I think today was officially my first real fail as a momma. Thankfully, everything wound up okay and our sweet girl was unharmed, but oy.

So, this morning Charlotte’s Nana came over (my Milly aka Mark’s mom) for a great early morning visit before we headed to brunch with my family. It was a nice and relaxing morning until it was time to go. Then in our normal way, we were kind of chaotic and rushing around. Mark grabbed Charlotte and plopped her in her car seat and I stepped in to put on her hat, booties and buckle her in. Then, we were on our way.

Mark sat in the back with Charlotte so he could feed her on the way. Yes, we are always late, remember? So, we picked up my Grandpa and made our way to brunch. By the time we made it to the restaurant, little C was snoozing in her car seat (success!!). Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we had to either take this handicap elevator thing or carry her stroller/car seat up the stairs. I voted for the elevator, but Mark insisted that it was too loud and would wake her. So, we started carrying her up the stairs.

I was complaining about the whole thing as we took our first steps and then I started freaking out. “Babe, she’s flopping forward! She’s falling!” I quickly moved so we were carrying her more level, but as we got her to the top step it clicked. The only way she could be falling forward is if she wasn’t buckled into her car seat. I moved the blanket away that was covering her in her car seat and just about died. I didn’t buckle her in. We drove for probably about 40 minutes with our baby unbuckled and then carried her up a flight of stairs in her stroller, which she almost tumbled out of.

Ughh. Mark, my sister, and my mom assured me that it was okay, but I couldn’t help but totally beat myself up about it. In fact, it’s still haunting me. The positive… I don’t think I’ll ever make that mistake ever again. The negative… I feel like crap about it. I guess we’re all only human. But still…