Lately

Wow have we ever been busy!!! We started school last thursday and it has just been crazy since then! I started off the school year with a bang (all too literally) by getting in a car accident on Thursday while taking Matthew to preschool. Luckily nobody got hurt, but I can't say the same for the car...boohoo hoo. We are mourning the loss of the "new car". Still waiting to hear from Insurance whether they're going to fault it solely to me or not.

Ok, here's the story.

I want to explain this because I feel like an idiot and like no one will ever think of me as a good driver ever again.

Just so you know, I have never had a ticket or been in an accident prior to this. PERFECT driving record.

So I was driving down Iona Rd towards the elementary where Matthew's preschool was held. This was only my second time driving it. The first time we were almost an hour late, which plays into the story here. So this time we were on time, meaning it was earlier. It was 8:30 am and I was headed east into the sun on a road I am not familiar with. Excuses excuses blah blah to make a long story short I couldn't see a stop sign that was obscured in a shadow because the sun was in my eyes. Whoopsie! So I went barreling through it. Well, I did hit my brakes 10 ft before the intersection as soon as I saw the stop sign. I seriously could not see it before that and I was even paying really close attention. No distractions. I saw the vehicles stopped on either side of the road, but I thought it was a 2 way stop since my road was the "busier" road anyway. A lady in a red van hit me on my left side as she was blasting through the intersection. I say blasting because they're trying to decide if she ran the stop sign too. She hit me straight on the side and sent the car for a 180 degree loop to the other side of the intersection and off the road. Matthew screamed the worst scream I have ever heard in my life and I feared the worst. I turned around and looked at him and I didn't see any blood. I looked him over and made sure no bones were broken and he could move fine, then I got him out of his carseat and I got out of the car. We had to crawl over to the passenger side because obviously our doors were smashed in. I got out and looked at the car and just felt sick. Matthew's window had been knocked out and his door was so dented in I didn't know how he was unharmed. The lady in the van came over screaming and yelling and waving her large arms all over the place at me. I apologized and asked if everyone was ok. she said they were fine. then we heard the police sirens and she jumped back in her van and put on a pitiful face. When the police got there she told him she had neck injuries and needed an ambulance. But whatever. The officer came over to me, asked if we were okay which I said we were fine. Then he asked for my story and I told him. Then he looked at the car and said "whoa. did the other driver run the stop sign too?!" since the entire side of my car was smashed in and the description of the impact seemed way too hard for someone just starting to accelerate from a stop sign. I told him I didn't know and I don't understand it either, but something doesn't make sense. Anyway her front bumper got cracked a little. But she still requested her car get towed and the officer requested our car get towed even though it drove fine and Curt said he didn't want it towed. So the tow man took it a couple of miles down the road and let us have Chris come pick it up for us. so it didn't cost us the hundreds in accident towing, just a $75 routine "break down" towing. Still, the car was in no shape to drive all the way down the highway back to rexburg. Oh, by the way, I still have never received a ticket. Now tell me how that happens! Run a stop sign, get in an accident, and get the sympathy of an officer and the understanding so that he doesn't even ticket me!!! Wow. That's all. Wow.

All in all I feel bad and I keep torturing myself thinking about how things could have been different, what should have happened that didn't and what happened that shouldn't have. I've given recorded testimonial after testimonial to the insurance and officers...and it's getting old. That's why it's taken me so long to really "get the word out." for days I just wanted to forget it ever happened and pretend it was all just a bad dream.

Now we wait to see what the insurance says. Hopefully we'll get a little break somehow because someone's looking out for us up above. I mean, I know Matthew and I were protected during that accident. I told Curt that when we got hit time stopped and it felt like I was surrounded by pillows to stop me from flying around. and no, the air bags did not go off for whatever reason. I know it was angels holding us and keeping us from getting hurt. Which is an incredible feeling. I can just add this to my ridiculously long list of close calls I've had in my life and realize a little more that I must have some kind of special purpose more than I even know to be spared so many times.

The next day I went to the doctor to check out the little baby in my belly. they said everything is fine after doing a heart rate check and an ultrasound. the ultrasound wasn't super in depth but enough to show that the baby was still being held in properly. Our real ultrasound is still scheduled for next thursday, the 24th. That's when we'll find out if EVERYTHING is still ok, like the baby can still move all of it's toes and fingers.

On to other things...Matthew has been finding new ways to entertain himself while mommy and daddy are super busy doing homework. Stacking as much as he can in a pile on the couch has become one of them. But the piles aren't only on the couch, they also occur randomly throughout the kitchen and dining area, hallway, and once even on the computer chair. Hey, he loves it. It's not the end of the world to make messes! they always get cleaned up anyway.

Another fun thing Matthew has been super interested in lately is his ABC's. He's always been interested in them, but lately he's started singing them all the time! He'll come up to me and say "sing ABC with me!" I wasn't fast enough to catch the first of his song here. He can sing them by himself but it's extra fun for him to sing along with this preschool favorites cd. And I want to say that the last picture and this video were taken close together since he is only wearing a diaper in both, but unfortunately.......he just likes to strip his clothes off all the time! And when the Kodak moment arises you don't take time to dress the little monkey!