Our ~100 lbs of Precious Jogging Stroller Cargo Survived a Mishap with an Oldsmobile Alero

This is my post from Facebook on October 7 at 6:09 p.m.  "Ryan just called to tell me they (actually the jogging stroller loaded w/our 3 kids) had been hit by a car. They were walking to the Creamery. B. has a bruise on his head. J. bit his lip. Amazingly, B. was able to hang on to J. through it all. A. was giggling by the end of their encounter w/ the police and paramedics. God is good."

Actually, Ryan was taking them to Little Caesar’s to give me a break. We don't eat out often, but when we do it's usually a last-minute $5 pizza so I don't have to make anything but a salad to go with it. The boys had been sick and it was a rainy miserable evening, so I was a bit surprised he was willing to take all 3 of them. My mom had visited recently gave us the idea of letting James ride on Benjamin's lap. Normally, if I have all three of them and Benjamin doesn't want to walk or ride his scooter or bike, I've carried James in the sling, but it's too small for Ryan to wear (and not very manly).

Ryan was crossing the street just north of Benjamin’s school and the driver was waiting to turn north on 9 East. He was rolling forward to prepare to turn (the opening in traffic wasn’t until Ryan would have been across the street) so luckily he hadn't hit the gas and he stopped when he hit the stroller. The first thing the driver said was "I didn't see you". Ryan's 1st reaction was anger and said "I know you didn't see us." He had the guy pull out of traffic to wait for the police. The 911 dispatcher wasn't quite following that our jogging stroller with 3 kids had been hit by a car. Ryan had to repeat the situation 3 times. It took about 8 minutes for the police and ambulance to arrive. Benjamin and Alexander just sat in the stroller quietly and waited while Ryan held James. The driver had some Smarties in his pocket and won their approval by sharing with them. The police didn't ticket the driver, but said that Ryan could get a police report later if he needed to. 

The boys checked out fine with the paramedics. The collision bowed the frame of the stroller and Ryan thought the front tire might be bent. There’s a Mad Dog cycle bike shop right next to Little Caesar’s and Ryan headed down there. By then James was asleep again. The guy at the bike shop was surprised to hear that they had been hit by a car and readily agreed to inspect the stroller for free. He said Baby Joggers were engineered well. It turns out that the front tire was not bent. One of the struts that come off when the stroller is folded had disconnected.

After the bike shop, they got the pizza and made their stop at the Creamery to get a gallon of milk. James finally decided he was too cold and tired and cried the last 3 blocks home. Their hour long excursion became a 2 hour long adventure. 

When they got home I told B. he was my hero for holding on so well to J. A. said he was a hero too. I told him he was so brave b/c he was on the side where the car hit and it must have been really scary. I hugged my boys tightly that night...

Ryan and I talked about what the phone call might have been like if the outcome hadn't been so benign. I can't even imagine...

I also had never considered the thought of losing all three boys at once. I had thought about what it would be like to lose each one individually or all three of them with Ryan, but not all 3 boys at once. I'm glad we got a taste without having to experience it. 

James bit his lip and possibly his tongue. He was asleep until the impact jolted him awake.

 Benjamin was screaming for about a minute after the collision and Ryan couldn't figure out why at first. This is a picture of the bruise on Benjamin's head the day after the accident from where his head bounced off the jogging stroller frame.

This was yesterday afternoon on our way home after I picked up Benjamin from kindergarten. Alexander did mention the accident when I told him we were taking the stroller to get Benjamin, but he wasn't too shell-shocked because he enjoyed retelling the accident story to me and didn't hesitate climbing into the stroller otherwise. James again wasn’t in the sling because he fell asleep on the way to Kindergarten and I didn't want to disturb his nap. Benjamin still has a bad cough when he exerts himself from when he was sick last week. The boys were on opposite sides of the stroller during the accident with Alexander on the side of impact.   

James' 1st Birthday

 My sweet baby is 1! Ryan says, "Ohp, he's walking... time to have another one." I'm actually baby hungry... I haven't really been baby hungry before, and maybe it's because the timing's a bit off. Ryan will probably be at training all of next summer and we'll be moving too sometime after April, so we need to wait at least until a September due date. I think 2 years apart will be a bit more manageable than 20 months... somehow I'm thinking those 4 months will make a big difference. Not to mention, I need to get Alexander completely weaned before then too! "I'm still little..." -- Alexander ("Why is Alexander nursing still?" You might ask. "After all, he did have a weaning party in June"... Apparently it was premature.)

