If you follow me on Instagram or we’re friends on Facebook then you may already know that last week my iPhone took a two foot walk with my 12 month old. This story may be one of those “had to be there” kind of funny stories, but this is one that I absolutely need to have documented!
So my phone was lost for a grand total of eight hours, but during those hours I was actually convinced that I’d 110% lost my mind.
Lost. It.
I kid you not, the phone was gone, poof, vanished within minutes of waking up. Minutes, as in four.
Right at 7 a.m. I heard Hadley wake up. I walked into her room using the light on my cell phone, set the cell phone down on her crib to pick her up, picked my phone back up, and then walked across the house to the sunroom to let Teddy outside while Hadley was on my hip. I didn’t even change her diaper immediately because I’d changed her when she woke up at 4:30 (she’ll be 10 and still not sleeping through the night at this rate) because I knew that she’d do her business within minutes (she’s pretty much like clockwork).
After I let Teddy out, I made Hadley a bottle and then set her down with her toys in the living room while I plopped down on the couch to pop my most recent blog post to social media. At this point the phone is still with me; I know it. Our laptop was acting up and not letting me get on the internet (by the way, hellooooo from my new Macbook!), so I reached down next to me to grab my phone to post it from there, and it was gone. I immediately checked between the two cushions beside me, and it wasn’t there.
Commence the next eight hours of searching and losing my absolute freaking mind.
Here’s the thing. Obviously losing my phone was annoying because I’m now out of touch with everyone, can’t make a childcare reservation at the gym, and can’t go get my new phone that day like I’d planned. First world problems and I was over that.
What absolutely flipped me out though was that I was only awake a grand total of five minutes before the phone completely vanished into thin air. I never saw Hadley with the phone, so how could she have hidden it? I’d only done a number of tasks before it was gone. Where in the world is my phone?!
I got kind of dramatic, Facebook-messaged my sister once our computer started working, but she informed me that my phone died after her second attempt calling it (of course it was on silent the first time she called making the situation that much more frustrating). She and Josh were planning on officially moving in that day, so they arrived a few hours later and helped me literally tear apart the house. They’re awesome for real.
We flipped our living room furniture three times, searched under the Christmas tree skirt eight times, emptied all trash cans, searched her pack-n-play full of toys three times, flipped the mattresses off of her crib and my master bed, searched in all toilets, my car, and the list goes on and on. It was insane.
Finally around 11, we took a break and Jennifer and I sat down to wrap some Christmas presents for an hour while we did more brainstorming of potential hiding spots.
I also did some hoping waiting wishing praying that this would be the day that my toddler would magically start saying sentences and just tell me where she put it for crying out loud.
Around noon, we ended up giving Hadley Jennifer’s phone to see if she’d hide it in the same place as mine. She didn’t. Smart one.
Around 2, I resorted to Facebook, and potential hiding place suggestions started pouring in. I spent the next hour checking every single suggested hiding place that I hadn’t already searched two or three times, but I still couldn’t dang find the phone!
Between 2 and 3 is when I really started to lose it and hilarity ensued. I used Jennifer’s phone to call my pregnant bestie Jessica to hear about her first ultrasound (because I couldn’t wait any longer!), and we giggled over her bouncing peanut for thirty minutes while I had my hand covered with a bag digging through the trash for the zillionth time. Talking about her baby was the only reason I could laugh while digging through the nasty trash can, and I should have made her promise that she will call me the first time she’s searching through the trash can for her things in a year and a half. Jess, deal?
Around 3, Jennifer was sitting on the couch (the same couch that I supposedly lost the phone in) while I was pacing the room venting to my mom as she suggested more places to look. Either Jenn or Mom said something about the tree skirt, which I confirmed I’d already checked a bunch of times, and then out of no where Jennifer said “What about in the Christmas tree?” I immediately dashed to Hadley’s favorite ornament, and right below the ornament resting right there on a branch was my face-down phone.
See that little pink letter “A” bath toy on the branch? That’s where my phone was.
I took this picture later that night because I thought it was a sweet picture of Jamie sleeping by the light of the tree. Cheeeeesy, I know. For the purpose of this post, that’s where I was sitting when I realized I’d lost my phone, so obviously you can see how close the tree was. 🙂
Here she is the next day playing with her fave ornament again.
Back to finding the phone. I screamed (loud), Jennifer screamed, Mom screamed, and Josh came running up the stairs screaming “Where was it?!”
And then we laughed for five hours. Actually five days because we are still laughing about it!
So thanks to my genius sister (and eventually my friend Alli who also suggested the tree but didn’t see her suggestion until after it was found!) my phone was back in business.
You better believe this weekend I put the “Find My Phone” app on my phone pronto!
And that, my friends, is the story of how my little stinker hid my cell phone for eight hours in the Christmas tree approximately two feet from where I first realized I’d lost it.
‘Tis the season for new toddler hiding places!
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo