Poor Choices, Close Calls, Counting Our Blessings

Andrew and his new favorite car. Yes, I know he still has a binky.
This picture warms my heart. Luke is such a sweetie to Eli. What's especially funny is that Eli looks exactly like Luke did at 2 months old. Genetics are amazing.

9 weeks old and quite pleased with his new floor gym

Last Friday was a doozy. Luke has struggled with sleep issues for several months. Steve and I are at the end of our rope in terms of what to do to help him sleep. We just cannot deal with any more sleep deprivation, especially since Eli is sleeping well at night. It really stinks to be up with 2 kids at 2am. So, we went to see a pediatric sleep specialist. In my foggy, sleep-deprived state, I didn't really consider the ramifications of taking the whole family. Thankfully, Steve went with me. Needless to say, it was a very long morning, complete with poor behavior, a behind-schedule physician and topped off with a blood draw for Luke.
I was never so happy to get home and get everybody out of the car.

We were driving each other nuts by late afternoon and the boys were begging to go outside. We bundled the baby into the stroller and headed out the door. At the last minute, Luke asked if he could walk Jake, our 80 pound black lab.

Have I mentioned I exist in a foggy, sleep-deprived state?
I said, "sure".

Luke and the dog were actually doing very well. We got about halfway around our block and dogs started barking from behind fences and Luke got flustered. I saw a very large dog sitting in his own front yard and his owner was brushing him. As we got a little closer, I decided to take the leash back from Luke. I now have our dog on a leash, a baby in a stroller and two little boys trailing behind.

What was I thinking?!

In an instant, that very large dog was upon us. He went straight for Jake's neck. Jake tried to get away and the owner and another neighbor pulled the gynormous Akita dog off before he could attack again. In the commotion, the dogs knocked the stroller over and Eli's head hit the sidewalk. I became one hysterical mama, which terrified the boys. Suddenly everyone was crying and the dog owner was terribly distraught. We were actually in someone else's driveway and the family came out to help. The woman was a familiar face and really helped calm everybody (me) down. The children that lived there are classmates of Luke's, so they started a game of tag on the lawn. We checked Eli out and he immediately stopped crying and started trying to smile at everybody. He had a small bump on his forehead but that was all. The dog's owner offered to pay for any damages, which I appreciated. After he went back in the house, I found out the dog is a repeat offender and has already bitten two children.

While I am the first to admit that I made a poor choice and we should have left the dog at home, this was a bad situation that could have been extremely traumatic. I know what it is to care about your dog, but there comes a time when a dog can't be trusted and needs to be kept away from children and other dogs. Several other neighbors have come forward and mentioned an unfortunate encounter with this same dog. As much as I dislike conflict, I know we need to take action and more than likely have this dog removed from the neighborhood. Part of me wants to wait until we get reimbursed for Jake's vet bill (almost $700 for emergency surgery).

As the weekend went on and I shared our experience with friends and family, I just felt very grateful that we weren't severely injured. I'm thankful for neighbors who help out, even if we don't know each other as well as we should. There are many blessings to count.