Since I'm already on a tangent: I never really thought I'd have a "big" family... and I REALLY don't want more than 4 kids... (Mostly for selfish reasons and because when you're playing the game of "LIFE", having to move 2 cars is really inconvenient... and I wanted to be in the same car as my hubby... AND the perfect layout for babies was blue, pink, blue, pink... Because every little girl needs a big brother... but I digress). Whenever I say "I'd be okay with just having 4 boys", Ryan retorts, "but you KNOW there's a daughter waiting."... just like I "KNOW" we're going active duty. Actually, I'll be VERY surprised if we don't go AD Army. But, seriously, when we're done having kids, I really want to be done. No mistakes nor surprises. Perfect world, I want to be done at 35... 2 more years. Really?! Are we going to keep having babies until our daughter shows up?! I'd be crazy to say yes... As I "kick against the pricks"... Anyway, I need to learn how to parent a 5 year old before I can have more kids. (Enough of my stream-of-consciousness... This really is how my mind works!)

Back to James:

 Gram came for the weekend before James' birthday. Right now our children are perfectly spaced out throughout the year for her to visit for each of their birthdays...

 James wasn't sure what the candle was for.

 He enjoyed the blueberries with his orange bunt cake (which was day old and free compliments of Fresh Market!!! I love free!)

As the tradition goes, I took James to have his photos taken on his birthday.

 I tried driving a matchbox car to James to get him to smile and he wouldn't give it up!






Then, he wouldn't stay still and insisted on walking off the set.                      "Here Mommy!"

 

Grandma sent his presents early b/c she was going to be out of the country and Benjamin was SURE James needed to open them early. We held off until the big day, but didn't wait for daddy to get home to open a couple of them. James was more interested in carrying the presents off than opening them.

Ryan was amused that James was nursing the frosting off the cupcake. I made the mistake of handing James the cupcake and then taking it from him to put a candle on it. He was sure he didn't need the candle... just the cupcake!

These were left-over Winnie the Pooh cupcakes frozen from my birthday. I'm thinking I should enjoy not having to make James a cake at least for another year. Alexander and Benjamin are already planning their cakes from the Birthday Cakes for Kids book my dad gave me a few years ago. They love looking through it. At the moment Alexander wants every cake in the book, but especially the ones that are decorated with lots of candy and Benjamin wants the football field w/teddy graham players.

Timpanogos Cave

 The hike up to the caves was a bit terrifying. It was 1.5 miles w/ a 1,000 ft. elevation gain. Much of the trail was mountain wall on one side and sheer cliff on the other. I probably made Benjamin paranoid about falling off a cliff for the rest of his life (Just like Ryan's dad is terrified of sharks in the ocean)... I get vertigo though and hate edges. It didn't help that every once in a while Benjamin would start walking backwards toward the edge. Some parts of the trail had chain rope hand rails and Benjamin said it was like the iron rod. We talked about how it is better to stay away from the edge because you always have more choices that way. Alexander hiked a lot of it and then rode in the backpack while I carried James in the sling for the rest of the time. James fell asleep on the hike down.  

 Inside Timpanogos Cave.

I'm sure I annoyed people by flashing our camera. This was our tour guide.

It will take 80+ years for the stalactite and stalagmite to touch.

Benjamin was excited stand on the hole to let the water drip on him. This sidewalk was built in the 1930s.

Benjamin and Alexander became "Junior Rangers" right before we left. It was closing time so we hurried them through.

There was a whole booklet of activities for them to do in order to complete the program. This is just a sampling. Benjamin said he drew a cow. We were all a bit perplexed as to why there'd be a cow in a cave and Alexander's, I think, is of bats.







It turns out, I must have left my camera on the desk in the visitors center. I hadn't seen the camera in a few weeks and the thought came to my mind that we must have left it at Timpanogos Cave. I called and talked to a forest ranger in the office and sure enough it was in their lost and found. I'm grateful we only had to drive about 20 miles out of the way to retrieve the camera and not hundreds. We also picked it up the last weekend the caves were open before they closed for the season.  I thought I took photos of the boys while they were becoming junior rangers, but when I got the camera back, there were none.