Sunday, July 19, 2015

Paper towels in mom's ward

Today wasn't the most stellar Sunday I've ever had. 

Saturday morning, Abigail woke up with a dry diaper. So last night, since we were back at grandma's, home from the beach, Abigail asked if she could try wearing undies to sleep. It's a pain, but I try to encourage her enthusiasm for learning to stay dry at night. Against my better judgement, I gave in to her requests. Also, I'm not a very nice mom and I'm trying to be better at that... It's really difficult for me. Anyways, she soaked everything. I don't know how much she drank before bed, but she was literally soaked from head to toe... Like even her pillow needed to be washed. I was nursing Elizabeth when Abigail got up and I heard her taking care of herself. When I went in her room, I found her dirty clothes and a whole pile of used wipes. At home she knows to use a wipe or two to clean herself off until I can give her a bath... So why she used 50+ wipes this time is beyond me. It was almost an entire pack. Whatever, I encourage independence in my kids and these are just things that happen when kids learn. Anyways, I gave her a bath while my wonderful mother stripped the bed. 

The next few hours were pretty standard. The kids ate, I showered, we all got ready for church. Elizabeth fell asleep while I straightened my hair.  It was all going well enough. 

Elizabeth woke up fifteen minutes into sacrament meeting. Not part of the plan. And she was fussy. Occasionally she has off days where she's fussy and doesn't nap well and is restless and upset when she eats and is just generally out of sorts and not her usual self. Luckily those only happen every ten days or two weeks or so (and sometimes just for an afternoon and not necessarily an entire day) but sadly for me, today was it. She woke up and wasn't happy about it and despite my best efforts, cried through the second half of the sacrament and I took her out the second it ended. I stayed in the mother's lounge with her for the rest of that hour. She was still fussy during second hour and I had to take her out for most of that too. I talked in the hall with various abamontes and van sants and then went back into the RS room to try my luck at third hour. Of course Elizabeth woke up the second I sat down. I tried my best at keeping her quiet and was counting down the minutes until church was over. My parents don't have the youngest ward ever, so even my little newborn seemed really loud and obvious. I was so ready to NOT be the visitor whose baby was fussing and crying through all three hours of church. 

Then two lady's poke their head in the door, whispering and pointing at me. I leaned to mom "great, I'm pretty sure Abigail wet her pants."  I go into the hall to meet them. Sure enough. Excellent. I was annoyed at my day even more, but a little relieved for an excuse to just get out of there. 

I went back in to retrieve Elizabeth and was greeted in the hall by a man telling me that it happened just inside the library and he would show me where the cleaning supplies were. I was happy to clean up the mess because I don't mind my own child's bodily fluids and I would have felt horrible if someone else had to clean it up, but here's the humorous part of the story... The cleaning supplies. He hands me a squirt bottle of cleaning solution and a little stack of folded paper towels and says, "here, I think this'll be enough" and leaves. I close the library door (no one was there and Elizabeth was still noisily fussing a bit) and get to cleaning. First things first, unfold the paper towels to lay them on the floor. Anyone want to venture a guess how many the guy gave me to work with?  Three. Like one, two, three. I almost laughed out loud. I used the three to soak up the mess and then sprayed some solution down. I almost left it like that because umm three... he gave me THREE paper towels to work with... But I remembered that it's my church building and I'm not going to do that. I went to the cleaning closet and tried to find more paper towels. I couldn't find the same ones he gave me but found a roll and used that instead. Hopefully I cleaned up well enough. Then, I headed down the hall to find Abigail.

I'm glad I asked specifically where her class was (last time they told me the wrong room and it took forever to find her and she cried because she didn't know why I wasn't coming to get her) so I knew where to go. When I arrived, she was happily coloring on the floor with the other kids. I apologized to her teachers and told Abigail we were just going to head home a bit early. She hopped up and was frolicking out of the room when the lady teacher (it was a young couple) was all "oh wait" and with her pincher fingers, picked up Abigail's pair of wet undies (from where?! Maybe the window sill?!) and said "I rinsed them so they wouldn't be sticky" and handed them to Abigail. I was a bit mortified. Rinsed or not, wouldn't it make sense to put them in a trash can liner or at least wrap them in paper towels from the bathroom?  Public service to all primary workers: paper towels would be a nice touch. Anyways, as soon as the door shut, I got out Elizabeth's blanket and had Abigail drop the undies in there because I didn't want them to touch anything and who walks down the hall pinching a pair of wet, dirty underwear? Not my kid, I'll tell you that much. 

Anyways, it was all just the icing on the cake and I couldn't wait to get home and share my humorous sorry with mom when she and dad arrived later with Brady. I know the cleaning supply guy and the lady teaching Abigail's class weren't trying to be rude or passive aggressive because honestly, they were both very polite and friendly about it... but three paper towels and then straight up handing my kid dirty underwear to take home? It makes for a memorable story for sure. 

Anyways, that was my drama for today. I texted Christopher when I got home and told him I'm glad I'll be at Liza's ward next Sunday (for Clara's baby blessing) because I don't want to show my face in mom's ward for a while to come...  Yikes. 

After church was fine. Mom made a delicious lunch of salmon, cheese grits, carrots, broccoli, blueberries, and cherries. We hung out. The kids watched a few New Testament cartoons. Walter and Bekah and the boys came over. Elizabeth continued to take 45 minute naps and be fussy. Abigail and Brady were crazy hyper and out of control, constantly driving me crazy. I had Brady skip a nap because church ended at two and I wanted to put him to bed early, but of course I was too interested in hanging out that I forgot about bedtime til Walter and Bekah left and it was 9:00 and I was beat. Somehow I got three kids to bed though and was able to eat ice cream and unwind in the kitchen with mom. 

What is it about my kids being so wild and misbehaving so much when mom is around? I mean, I know they're crazy excited to be at grandmas and get to play with grandma and grandpa, but shouldn't that wear off a bit with time?! Because it doesn't for them. This is going to be an exhausting two weeks with them and I'm just hoping mom will still love us all at the end of it. ; ) 

I'm optimistic about it though, because somehow my parents still think my little rugrats are fun and entertaining. 

It makes sense I guess. I mean, they did put up with me for a whole lot of years so they're pretty well practiced in this area...

Other notables: 
Abigail and Brady kissed each other super loudly through the entire sacrament prayer despite me hitting their heads and telling them no kissing during prayers. 
The speaker assigned to speak on the Holy Ghost that actually spoke about pioneers, bore his testimony at the end of his talk by playing come come ye saints on the harmonica. After he said amen, Brady was all "I wanna hear that again!" Mom and dad were entertained. Too by I wasn't around to hear it myself. ; )

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