I'd been talking to my mom about Lia's inability to sleep in the afternoon and she keeps telling me about these "adventures" she and I would go on when I was a baby. My parents moved to Atlanta six weeks before I was born, so when I was little my mom would use the afternoons to load me in the car and explore the city they had just moved to. She keeps suggesting I do the same, or even take Lia to the mall and walk around. I have yet to reply that the city she explored was Atlanta and infinitely more exciting than Hahira or Valdosta.

Anyway, today I decided to try that. Lily was whining, Lia was crying--why not put them both in the car and drive around Hahira? I loaded them both in and locked the door to the garage. We drive around for a little while until Lia became fussy and I head home to nurse and hopefully get her to nap. Then, as I'm pulling into the garage, I remember that I had forgotten to get my house key from my mom when I was in Columbus this past weekend. She'd had it since the week after Lia was born and she came to help us. Ben and I were sharing his, but I gave it back to him when I left on Friday. So I'm locked out. And the baby's screaming and Lily's going nuts and I can't find my cell phone to call Ben to ask him to leave his key somewhere near his office since he's about to start church in 20 minutes. I decide to nurse Lia for a minute, hopefully to satiate her enough so that she stops crying and I can find my phone.

Luckily, I find it and Ben promises to leave his key where I can find it and hopefully avoid any parishoners (because I am the very definition of the word haggard--unshowered, dressed in maternity clothes that are too big now but too comfortable to just throw in the closet). I drive the 15 minutes to the church and even get to see my husband for long enough to kiss him and for him to kiss the baby.

Then, as I'm pulling out of the parking lot, one of Ben's parishoners pulls up and gets out of his car. Lily goes crazy, barking menacingly, running around the car...jumping on Lia's car seat. And I realize right away that a baby who has gotten used to a dog's bark is not necessarily going to take that same bark, plus paws, with the stride she usually does. Lia erupts--screaming, crying (with tears!) and I can't go in because Lily's in the car and it's hot, so I keep driving, hoping that the motion will lull her to sleep, all the while feeling horrible that I can't comfort my baby when she's screaming.

I only had to pull over once, however, and that was just to reassure myself that everything was physically okay with her because she was screaming so bad I thought she may have been hurt. She wasn't, and we continued on. She did fall asleep, and the magical songs seem to be a Barbra Streisand/Brian Adams duet (I am fully aware of my nerdiness, thank you) and The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows". When we got home my poor little girl had a tear-stained face and a dirty diaper, but we took care of both and she got some nice QT nursing. Moral of the story? I am never leaving the house without a key. Ever.

This is the aftermath of our adventure.