My first guest post will be brief. Being a new parent is scary. I never thought that I would be as nervous as I am. Today, my nerves were again tested. My 8 month old daughter, Julia, rolled off the bed and fell on her head. Before setting her on the bed so I could dress, my mother’s voice spoke to me, as it does when I am doing something stupid, and said, "Put her in the crib. She’s going to roll off the bed if you leave her there." But me being me, I silenced the voice and plopped her on the bed, only to see her falling in slow motion onto the hard wood floor.
Luckily, she’s fine. However, I need a tranquilizer. When we left the hospital I cried the whole way home, terrified we had put her in the car seat incorrectly and we would get in an accident and she would be hurt. Being entrusted to raise this little being is the scariest job I have ever had. When you get cocky, like I did this morning, things happen to remind you that you need to treat parenting much more seriously. I wish that babies came with a manual, or at least there was some sort of color indicator so that you knew when things were ok. Green light, no head fracture. Red light, go to the Emergency room. I guess this is just another in a series of events that will make me realize how lucky we can be and how much I love that little girl.
Apt. 11d 