Moments of Bad Parenting...

I promised my Grandma Hand that I would have an update today on my blog, so I thought I would write about a funny morning last week. It wasn't so funny at the time, but looking back I guess we can laugh. Joe likes to take Parker out jogging in his jogging stroller. I went with them one morning a few weeks ago when it was snowing outside. Parker usually does fine because we bundle him up in his snowsuit with a hat and gator (is that how you spell it?) on, so all that is exposed to the chilly air are his big blue eyes. He's usually perfectly content...he gets into a sort of daze where he's not really making any noise or any sort of expression, but we assume he's enjoying himself since he's not crying.

The last time we took him running in the snow, he actually fell asleep, so apparently the snow didn't bother him. This wasn't the case this time around. As soon as Joe and I started running, (I'm sure we looked ridiculous to begin with...taking a baby out in a snowstorm) I knew Parker might not do as well as he had before. The snow was coming down pretty hard and it was really windy. Parker got into his trance at first, so we decided to keep going. After about 5 minutes, though, he let out a few cries. I wiped the snow off his little cheeks and we kept going. A few minutes later he started crying again, so I told Joe that we needed to turn around.

Joe wanted to keep running, so I decided to turn around by myself with Parker. By this time, we were literally in a blizzard, and things were even worse going the other direction. We were running straight into the wind, so snow was getting all into Parker's eyes. (Of course I was only worried about him...not myself, although I only had on a thin long-sleeved t-shirt, gloves, and a headband over my ears). Anyway, I decided to take Parker out of the stroller and carry him. So here I was in the middle of a blizzard walking down a busy street carrying a baby and pushing a stroller. I tried to hide behind Parker because I was so embarrassed.

After a few minutes, a lady in a minivan stopped and asked if we were close to home or if we needed a ride. I said that we were close to home and kept walking...I should have gone with her. We WERE relatively close to home, but not close enough! A few minutes later an old man stopped across the street in his truck and asked if we needed a ride. I was feeling desperate by this point, so I said YES! Luckily he really was a nice man and took us home (which took less than a minute by car, but would have been atleast 5 minutes walking!) I got inside and started crying and felt like the worst parent EVER! I'd taken my baby out in a blizzard, got in a car with a stranger, held Parker on my lap while riding in the car, etc. We got into our car right afterwards and went to find Joe. He felt terrible that he'd left us when I told him what had happened. We all survived, but no more running with a baby in the snow! I can't wait for spring!