TUMBLING

We learned some very important lessons around here today. This morning I had to give a presentation at Iowa Wesleyan, and although I had prepared everything back in November, I hadn't really gone over it again until this morning. I didn't know I'd be giving it today until last Friday and I just never found the time to prepare over the last few days. I brought Liam upstairs with me so I could look over everything for a bit before I went in, and I let him crawl all around upstairs like I always do...BUT this time he knocked over the stair gate some how and tumbled all the way to the bottom. I could see him and the top of the stairs from my computer, but apparently not watching him as intently as I thought I was. I heard a crack and watched him start tumbling down the stairs, but the thump I heard after hitting each stair was the worst part. I have never been so glad to hear him screaming! I checked him over for bumps and bruises, and thankfully nothing happened, but it scared the heck out of me. I decided I'd just wing the presentation and didn't look over it at all after that. I stuttered, mumbled, and forgot what I was going to talk about but considering what could have happened, I don't even care that I embarrassed myself in front of the group.

The take-away...Don't buy the cheapest stair gate, Don't assume having safety precautions in place make it ok to look away even for a second, and stop procrastinating! If I would have worked on this yesterday, I wouldn't have taken him upstairs and let this happen!

I will be spending the rest of the day researching better baby gates and doing all the baby proofing projects that magazines say you should do!