The diaper bag incident

Have you ever had one of those moments that at the time you wanted to scream  and pull your hair out thinking how could I have let this happen?  Later when you look back and tell the story you just laugh and laugh.  Well here is one of my more recent moments like this.  It made me realize that even though I have been a mom for 4 years I am still learning every day!  I hope you laugh as I did remembering it.


In November I was taking Maggie's birthmom, Kelsey, to the airport.  We were in a hurry as I was still trying to figure out how to get two kids and myself ready and out the door before noon.   My mom was with us and we all piled into the car and took off with no time to spare.  Half way to the airport Maggie asks for a snack.   I being super mom (not!) was prepared for this and had put snacks in the diaper bag.  I ask Kelsey to get the diaper bag for me.  She couldn't see it.  I asked my mom in the back to find it.  She couldn't see it either. I know I put it together and grabbed it as we made the mad dash out to the car.  It has to be in the car.  I tell Maggie she will have to wait till we get to the airport so I can find it.  She isn't happy about it but deals (after a few threats).  We get to the airport and sure enough I have no diaper bag.  I have a 2 1/2 week old baby and no food or diapers.  Great!  Ok don't panic, I tell myself.  Max ate right before we left. It has been a little over an hour and it takes a little over and hour to get home and he usually goes 3 hours.  If we hurry we should be ok.  We go into the airport to say good bye to Kelsey and  a potty break. Max slept through the whole thing.  My mom and I get the kids in the car and head out.  We get out of the parking garage and I am feeling good.  I have a  little over an hour to get back which shouldn't be a problem. We pull out of the parking garage and head for the freeway.  Then from the back seat comes a cry.  OH NO!  Max is awake and as usall if he is awake he is hungry.   I give him a bink hoping he will go back to sleep.  He is good for a minute but soon spits it out and starts crying frantically.  I pulled over to the airport gas station and take him out to try and calm him.  Oh boy he is MAD!!! Secretly I think he knows I don't have a bottle and he is letting me know how mad he is at me for my stupidity.  What am I going to do?  Then Maggie starts.  She is crying and doesn't want to be in the car anymore and is hungry.  I send my mom into the store to get Mags a snack.  I remain calm.  I am the mom.  I can do this.  (though inside I am kicking myself and want to cry too). I get everyone back in the car.  He will stop if we just get driving I say to my mom. I hope!  Nope Max get madder and madder.  Ok this isn't going to work.  I call Mike, "HELP!!!  I need to know the closest Wal-Mart, Target, grocery store, ANYTHING that would have formula and a bottle" I say in a frantic voice.  As Mike searches I need some focus to drive, I turn on some music, Josh Gorban and turn it up loud to help drown out the crying in the back seat.  Low and behold Max stops crying and goes to sleep for the moment. I head to the nearest Target 10 minutes, away in the opposite direction of home, hoping he last long enough to get there.

We pull into Target and my mom says she will stay with the sleeping Max in the car with  music still.   Maggie and I run into Target.  I find the diapers realizing he will need a change too and  start looking at the bottles and formula when I hear a baby a few isles away crying.  Man someone is ticked off as Max I thought to myself, and laugh only to see, a few minutes later, my mom come around the corner with Max.  He woke up when the car wasn't moving anymore.  My poor mom could barely carry him in and had to have someone help her get him and the car seat into the cart.  He is even Madder if that is possible.  We head to the check out and there is a line, of course there is a line I can't catch a break!  I just can't handle listening to my baby cry anymore because of my lack of parenting skills to remember the diaper bag.  I rip open the bottle and poor the premixed formula in it and start feeding him.  Maggie starts to get upset.  "Mom we didn't pay for that.  You can give it to him till we pay." (Darn me for teaching my child we don't eat anything or open anything at the store until we pay for it, and darn her elephant memory) "Not today Mags, Everyone here wants Max to eat right now."  Max gulped down a full 2 oz before we even got to the check out and had started the 2nd bottle.  He is happy as a clam by the time we get to check out.  By now we would have been almost home and it is lunch time.  I give up on getting home quick, I need lunch and a break from the car.  With a now happy baby, and a hungry but happy 4 year old,  my mom and I enjoyed a nice quiet lunch at Olive Garden.  I change two diaper (see good thing I got the diapers) and the kids both crashed on the way home giving us a nice quiet ride home.  Our 3 hour trip to the airport turned into an all day affair (over 6hrs).

When we pulled into the garage there was the diaper bag sitting next to where the car was parked.  I had put my purse and diaper bag down to strap Max into the car.  The diaper bag blended into some chairs that were sitting there and I hadn't seen it being in a hurry and just picked up my purse.  I have learned my lesson from this experience.  I now have an emergency kit in each car with water, formula, a bottle, diaper, and wipes.  I won't be caught in that situation again.  I look back on this story and laugh about it and how funny we must have looked.

My mom told me she couldn't believe how calm I was through the whole ordeal. She said she would have been in tears.  I am proud of myself for how calm I was through the whole thing, but mom, I was crying on the inside!