Tonight was a bit crazy, it was the kind of night I had a wierd suspicion something bad was going to go down. It didn't help matters that Charlie and I were on two totally different wavelengths. That's never a good thing....
I had Elizabeth in the kitchen sink giving her a bath. Carolyn and William were running around the family room. As soon as I pluck Elizabeth out of the sink and start getting her in her PJ's ... Charlie gets William ready and plops him in the sink. I immediately realize there is a problem. I've got my hands tied up with Elizabeth ... Charlie's got his hands tied up with William. Carolyn is a free bird. She wastes no time climbing on top of the coffee table. I have a partially clad child in one arm (Elizabeth) ... while I'm trying to get Carolyn off the coffee table with the other arm before she cracks her noggin.
I finish getting Elizabeth dressed ... put her in the family room ... and take over getting William dressed while Charlie gets Carolyn ready and plops her in the sink. (See, here, I should have said - - hold on ... I'll bathe Carolyn after I get William dressed. You stay on baby patrol. I was thinking it - the words just never formulated or were delivered in an auditory manner).
In the 15 seconds it took me to get William dried off and completely lathered in baby lotion ... Elizabeth decides to climb up on the coffee table and rip everything off the mantle.
What do I do?
I have to do something! I have a slippery 26-pound baby in one arm ... and I manage to grab Elizabeth by the arm. I can't quite reach her over the baby gate to lift her down ... so I have to step over the gate (with naked slippery baby) to get her. I'm praying that William doesn't decide to spring a leak here because that would just be a mess. I get Elizabeth off the table ... and I no sooner turn around - - she's back on it.
What do I do?
I yell at Charlie. Of course this is HIS fault! What was he thinking having his hands tied up with one baby while our most rambunctious is running around the family room completely free?! Of course this is also MY fault because I should have realized the error in our ways - that baby #3 was going to get in trouble while we were tied up with baby #1 and baby #2. If only I'd formulated my words ... I go back and holding slippery naked baby in one arm ... manage to get squirmy dressed baby off the coffee table with my other arm. I take Elizabeth in to the nursery and put her in her crib. Good. She's contained. Now, I can turn my attention back to slippery naked baby. I get William dressed - put him in his crib, and by this point, Charlie is finished with Carolyn - so I start getting her dressed. Easy cheesy. We're golden. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone is dressed. Everyone is tucked in to bed. Prayers, kisses, lullabye CD.
About 10 minutes after our bedtime ritual is complete ... I hear a loud noise. I can honestly say that as a parent, there's no more gut wrenching sound then "THUMP...... WAHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Your heart sinks to your shoes and you immediately wonder if a trip to the Emergency Room is in store. I run in to the nursery and realize that Elizabeth is not in her crib. The crying is coming from the floor. Sure enough, she is on her belly - on top of her lovey bunny - screaming. Obviously, when she dropped bunny out of her crib ... she felt compelled to go and get him back. My poor, poor baby. I snatch her up - walk out to the kitchen and tell Charlie - all three of them have now fallen out of their cribs. He misunderstands me, and runs in to the nursery thinking all three have fallen out RIGHT now. Thankfully - that didn't happen, tonight.
Elizabeth was really frightened and it took about 10 minutes to calm her down. I believe she is fine, other then a small scrape on her head, probably from where she landed. She has got the most amazing metabolism. She eats more than William and Carolyn - combined - yet she is 2 inches shorter than both of them ... and weighs 6 pounds less than William, 4 pounds less than Carolyn. This child is always on the go-go-go. She literally NEVER sits still. Yet, for only the second time that I can remember ... she fell asleep in my arms as I rocked her, tonight. While I was holding her and looking down at her little face - I was mesmerized by her beauty and perfection. Charlie grabbed the camera and took a few pictures because I want to always remember how she looked, sound asleep - and so peaceful. What was so awesome for me - is that as much as I loved holding and cuddling her in my arms tonight - that's exactly where she wanted to be, too. I enjoyed the moment so much, that it was hard for me to put her back in her crib.
Something tells me - she isn't going to try and climb out again ... at least not for a little while. I can only hope...
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