An Education

Over the course of the past few days, I have received quite an education on a few things. I thought I'd share some of my learnings below.

1. Do not allow Jane to wear shoes in the house.
Reason: This past weekend, while visiting my family in Nky, Evan had Luke on the floor to change him and like usual, Jane wanted to be nearby. Fully dressed for the day, inclusive of heavy, white gym shoes, she comes barreling over to, of course, be near Luke. With both parents supervising, she attempts, quickly I might add, to step over Luke to get something on the other side of him. Unaware of her heavy shoes, and also of her brother's delicate head, she steps on him. Yes, on his head. Considering his head is not flat like the floor, her foot slides off his head, and she trips and he begins wailing. Which, then leads to her crying as well. Her thick shoes left quite a nice bruise on his fragile head. Lesson learned there.

2. Do not allow Jane to play with Mommy's blackberry.
Reason: Now, this may seem like an obvious one to most mothers out there, but honestly, she loves my blackberry and it occupies her for 15 minutes, which for those of you who know Jane and her attention span, that is a very long time. I've gotten smarter though, like learning to lock it every time so she cannot inadvertently place calls or rearrange my contacts or anything else harmful to my precious gadget. I think I have outsmarted her...until Monday. While feeding Luke, I hand Jane my locked blackberry to occupy her, all the while watching her. I stop paying attention to her for less than 30 seconds (I swear!) and I notice that the screen for a phone call is on, and that she is somehow "talking" to someone. I swiftly grab the phone and see "Emergency Call in place" on the screen and realize she has dialed 911, and that the call had been going on for 20 seconds. I quickly say hello and was met with a curt "Fulton County Emergency Department", and I stumble all over myself apologizing, stating that my daughter had gotten my phone and placed the call in error. The lady said she figured that, but still asked for my full name. Uh, I hope I'm not in trouble. Embarrassed, I quickly put the phone away and started brainstorming how I was going to occupy her from now on. As I'm sure the operator was fine with one accidental call, but another one just might lead to something more drastic. Lesson Learned.

3. Always, no matter what, take extra clothes anywere for a newborn.
Reason: Ok, here again, this one seems like an obvious lesson. You'd think after 2, I'd have this mothering thing down pat. Oh no. We finally were able to book a newborn picture session for Luke yesterday afternoon. I was thrilled that I was able to finagle feeding him, getting Jane a nap, and everyone into the car in the allotted time I had to then actually make my 2pm appointment. I shoved a few essentials into the diaper bag, which at this point is diapers, wipes, and a few Goldfish crackers to occupy Jane. The newborn pics are of Luke in no clothes besides a diaper, so I didn't think anything of clothing for him - strip him down, take his picture, and get him dressed again. Easier said than done. As we arrived at the picture studio, I started to undress Luke, only to discover that he had completely blown-out his diaper and somehow managed to soil the entire back of his outfit, sparing his little white onesie. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. The outfit was completely unsalvagable, so we took the pictures and all I had to re-dress him with was his original white onesie; nothing else. Horrible-Mother-Of-The-Year-Award....here I come. I felt terrible. Again, lesson learned.

So, there has been my education for the week. All that in just 3 days. And it's only Wednesday. I can't wait to see what the second half of the week brings for me....