Babysitting continues, with hilarity.

Thursday. I woke up at 6:00am to make sure Jacob had gotten up and was ready to go to Seminary. He was. Good kid! Gabby woke up early, but I didn't go in to get her until 6:30am. She complained about her tummy hurting. As she ate breakfast and watched her TV shows, I was in and out helping Angelica get ready for school. at one point I walked by where Gabby was sitting and got a good whiff of a dirty-diaper scent. I stopped and asked her if she needed to be changed. She said no. I asked if she just was passing gas. She said no. I went on helping Angelica but being wary of Gabby too.
Then it happened. Gabby ran over to me crying and holding her rear-end. I asked if she needed to be changed and she nodded her head rigorously then screamed, "It hurts!!! It's hurting me!!" and continued to scream and roll on the floor still holding her hind-side. I rushed her into the bathroom and began pulling her pajamas off. She was already yanking her pull-up down before I could take her feet out of the footies. All I can say about that particular diaper is WHOA. Talk about explosion! It reeked so I decided I'd just throw her in the bathtub earlier today. Then Gabby kept crying and saying she had a rash. I didn't notice one, but I have no doubt that she was in pain. I calmed her down and cleaned her up a bit until she felt okay to take a bath on her own. I still monitered her, but she played with her toys and washed her own hair, although i had to help rinse it out.

By that time Angelica was waiting for her bus, so I was going back and forth from the front door to the bathroom every few minutes to check on both of them. As I was back watching Gabby for a minute, Angelica yelled "It's here! My bus is here!" So I ran back to see her off.
Not ten seconds later I hear Gabby, "Gelica!!!! Wait!!!" and she comes streaking out of the bathroom and through the kitchen, stark naked and soaking wet.
My first thought was, 'Oh no, I can't let people see a naked, wet toddler chasing her sister down the sidewalk,' plus it was freezing outside. And then Gabby tried to slow down as she neared the front door. She slipped on the wood floor and slid into me like I was homeplate. I yelled for Angelica to come and give her sister a hug inside as I gripped the slick and soaked three-year-old like a bear to keep her from jetting out the front door. Angelica obliged, afterwhich I told Gabby to get back in the bathtub because it was cold. She took off running naked through the house again and I yelled for her to walk so she wouldn't slip and hurt herself. I waved to the busdriver as Angelica got on the bus. Then I closed the door and cracked up laughing. How adorable is it that Gabby thought it was so crucial that her sister gets a hug from her before school? Talk about having her priorities straight.

And thank goodness, Gabby went down for a nap just fine today. Earlier she threw some tantrums and yelled for no reason, when I did or didn't do what she wanted. But when I asked if she wanted some yogurt before her nap she happily accepted it, even asking for seconds. Then as soon as she was done she said "I need stowies! I need my stowies!!" She picked two story books, I read them to her, and then as I put them away she made her way to the stairs. Then she pretended to be a snake all the way up the stairs, across the TV room, to her room, and into her bed. I gave her a couple of books to 'read' as she fell asleep, tucked her in, turned on her music, and closed the door on my way out.

And I haven't heard her wake up yet. Ah, the peace and quiet is absolutely wonderful! I finally showered again and ate lunch. I'm sure if my mom reads this she'll just be smirking at this point thinking, "Oh yeah, you just wait until they're actually your kids..."

So, about that appreciation for moms... I knew I'd develop that gratitude one day when I had children of my own, but I feel like I skipped that whole pregnancy/childbirth/newborn/infant/baby process and jumped into full-on motherhood for the past two days. I'm glad it's something you work up towards usually. I've officially decided I could never marry someone who already has kids, for this reason alone (although there's a lot of other reasoning behind that statement too, obviously).