Yes, I finally proved I have a large family by leaving a child at home. The worst part is who and where I was going. The good part is that no harm was done and now I'll be even more careful.
The who is my baby Lindy, and I was leaving to go to her and my 6-week check-up with the midwife! Here's the whole story.
I was getting ready to leave for the midwife's house which is 1 1/2 hours away. I was bringing 2 kids to Grandma's who lives 20 minutes away and is right on the way. I was bringing 2 more kids to a friend of mine who lives about an hour away and is also right on the way. The baby was coming for her 6-week check-up and the other 2 kids were staying home with dad. Dad was inside starting to do some transcription work as I brought everyone out to leave. The 2 who were staying (my 5yo and almost 2yo) came out with to say good-bye and were then going to play outside together for a little while.
So I get out to the van in our driveway and set the baby in her car seat on the ground next to the van. I hop in the van and need to buckle my 3yo boy in. As I'm getting in I realize that my 1yo girl is probably going to try to get into the van with us and think she's coming too and I don't want to have her get in and then have to get her out and have her cry about it so I shut the van door to keep her out. I buckle my 3yo boy and because the van door is shut, forget that the baby is on the ground outside in her carseat. I then drive off.
It wasn't until almost 20 minutes later as we're coming into town where my mil lives and 2 children are going to get dropped off that my 7yo daughter says, "Where's Lindy?" and I look back to see that she's not there. I was surprised it took her that long to notice she wasn't there as she's usually on top of things like that and sits right next to her, but thankfully I was good about it and didn't make her feel bad about it since it's not her responsibility. So I drive the 4 kids to Grandma's and walk in and ask if she had gotten a phone call from our home which she had. I decided to call home to get my midwife's phone # so I could tell her I'd be late since I now need to drive an extra 40 min. to get home for the baby and back with her.
I was definitely upset - mostly about the extra drive time and being late and the gas $ and all. My dh's story was this. He was working and my 5yo ds walks into his office and says, "Lindy's crying". And he says, "You mean Jemma?" (my 1yo), and he says, "No, Lindy". Thankfully he had been outside and about 10 minutes later heard Lindy crying and dad brought her in and took care of her. It would have been awful had she been out there the whole time crying!
So I went home, picked her up and went back to Grandma's and picked the other 2 kids up and went to my very sweet and understanding midwife who thankfully didn't have an appt scheduled after me.
So that's the story of my forgetting my sweet baby! I couldn't believe I had forgotten her and try to be extra careful now! I do find myself counting kids a lot with 7 of them!
Thank you Lord for keeping my kids safe, despite my failures!
I've done it not once, but twice! They weren't toddlers but I still felt awful. I can't believe I actually did it. Both times we there were a lot of people around and I just assumed they had got in the vehicle. Not so.
I'm glad your story ended well and I know you are too!
God is faithful and fills in the gaps for us! Recently, we were on our way home from church and I asked my oldest what we should have for lunch. Suddenly, I realized that he wasn't in the van! While we were putting the little ones in, he asked to run back inside and get his Bible. After putting five kids in carseats, we pulled out of the parking lot. Uh-oh. The worst part was that we had to call our church friends and ask them to chase him down. They LOVED it!! I guess he saw us leaving without him and chased us out of the parking lot. The church had a really big laugh! One of my favorite songs from childhood is Angels Watching Over Me...how true it is!! I am glad little Lindy let out a cry and her big sis alerted your husband. I think that large families provide the Lord with endless entertainment! Congrats again on baby number seven! Mom of 6 Kiddos 8 and Under
OH my gosh!!!!! My stomach's all in knots reading that! That is a mom's worst nightmare, isn't it? Thank the LORD your hubby was home and actually listened to your 5 y/o (I could see my hubby brushing our 5 y/o off!). We live in the woods & I'd be FREAKED about animals or something, especially being that far away! HUGS!!!!
My hubby "lost" our 5 y/o at the fair while I was sitting nursing the baby & I was freaked about that. We had to pick her up at the fair's info office. I felt like you- a typical large family that can't keep track of their children. *sigh*
THanks for stopping by! :)
Love, Alyssa
p.s. I noticed that we are VERY close in age (a few months apart!) Cool!
Posted by Anonymous 
Posted by 
• Thu 21 Aug 2008 - Untitled Comment
I'm glad your story ended well and I know you are too!