Lost!

In the spirit of sharing the less Rockwellian moments of my life at home, here is an unforgettable mommy moment.

Yesterday, we were getting ready to splash around in the kiddie pool. Some days, even getting out to my own backyard requires a ton of shuffling. I periodically placed Baby-Speed-Crawler on the floor to free up a hand for the other jobs that needed to get done, like smearing sunscreen on a wiggly three-year-old and filing up the water bottle.

I usually picked Baby-I'm-Too-Strong-For-My-Own-Good back up within a few seconds so she didn't become Kamikaze Baby and launch herself down the stairs of our split level.

So I had just made a neat pile of the towels, sunscreen, water bottle, and a magazine (what an optimist I am!). I had turned around to grab Stealth-Baby... and she was gone. She wasn't on the floor by my feet, where I expected her to be. She wasn't (phew) at the bottom of the stairs. She wasn't in the dining room, where Big Sister was drawing on her easel....

Panic!

I hollered at Big Sister Maya, "Where is the baby?" I could feel the terrified edge in my voice. If I couldn't hear her crying and she wasn't in sight, what had happened?

Maya looked at me with an expression of playful wonder.... "Mama, she's right there."

She pointed to me.

And there Baby was, in my left arm, propped on my hip, watching me curiously. When our eyes met, she cooed and grinned.

Poor Overlooked-Second-Baby; this kind of thing never happened with Baby-Watched-Like-A-Hawk-First-Born.

It probably never happens to anyone else! I'm thinking about getting my head looked at! Perhaps I should check myself in to some spa-like facility that will evaluate my mental clarity for a good month or two!

On the upside, I am now so strong and balanced that I can pack stuff up for 15 minutes, one handed, while carrying a 20+lb baby in one arm without even realizing it!