10 Years Off My Life

• My friend Laura has a great post on her blog about being a mother. I love this post because it reminds me that everyone has triumphs and failures when it comes to being a parent, and in the end the love and blessings that you receive from you children make it all worth it.
  
  My father in-law has told me before that your children can take 10 years off your life with some of the things they do. I think I lost a year or two yesterday..............
  
  It was about 4:30pm, Josh was finally napping in the guest room downstairs, Joseph was busy playing in the backyard and Emily was working on her autobiography for school. I had finished cleaning and had about 20 minutes before I needed to start dinner so I decided I would go lye down for a couple of minutes. (Big Mistake)
  
  After about 5 minutes Joe and Emily both come running into my room.
  
  Mom! Mom! Josh just went through the back gate into the front yard and ran up the street and around the corner!
  
  Of course my mother instincts immediately kicked in and I slipped my shoes on and ran out the front door. I told Emily to go around the block one way and Joe and I headed the other thinking we would meet in the middle and one of us would have Josh. I got three houses away when my brain kicked in.
  
  
• Josh NEVER wakes up happy from his nap.
• He is always groggy and crying.
• I know I didn't fall asleep and I know I did not hear crying.
• If he did go through the back gate He would have had to cross in front of the sliding glass door in my bedroom and I would have seen and heard him.
• He has to still be asleep in the basement.
• But Emily and Joe said they saw him and Emily was hysterical.
• I need to check the guestroom.
  
  So I turned to Joe and said "I think Josh is asleep downstairs still. Did you look for him there?"
  
  Joe: He is not in the house mom he ran around the corner!
  
  Still my heart was telling me to go check the house. Emily was already heading around the block so I ran back to the house and sure enough there was Josh asleep just where I had left him. Emily was still going around the block so I decided I better go meet her so she does not become more panicked. I figure she should be most of the way around by now.
  
  So I headed around the block. When I turned the corner I did not see Emily. I started to think maybe she had run into ward members on the next street and was talking to them. She has a few friends that live on the block. So we quickly walk the next stretch and turn the corner only to find no Emily.
  
  At this point I have no idea where she could have gone. So I continue running the block heading back towards our house when I come across a neighbor looking for Josh. I explained what happened and he told me which way Emily had headed. (it was not at all the direction I had told her to go.)
  
  Since Joe can yell louder than I can I told him to start yelling Emily's name. After a couple of yells I hear Emily yelling back but I still don't know where she is. We keep running and finally see Emily around another corner. She starts heading back to us and another ward member pulls up in their car. They also had been helping Emily look for Josh.
  
  Happy to have all of my children back I explained to Emily when I say run around the block that is what I mean not wander across streets and in places where I would not know she went.
  
  On the walk back home I asked Joe and Emily why they would tell me they saw Josh go in the front and run around the corner when he obviously did not.
  
  Emily: That is what Joe told me.
  
  Me: Joe Why did you tell us that if you did not really see it?
  
  Joe: I wanted to play with Josh, but I could not find him. So I thought he probably went out to the front.