Last night I read a very sad story on a blog my friend Carrie directed me to. This tragic accident happened here locally and just about a week ago. This mom tells her story of how her son drowned in the bathtub (read her whole story here), thankfully he survived after a long fight for his life. I know we hear these awful stories of how parents neglect to watch their kids. And we most likely think to ourselves, that would NEVER happen to me, I would never do that. Her story could have easily happened to me, or any one of us. I’m reminded of the mistakes I’ve made in the past, and thank GOD that nothing seriously bad happened to my babies.
A few months ago, my son at about 6 months fell off the bed. No matter how many times I have heard, DO NOT leave your baby on the couch or bed, I still managed to let it happen. I placed my son on my bed, put a pillow next to him, thought that would KEEP him from rolling off. I remembered I needed something downstairs, ran down there, got distracted with something, then heard the THUMP. My heart skipped, and I flew upstairs to rescue my poor baby as he’s crying hysterically on the floor. I was almost in tears because I was SO mad at myself for letting this happen, even when I KNEW better. For the next couple of hours after this happened I was so nervous about his health, hoping he didn’t brake anything, or bump his head too hard.
Just a few months before this my sister in law had taken her 3 year old son to the ER in the middle of the night because he rolled off of his little twin bed, and broke his collar bone. These little babies are just so fragile.
When my daughter was about a year old, she was playing with a little spoon. I thought, a spoon is harmless, right?, well, not exactly. She had put it in her mouth and was playing on her car seat, I wasn’t paying attention at the time, although I was right THERE. The next thing I knew, the car seat tipped, and she landed right on her face with the spoon in her mouth. As a result she was left with a huge gouge in the back of her throat. She was in so much pain that she barely ate or drank for a week. Another one of those moments where you think, WHY did I LET this happen. WHY did I not see that coming?
A few months ago, my son at about 6 months fell off the bed. No matter how many times I have heard, DO NOT leave your baby on the couch or bed, I still managed to let it happen. I placed my son on my bed, put a pillow next to him, thought that would KEEP him from rolling off. I remembered I needed something downstairs, ran down there, got distracted with something, then heard the THUMP. My heart skipped, and I flew upstairs to rescue my poor baby as he’s crying hysterically on the floor. I was almost in tears because I was SO mad at myself for letting this happen, even when I KNEW better. For the next couple of hours after this happened I was so nervous about his health, hoping he didn’t brake anything, or bump his head too hard.
Just a few months before this my sister in law had taken her 3 year old son to the ER in the middle of the night because he rolled off of his little twin bed, and broke his collar bone. These little babies are just so fragile.
When my daughter was about a year old, she was playing with a little spoon. I thought, a spoon is harmless, right?, well, not exactly. She had put it in her mouth and was playing on her car seat, I wasn’t paying attention at the time, although I was right THERE. The next thing I knew, the car seat tipped, and she landed right on her face with the spoon in her mouth. As a result she was left with a huge gouge in the back of her throat. She was in so much pain that she barely ate or drank for a week. Another one of those moments where you think, WHY did I LET this happen. WHY did I not see that coming?
I think we all need constant reminders of how short life is, and how these kinds of things can easily happen to any one of us. We NEED to be more attentive, and AWARE of our children.
Last night when my son woke up crying, like he still sometimes does, I went and got him out of his crib, instead of just laying him back down and giving him his Binky. I felt the urge to just HOLD him. I sat in the rocker and just cradled him as I inhaled his little baby smell, kissing his forehead over and over, while saying a silent prayer, thanking GOD for this precious little life.
Later my daughter came to kiss me goodnight, she said, “I love you mom, you’re my best
mommy, and I don’t EVER want to get runned over by a car or get lost”. Wow, it’s amazing what kids pick up on. I hadn’t said anything about what I was thinking, or worrying about.
I don’t want to live my life in FEAR, rather, AWARENESS!
We need to cherish the moments we have with our little ones. Life is short, and so VERY fragile. I hope that we can all learn from each others mistakes, to keep these tragedies from happening to us.
We invested in a camera baby monitor before we had Olly.
I would highly recommend it too. I’ve heard so many sad stories of baby’s suffocating, or getting strangled by a cord while in their cribs. I remember when Lily was a baby, I was trying to put her down for a nap, and was letting her cry it out a bit. Little did I know she was crying because the blanket was wrapped around her head. From then on I just never let her cry in her crib, I was so paranoid and constantly checking on her, which interfered with my plans of getting her in her crib. We all know that doesn’t go over well. When baby SEES you…baby WANTS you. She ended up sleeping in our bed until she was 3. This camera has been a lifesaver. I am still constantly checking on Oliver, but at least now, he can’t see me, so he doesn’t cry for me to get him out.
My husband will absolutely not let Lily walk down our lane on her own, we’ve argued about it
in the past. I said he needs to let her grow up, and allow her to do big girl things. I have taught her about the dangers of cars, and she’s been so good about it, looking both ways, walking on the side of the lane and not in the middle. Anytime she sees a car coming, she instantly runs as far away from the road as possible. Then I came across this, and I humbly admitted to my husband that he was right 🙂
Research has shown that children under the age of ten have not yet fully developed their depth perception, meaning they may underestimate the distance and speed of an approaching car. Because of this they are likely to dart into the streets even after they have looked both ways.
Well, since I’m already airing out all my dirty laundry and confessing my many screw ups as a mom, why not just tell it all. Hopefully, you won’t be as stupid as me, and can just learn from my omissions.
