Most Terrifying 30 Seconds of Our Lives

You've all seen it at the malls, you've heard about that "two seconds" that mom or dad turns their head and their child is gone. Well, that's what happened to us yesterday. We were in the crowded mall, I'd just gotten off work at Starbucks, I was exhausted. Dad and Brighton had arrived about 45 minute prior and hung out while I was helping the guys get caught up (we were swamped all day and had a LOT of catching up to do!) Finally I got off work, was finishing up my piece of pizza and sitting for a little while before we were off again to run errands etc etc. Anyway, my attention was focused on some obnoxious teenagers sitting in the cafe when all of a sudden, Andrew asks me "where's your son?" I looked around and he was gone. It was like a scene from a movie where everything and everyone is a blur. You are looking around and around and with each passing second, your heart is racing, head pounding. My mind was flooded with fear and horrible scenes of someone taking him by the hand and leading him out the door. Andrew and I keep looking back at each other hoping that one of us will have found him, but we both had that fearful look on each other's faces. Finally, a woman comes up to me and says "are you looking for a little boy?" "YES!" "he's over by the gumball machines." I should have known. BALLS! "I was keeping an eye on him" the woman said "I knew someone belonged to him. He sure is fast!" I raced over and scooped him up in my arms. I felt like bawling but I didn't. I held my composure and squeezed him as hard as I could. Maybe if I closed my eyes tight enough or squeezed him closer to me, the whole terrifying experience wouldn't have happened. We are so blessed and thankful that he was safe. He was right by the entrance to the mall. It would have been so easy for someone to scoop him up just as I did and walk straight out the door and we may not have ever seen him again. I'm buying him a backpack tether. Today. Never NEVER will that happen again.

Anyway, enough of THAT story. Last night we had dinner with Amy and baby Pete (aka Muskie Junior - Big Pete is Muskie) and visited for a while. It was a nice evening. Baby Pete is getting so big!! He's almost three months old already and almost as tall as Brighton!! He'll be out on the boat with daddy fishing in no time! Brighton was pretty interested in his little cousin. Think maybe it's time to start thinking about a little brother...

Oh, and a little tip for mashing bananas. I made Brighton an Elvis sandwich the other day. And since he can't bite into the banana so well these days, I decided to "mash" the banana. So instead of taking the whole banana out of the skin, mashing it with a fork then spreading it on the sandwich, I just mashed it inside the skin! I just squeezed it with my hands until I could feel that it was somewhat mushy. VOILA! SO EASY!