what NOT to do

when you see your neighbors car getting stolen. I have told some of you this story, but I wanted to post it here because I think it is a good reminder/lesson for everyone. So here ya go...

Tuesday morning I was getting ready to take Parker next door. We share a nanny with them and on Tuesday’s she watches both kiddos at their house. So I am getting his bag ready when I see Shannon (next door neighbor) moving her car into the drive way. I figured Mary Chris (nanny) is almost there so I start getting jackets on and loading everything up. Well, I go back to the window to see if I see Mary Chris, but she’s not there yet. Shannon’s car is running in the drive way, but she has gone back inside for a second. I then see a man waking down our street toward my house. I am nosey, so I always watch the people that are walking in front of our house just to see what they are doing. So I watched him walk in front of our neighbors house first, then ours…well, he got about ½ way in front of our house and then he turned around and started cutting through our yard up towards our house. This put me on alert, so I sort of hid so he would not see me watching him. Next thing I know, he is at Shannon’s car, opening the door, and damn if he does not get in and start driving off!!! So what do I do?? Well, I run out my front door screaming, “STOP!! STOP!!!”…and yes, I have Parker in my arms. I don’t know what I thought I was going to do. It’s not like I could stop him. Anyway, he looked at me as he was flying out of the driveway and then he was gone. I then ran across the yard screaming, “Shannon!! Shannon!!” Anyone who had not seen what had just happened would think I was completely crazy b/c I was in complete “high pitched, squealing, close to hysterics” mode running with baby in tow screaming my neighbors name. Too bad I was not in my bath robe and rollers…that would have made it even more comical.

Long story short…yes, her car was stolen out of her driveway. No, Jack (her baby) was not in the car. The police did come and put out an APB (I feel so cool saying that) for the car, but it’s really ok that it got stolen b/c Shannon is a drug rep and it was a company car. As of today, they have not found the guy. I still can't believe I saw it happen. It really creeped me out to see the actual crime committed and to see how quickly it happened.

So here is my lesson, because I know at least one of you has done this before. NEVER NEVER NEVER put your kid in the car and then run back in the house really fast to grab something you forgot. I know it does not happen a lot, but sometimes we may be tempted because we will only be gone for 5 seconds. Well, it took all of 5 seconds for this guy to make it across my front yard, pull on both handles to see which one was unlocked, get in, back out of her driveway, and speed off down our street and turn off onto Abrams. Shannon had literally just gone inside to get Jack and bring him back out. She was just warming the car up before she put Jack in it (don't do this either).

It was an eventful day...Parker was so tired when I got home from work he fell asleep after his 6:00 feeding and slept all the way until I woke him up for his 9:00 feeding. Poor little guy. It's hard chasing down criminals.