Ella had a big day on Monday. Both good and bad. Fortunately, I was responsible for the good part. Unfortunately, I was responsible for the bad part, too.
Daddy had to work late, so we decided to cook yummy chicken pasta and have a girly hour to ourselves. The baby had been kicking like a pack of ninjas on my afternoon commute, so I was pretty confident that SD and Ella might finally get a feel. We were snuggled up on the couch, eating dinner and watching ‘toons when the baby walloped me good. Ella put her hands on my belly and her eyes got SO big. She was so excited. Score!
After dinner we rode to K’s to take my weekly belly pics and then came back home to find SD here. My general mode of operation for exiting the car is to turn around and unstrap Ella before ever getting out of the Jeep. Her carseat is in the middle of the backseat and this has always been the easiest thing to do. I unstrap her, she gets out and waits on me at the back door. Since my belly has been growing it has become harder to get her out. It strains my sides to turn around so for the FIRST time since I’ve been pregnant, I decided to get out of the car and unstrap her. I pulled the keys out of the ignition to stop the incessant beeping while I gathered my things. I hopped out of the car and pressed (what I thought was) the unclock button and closed the door. I attempted to open her door and it was locked. I reached to open mine and saw the lock button wasn’t up. My heart started to race and I could already hear Josh’s response. Did I mention we were in our driveway, but that we don’t have a second key?
I looked at Ella through the window and told her I’d be right back. Josh started fussing at me immediately, but I was in no mood. I went next door for re-enforcements while he called our sweet mechanic friend. In the meantime, I explained the situation to Ella and she began to cry. So did I. I tried talking her through unbuckling her carseat, but she panicked and started tugging at the straps. I started to panic myself and contemplated breaking some glass. Our friend got here fast and was laughing when he opened his car door. He had her out in ten minutes, making her torturous event a little more than fifteen, even though it seemed like a hundred and fifteen. She dove into my arms and said, “I forgive you, mama.” Bless.
Needless to say, I will NEVER get out of my car again without the keys in my hand and we’ll be picking up a valet key asap. We were all traumatized for life.
