Diaper Diaries

May I start out by congratulating all the many mothers out there that have successfully adapted from the 'diaper years'.
Last night, I placed my sweet Kaylah down in her 'big girl bed'. You know, the one step up from the crib, however still contains the safety railing and a small gap adequate enough for a toddler to escape.
She seemed fussy, which was not odd for bedtime. She had a big dinner, a bath, even lavender scented lotion that gave babies that 'its time to go to happy dreamland for 10 hours' smell. I was not at all worried that maybe, just maybe there might be something out of the ordinary happening.
She feel asleep quickly. I was relieved to know that I had some time to catch up on extra chores that needed attending to. But who am I kidding? I grabbed the girls scout cooking and headed for the cushy sofa. American Idol was on.
Just as I was about to rock out with a small pack of thin mints, I hear a baby cry in the next room. Reluctantly, I put the thin mints away and went to get Kaylah. She cried until late and I knew something was wrong. A raspy cough didn't help and after an hour or so of crying, coughing, crying, coughing...and more crying, I went after reinforcements. The cough syrup was in the medicine cubbard upstairs. The poor thing did not feel well, and I had suddenly came down with a flu bug myself labeled 'guilt' that I was so eager for my own time that I did not notice she was sick.
Whether it was the motherly comfort or the decongestant that made her finally fall asleep, I will not know. I proceeded to put her to bed and instead of continuing on with my American Idol religious experience, I hit the sack too.
Well, I was not out of the woods yet, I know most of you Mom's know how this goes. Sure enough, around 3:30am comes a whiny toddler up the stairs and into my bedroom. I make her a bed on the floor, where she proceeds to fall asleep. Whew! That was quick and my head hit the pillow again.
I did not hear a peep out of her until about 7:30am. She started to whine and cry a little bit, then stood up suddenly. I had resigned to the fact that this was all the sleep I would be getting. I rubbed my eyes and did some whining myself. Then this sound came from her little diaper area that sounded more like Grandpa after a bad meal at Chuck-a-Rama. Could that be Kaylah? Sure enough, there was no one else in the room and she even had the little knee squat in evidence of showing her 2 year old achievement. I was not sure what to expect next, however the visions of what was trapped in her diaper brought of sense of dread that only a mother would understand.
Then this relieved look, with normal healthy coloring took over her face. She laid back down and went to sleep for four more hours. I was torn. Let the Cess pool wait while she gets more sleep? Or try carefully changing her now and risk the happy slumber?
All worked out well, she arouse around 11:15am and was just as happy and awake as ever. I had to stay awake for the other children to get off to school. A moms life just isn't fair and the only thing that made me feel better is the sugar rush I received from finally polishing off those Thin Mints.