I thought you had her! I thought you had her!

Uh-oh, we had one of those moments last night! I was folding laundry while watching the DWTS results show and Jay was working in the office. I heard water running in Claire's bathroom and though, "Hmm that's nice, Jay's giving Claire her bath tonight."

I finished folding, picked up the living room, and watched Kim K get the boot. Water ran continuously for a while, and then came on and off in spurts, and I didn't think anything of this, as Jay likes to give Claire whatever she wants, and she often requests more water while in the tub.

Then I hear Claire saying "Mama, mama, mama," like 10 times in a row. I figured Jay was still trying to bathe her, or he would get her out if she got really distressed, and didn't answer. Then she started up again. I finally said, "Claire, it's okay baby, Mama's in here." She got quiet for a few seconds, and then started up again! By this time, I was getting kind of ticked at Jay, thinking, why doesn't he finish the bath and get her out, she sounds pretty distressed? Then I thought, I bet he's wanting me to come in there and finish bathing her (he doesn't like washing her hair; he's so afraid of getting soap in her eyes). So I just said, "Claire, you're okay, Mama's in here," again.

Then she started up again, so I switched from mommy voice to wife voice and yelled, "Jay, why don't you get her out and bring her in here?" He said, "Huh?"

Uh-oh.

I ran to the bathroom to find Claire perched on the edge of the counter beside the guest bathroom sink. She had climbed up on top of the toilet, then up on top of the counter! She's climbed on top of the toilet seat a couple times before, and leaned over to run water from there, but never climbed up on the counter! She was wet and a little scared, but not scared enough to cry.

Bragging mom alert: I was pretty proud that she just called for me and didn't try to get down or panic.

Mostly better!

To answer my lovely commenters' questions, no, Claire never got the stomach bug, thank goodness. Even Diane, or Maw-Maw, had it, and Claire stayed at their house Wednesday evening when Jay and I were incapacitated. Thanks, Paw-Paw, for coming to the rescue with Pedialyte, chicken noodle soup, and baby-sitter service. As soon as Paul came and got Claire, at about 4 p.m., Jay and I went almost right to sleep, and slept until 9! I felt almost 100 percent when I woke up, but Jay was still a little sick yesterday, but is mostly better today.

I went to school yesterday, where we were again hit with a huge snowstorm, this time midday. Those poor juniors were out delivering and selling doughnuts in the freezing morning temps, but most got back before the bad weather hit. The reason I had to talk to so many parents on the phone is that we're not supposed to let kids leave school grounds without a note or talking to parents. I had permission slips ready to hand out Wednesday, but forgot to tell my sub to hand them out. Some kids remembered to have their parents write a note, but I still ended up saying variations of "Hi Jesse's dad! This is Mrs. Mauck. Can he go sell doughnuts today?" about 10 times.

They let us out of school at 2:30--oh thanks a lot, after five inches have already fallen! I had another scary drive, this time all the way from Caddo to Calera. It wouldn't have been so bad if those dang semis hadn't been driving at almost-regular speeds, splashing slush on my windshield every time they passed me! I made it all the way to Paul and Diane's driveway, by the mercy of God, and then got stuck! A neighbor of theirs, Wayne Carter, stopped and tried to direct me on how to accelerate myself out, to no avail. Although grateful for his helping me get my rear end out of oncoming traffic, I wasn't really sure how to take his directions like "Do you know how to hit the gas?" or when I said "My father-in-law's coming to get me; he's right there," "You're not going anywhere, someone's going to run you over!" Paul came and pulled me out, no questions asked. Again, Paw-Paw to the rescue! Jay drove over from home to drive Claire and I back home in his four-wheel drive.

Now I'm home for a built-in snow day, putting off the mountain of end-of-nine-weeks grading I need to do today. Yuck!