Sleeping Babies

For the past few weeks I've been eye-ing this adorable new baby in our ward.  She is perfect and beautiful and at that age where you just want to hold her and smell her.  Her parents have two other children, both boys...about 4 and 2, I think, so they clearly have their hands full.  

I've been trying to figure out how to ask Cute Baby's parents if I can hold her without looking like a stalker.  I mean, really, we're both new in the ward, and they have no idea who I am.  But today, they happened to sit next to us...and I made my MOVE!  I gushed about how beautiful she was and happened to drop a hint that if they EVER needed an extra pair of hands, I'd be MORE THAN HAPPY to help!  And guess what!  It worked!  Just before church started, Cute Baby's dad asked if I would take her during Sunday School so that he could teach a lesson.  That's a WHOLE HOUR that I was going to get to hold her...holy cow! (Me=jumping up and down on the inside, but calm and completely non-abductor-ish on the outside.)   


Sacrament meeting ended and we made "the transfer".  Whose ridiculous idea was it to bring the largest, most fashionable church bag today??  My bag was great until it was paired with Cute Baby in a carrier and Cute Baby's GIANT baby bag which was, by the way, equally fashionable.  Cute Baby's dad went off to his class and I went off to my class pretending to have done this my whole life...walking down the hall trying not to look winded while carrying all this extra stuff and also trying not to hit every passerby with Cute Baby or her paraphernalia.

Eventually I made it down the hall and into my classroom and got comfortably settled with Cute Baby still sleeping in her carrier and all of her accessories in an empty seat.  Success...bliss...and I still looked like I knew what I was doing.  And then as I was watching her sleep, I realized that I was 15 minutes into my babysitting job and Cute Baby was still sleeping in her carrier, which means that I had yet to hold her.  UGH!   Fortunately...or unfortunately, she woke up and screamed.  I scooped her up (sans carrier this time, so at least I was holding her) and took Cute Baby and her bag down the hall to the Mother's Lounge (whoa...it's been a LONG time since I've been in there, but it looks remarkably the same so I maintained my composure). 

1. Change Cute Baby's diaper...(apparently that is a lifetime skill, much like riding a bike).  still screaming  

2. Try the binky...nope...still screaming


3. Maybe a bottle...um...where is the bottle??   

Found the bottle, but it only had water in it which meant that I had to figure out how to hold Screaming Cute Baby, open a bottle (which has considerably more parts these days), pour in 2 scoops of formula, and mix it.  I remained calm, prepared Cute Baby's bottle, and sometime during the part where I was shaking up the formula, she fell asleep...(really??)  So I took her and all of her stuff back down the hall to my classroom and sat down...again.  


Cute Baby slept peacefully and happily for the rest of the class...and I got to hold her and rock her the entire time...stopping occasionally to sniff her and stare at her amazing-ness...for a whole 30 minutes! 

And then I happily gave Cute Baby back to her dad and walked down the hall carrying only my own fashionable and huge church bag...once again...bliss...