A Tale of A Chilly Philly Morning

Mornings with little ones can get crazy, sometimes they are even unpredictable. On this particular freezing morning, the Taylor family found themselves in a domino affect of I Guess Im Due moments. This story proves that some days are better spent in the warmth of your own home. Enjoy their story in this mommy's own words below.

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Yesterday was the coldest day for the last year on record... A lovely 2 degrees and felt like 10 below. The baby cooperated quite well through the night, waking up only at 4am to eat... which meant I knew I wouldn't have to feed him until 8:15 when I got him to day care.

Unlike normal, we were running on time and left at 7:33. Because it was so cold and we were leaving early enough, I convinced Marshall to drop us off  at the office so he wouldn't have to deal with train delays from the weather. Plus, since I didn't have a phone, I thought this way it would be mutually beneficial.

So, we got on the road and merged on the interstate next to a semi truck. Trucks tend to be loud, so when we heard a terrible loud sound we chalked it up to the semi. Until out of the corner of my eye in the side view mirror, I saw our entire tire rolling off of the car and down the highway!

That's when the sound got worse, but on an interstate in the middle of the city with no emergency lanes on the side we rode it out on the rim for half a mile until we could exit. And then found somewhere safe to stop. Sure enough, the tire was toast. To top it off, the jack was frozen. So even if we wanted to bear the below freezing temperatures to attempt to put the spare on, we couldn't!

So we call AAA... After 30 minute trying to get to the right person who can help (oh yes, you first get routed to a number based on your phone number), so after waiting 16 minutes we got a Florida/Georgia representative, only to get to be transferred to the right region so you can wait on hold again! Great, we report the assistance needed and are told a 120 minute wait time for someone to come help... Seriously!?!

You better believe I played the "I have a newborn in the car and it is like Antarctica outside"... but it only bought me an hour. So naturally at 8:30 am the baby got hungry and started waking up. Fortunately, it was not until then that he woke up. His bottles were still ice cold, so the only option was to nurse. So we snuggled in what was a very uninviting atmosphere in an attempt to feed the baby.

We still had him in his little white oso, since we were trying not to have the car on to conserve gas. And while eating he started to show signs of needing to push out some poop. And sure enough, in the midst of pushing some gas out and some other stuff came out too. It was such a stinky one! I realized that although the conditions were not favorable, I couldn't in my right mind leave him in a messy diaper. So I took off his oso, and was given a big yellow surprise. Apparently, it wasn't just a tire blow out but also a serious diaper blow out. You know, the kind that is all up the back with all the little mustardy particles?! And slipping a onesie off filled with all that is almost impossible, much less when doing it in the front seat of the car!!

So poop was everywhere... his head, his arm, his back, my hands, the seat, the changing pad. But we were resilient we thought. After a box of wipes to recover from the ordeal, we got everyone in their seats to continue our journey into the office.

We eased out of the parking lot and onto the sensation of a car on hydraulics. The shaking could be chalked up to the computer in the car not having recovered from the earlier trauma, or just that the car is a money pit and requires more repairs. With the check engine light flashing, Marshall made a rash decision and almost an illegal U-turn on the interstate in front of a cop, to call it a day. With all these I Guess Im Due moments we considered it a sign that today was not meant to be, called our offices and the day care and headed home.

So we bounced our way home slowly but surely, in hopes that the rest of our day would be salvaged. 

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