I guess I need to start from the beginning... a post I intended to write at least 2 months ago but never did because I knew it would take awhile. That is actually the reason why I have not posted anything lately. Time has not been on my side. So here I go...
Shortly after Christmas, wait, let me go back further than that. When I was a teenager I always dreamed of getting a car for my b-day. I was born in the beginning of January and as you know, that's when all the commercials come out about getting a great deal on a car since the new models were out. A big dream for a teenager, especially when your dad is an accountant and you have 2 siblings, but what is life w/o having dreams. Sadly, that dream never came to pass, I grew up... yadda, yadda, yadda.
Fast forward to shortly after Christmas to my current situation. My car began a slow death. It started with this weird smell coming out when I turned on the heater or tried to defrost the windows. I thought it was just part of my over sensitive smell due to pregnancy but when Ryan commented on the smell, I knew it was serious and so I stopped using the heater. If I still lived in CA it would not be that big of a deal but living in PA, it is a HUGE inconvenience during the winter time.
Then a phone call came. From Jonathan informing me He left his gym shoes at home. So I loaded the girls into the car and took off to drop the shoes off. When I proceeded to leave the parking lot, my car died. Great. I restarted it and it died again. I had serious prayers going on in my head that I would be able to make it home along with having a flash back of being a little kid and our car dying, stuck in an intersection with my dad trying to restart the car. He would tell us a story, that the car was "pregnant" and was having contractions. Then he would be able to start the car and we would be off. Now I am the parent with two little girls in the back, poor Leia with a bright red nose and hands because of no heat and me frantically trying to start the car. I was able to get it going and we made it home with out it dying again. I would have been sweating if it wasn't so darn cold.
After that, I had a dilemma. I knew Ryan would be leaving for Harrisburg in about a week and I would be alone with the kids for 4 weeks and did not feel comfortable only having my car. If I got stuck somewhere he could not help. Ryan works so hard I did not want to put this burden on him but at the same time I didn't feel good about him leaving having this situation with my car. When he came home I told him what happened and we might need to buy a different car. He understood and I felt horrible putting one more layer of stress on his life.
I think it was about a day or two later we went to look at some cars. When I walked into the building one of the salesman said something like "So you're buying a car today" and in my head was thinking, "Dude, we're here to look at some cars... what happened to no pressure". I looked behind me and the boys were still outside. Why were they not in yet... it was freezing out. Ryan was showing Jonathan our new car! Jonathan knew about it for a couple weeks, before I told Ryan about my car. Ryan knew we needed a car and had been shopping around for one. We had looked at cars a couple months ago but did not find a great deal, which I thought we stopped the search but Ryan kept it going. He found a great deal and after I told him my sob story he called the dealership to see if he could get the car early. They said yes, and had people stay late that night so Ryan could sign all the paperwork and drive off in our new car. If we would have waited, the car would have been washed and placed on the roof one of those big red bows. When I saw it I was thrilled just to have a car that worked and I could use the heater. That night my teenage dream came true, I got a car for my b-day!
I was so nervous to drive it home but man, it is a nice car. I had the kiddos with me and while driving home the Chipmunk Christmas song came on. I turned the song up and we all listened to it, giggling all the way home. Another flash back occurred of when I was little and how my parents would tell us to settle down when we became too loud. That's actually why a lot of the time when I laugh I do not make a sound because I had to train myself to be quiet so I would not get in trouble for laughing in the car. Now I was telling my kids to calm down.
The next order of business was to deal with our old car. At the dealership they gave Ryan the name of a used car place that would most likely buy our car. We loaded up the kids and took off to sell the car. During the car ride Ella became very sad and did not want to get rid of our car. She began crying and what not. Jonathan tried to make her feel better but made things worse. He decided to name the car we were about to get rid of. Great. Let's create an even bigger attachment by naming it "Cricket". While we were waiting for Ryan to sign the paperwork, saying goodbye to "Cricket" became even harder. I even let her get out of the car to say one last good-bye and take a picture of her next to the car.
I felt so bad for Ella because I remember having to say goodbye to a beloved car. Yes, here is another flashback. I remember standing out on the sidewalk saying goodbye to our car, Banana Split. It was a little yellow car that was not big enough for our family anymore so my dad sold it. I was devastated and cried at the loss of our car. I was told that someday we might see it again, so guess what I told Ella? That Cricket was gong to be fixed up and sold to a family that could really use it and maybe one day, when she is old enough to drive, we would find Cricket and she could drive it. She still misses the car. Now and then she will randomly say she wants Cricket back but those first two weeks after loosing Cricket were pretty harsh. She would announce how she did not like the new car and wanted Cricket back.
Now lets go forward a bit to about a little over a week ago. We were all in the car, loving life and about to enjoy some time at the park when Wham we were involved in a car accident... something I have feared being in while pregnant. Something I NEVER wanted to go though while pregnant, especially during my third trimester, which I am in right now. I don't want to go into details how it happened because frankly I want to forget about it but if we were in Cricket verses our new car the outcome would have been much different. We were hit pretty hard but since our car is rated the #1 safety car in its class, no serious injuries happened to any of us. Ella's window was down so when her head moved it hit the top edge of the window but nothing major. Jonathan was in the back, where the other car hit us and he had a little scratch from hitting the stroller and a small bump because Ryan said Jonathan's head hit the window. Right after the accident Ryan looked at me and asked if I was OK, which I was, took a quick look/ assessment at the kids and since everything was kosher he left to make sure he man who hit us was OK. After all, he was the first doctor on site of the accident. The man overall seemed fine but did go to the hospital to completely make sure. As for the cars, both of them were damaged to the point where neither one could be driven.
We fond out a little later that the driver said for a split second he had the choice to either clipping us or swerve and hit the car behind us. Our friends were the people behind us and if he would have hit them instead, things would have been much worse. It's weird to say, but I am glad he hit us. Our friends have five little girls and there was a semi truck right behind them. It makes me incredibly sad to think about what the outcome would have been if they were hit. Ryan knows, since he sees the outcome of so many accidents and it would have been much more devastating than us being hit.
Even though I felt fine I ended up going to the hospital to make sure little fetus Audrey was OK. I felt her moving around within 10 minutes after the accident but was concerned about the placenta and the other stuff I could not see. Ryan took me to the hospital where I hung out while the baby was being monitored for 4 hours. It was a busy day with lots of babies being born so I basically spent 4 hours of watching TLC uninterrupted. Geesh, a little extreme to get some quiet time, but it was nice to just relax. Ryan took off to check over the kids one more time and to buy new car seats for the girls. I told Ella she could pick hers out which she LOVED doing. We now have two pink car seats. The four hours went by and the doctor came back right when she said she would. Everything looked great. I had an ultrasound so I was able to see the baby's heart beat and even see her beginning to use her lungs. Major sigh of relief.
With all of that said, our car is still in the shop and I miss it. It will take about 2 weeks to get it fixed. The car was built so well that it did not have the damage we originally thought occurred from the accident. When Ryan was getting the car he changed insurance policies to one that covered new car replacement in case we ever got into an accident and our car became totaled. He also has a policy with accident forgiveness so our insurance should not go up. Since he was so diligent in thinking about everything while purchasing our new car, the aftermath of the accident has not been stressful or a major burden.
With that said, I still miss my car and can't wait to get it back. It has been soooo good to us... a real life saver. And, yes, Ella has even remarked how she misses it.