So when Lily was a baby and the pediatrician gave us the okay on giving her juice, I thought okay, I know there is a lot of sugar in apple juice, so I’ll just add a little bit of it to some water, just to make it taste better for her. She really had no interest in water, or formula for that matter. So, this seemed to be the answer for getting the fluids in her. I’ve heard before that giving babies juice and milk at night could rot their teeth, and in fact this very thing happened to my own nephew. So you’d think I would have avoided this all together. I simply thought that adding a little juice to the water was harmless. This is the result of my ignorance.
One day she was complaining about her lip hurting, then that night was up all night crying about her lip. We couldn’t figure it out…..I didn’t see anything wrong with her lip. We put chap stick on, gave her tylenol, nothing seemed to be working. So after a sleepless night, the next morning her lip looked like this.
It was then that we realized it was her tooth this whole time. We took her to the dentist. He put her on antibiotics and said that if it got any worse he’d have to pull them. We waited as long as possible for the meds to kick in, but her pain and the swelling only seemed to get worse. I took the above picture with my phone and sent it to our dentist. He said we needed to get those teeth out immediately. So, there we were, 10:00 at night, getting poor little Lily’s teeth pulled.
Great post. I think so many of us are emotionally invested in the Staker blog story because we can relate. My kids have rolled off beds, fallen down the stairs, had stitches, had to get CT scans from falling out of the grocery cart, choked on a small toy, the list rolls on. It's inevitible to prevent these things and they can change life in an instant. It really goes to show how valuable our time is and who we should be spending it with. Thanks Crystal!!! Love ya!!!
A very good reminder to cherish those moments. We are not even promised the very next minute. As parents I am sure we all have our share of stories that make us sound just awful. Thankfully, most of the time it is just something to look back on and say "what was I thinking?" However, your post does remind us all to hug our children and enjoy the here and now!
Thanks for stopping by. I am your newest follower. :)I love this post. We could all learn something for this.
xoxo
Danielle
This post is so true, you just never know what can happen. We lost our daughter shortly after her birth and she has left me with a constant reminder of how truly fragile life is. I still make the mom mistakes that all of us do but live so much more in the moment with my children than I used to. I definitely don't take a single day for granted!
Oh, this totally scared me!!! Now I'm going to be a paranoid mother… lol I'm scared about having kids as is! Thanks, Crystal! lol! JK. This was very helpful. Thanks so much for this post. It'll definitely keep everyone more aware of what is possible in just one second.
clothedmuch.blogspot.com
Hi, Crystal! Loved your interview at Six Feet Over – what a gift you gave your husband!!!
Great post – I'm married to a dentist however, I don't often take what he says too seriously because well, he's a dentist and maybe he just knows too much. I guess I'll listen to him now…:)
Hi Crystal,
I read your interview at 6 Feet Over and was really moved by your courage and endearing tribute to your new husband. And, I also wanted to stop by and tell you how intrigued I am by your blog concept that is similar to mine – body,soul, and spirit. Melody is so great; I'm glad that I met her and now you. Please stop by anytime.
Be well,
Kellie
Thank you for sharing. It's hard to think about some of these things, but as parents it is our responsibility to know. Thanks for the reminder!
(And I LOVE your interview at 6 Feet Over!)
Found you via Sits. I live in Utah too and have a lifestyle blog. You seem very honest and fun!
Something happening to my kids because of a little mistake I've made is such a fear of mine! It just makes me sick and my heart just hurts for others when it happens. Thanks for sharing. It is always a good reminder.
I feel your pain on the teeth thing. I was HORRIFIED when I found out my four year old had two cavities. I thought for sure they were going to give me a "bad mommy" sign to wear out of the dentists office. But ya know, we do the best we can with what we know at the time.
Now following you as well! 🙂
Charlene (Balance Beam)
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
I don't have kids yet so I haven't experience anything like this but I can only imagine going through something like this.
Oh so sad about that baby drowning in the tub.If anything ever happened to my kids or grandbabies, I would just die! I would beg God to take me too.
Thank you for being honest and real about your own mishaps. We should always take a good hard look at our own messes before we judge others.
When my twins were infants, I was carrying them both down the steps one morning, when I slipped and we all went down. One of my babies was screaming, but with no sound. I called 911 and frantically described what happened, and that my son wasn't breathing. By now Jordan caught his air, and he was crying at the top of his lungs. The operator said "is that the baby who's not breathing?" Lol. She said "settle down, mom."
It can happen to anyone! It just makes me even more thankful to God for his His protection…
Your little girl is an angel!
Children have to be watched all the time. Mine is very busy.
Being a parent is always about being aware. My husband lives in fear (I think). He freaks about everything…if they cough once I must take them to the doctor…if they fall I must have an X-ray (that's a slight exaggeration). I feel like I sleep with one eye open and am not sure when I will ever fully sleep again. These are my precious little people and I am responsible. My son wants to walk home from school alone (he's 8) but I cannot imagine…yet (although I did at 8). I go in and kiss and hug and will pickup a kid or snuggle with them when they ask, because the are so precious and this time is precious.
It's amazing how the Lord works. I was coming to your site to tell you about the same little boy- Bronson Staker. It seems what when it is necessary- the world is a very small place.
Stopping by from SITS and so glad I found you. Your post is so right on – we have to make the time to cherish those moments because you really never know. I don't have the heart to read the story from your community. That stuff rocks me too deeply!!! So glad to meet you. I love to find new blogs that I connect with.
Love the new blog layout! (Stopping by from SITS!)
We've all had those moments with our kids, where we think we are doing the right things only to find out how wrong we've been.
You're doing a wonderful service by raising awareness of all the ills that could take place.
I read the entire Staker blog last night…brought me many tears. I feel for them so deeply. He will remain in my prayers. My daughter was in the hospital for seven weeks and it was absolutely horrible. She's fine now, praise Jesus. Thank you for the reminder that we should cherish each and every day with our children and loved ones.
~melody~