Locked Out

I had quite the excitement this morning. Craig and Piper are in Austin. So it's just me with Brooks and Fussy Pants. The one thing I have trouble with when Craig is gone is giving up my morning runs. Running is even more essential when he's not here. When I run it gets my brain working properly. I think like a normal, happy, sane person. Three very important qualities even when your husband is home. In order to get my morning fix, I hired a babysitter to come over super crazy early. Her family goes to our church. She's absolutely adorable and always very happy. The kids don't know her too well.. but I thought since I was leaving so early the kids may not even wake up. I had a fabulous run. It was nice and cool. Very little humidity. I wasn't worried about the kids. I kept telling myself, 'what's the worst that can happen.' That may have been my kiss of death. When I left this morning, I locked all the doors and told this sweet young sitter I would use a key that was hidden outside to let myself in (the last time she came over, she had trouble unlocking the door). When I returned home from my run, I went to the little hiding spot where I kept the key. It wasn't there. You've got to be kidding me. No big deal, I thought. We can figure this out. I gently tapped on the backdoor hoping the sitter would hear me. Nothing. I knocked a little louder. Again, nothing. I couldn't see any movement, I couldn't hear anything. Maybe she fell asleep I thought. So I went to the front door. I knocked again. Still nothing. I said her name.. told her it was me.. no response. So I started yelling her name.. telling her it was me.. no answer. Well, I'm just going to have to ring the doorbell. The doorbell rings.. the dog goes crazy.. no sign of the sitter. I ring the doorbell again and again and again.. the dog is going bananas at this point. A couple of seconds later I see Brooks come down the stairs.. still looking half asleep.. trying to figure out what in the world is going on. 'Brooks!' I yell. 'Go upstairs to mommy and daddy's room (that's where Presley sleeps) and get the babysitter!' He starts crying. Hard. Clearly he has no idea what's going on and he's scared. About this time, I notice my neighbor outside watering his plants. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm a little off my rocker anyway, so this was total confirmation for him. I go back to the backdoor.. Brooks sees me there and he's still crying. I'm trying to calm him down and beg him to go upstairs to get the babysitter. 'NO!' he tells me (don't you just love two year olds). Finally the babysitters dad shows up (he had planned to pick her up to take her to school). He is in law enforcement. So my neighbor who already thinks I'm wack-o is outside, hears me screaming, then sees a man dressed in police gear show up at my door. Lord only knows what was going through his mind. Thankfully the dad is able to call his daughter on her cell phone to come downstairs and unlock the door. I told him I was a little concerned about her being able to unlock the door since she had trouble with it last time. But then I thought, considering his profession, he'll be able to break in no problem. The sitter comes downstairs, unlocks the door easily and we're able to get inside. She explained Presley was screaming and she was trying to get her to fall asleep. She had the door closed to our bedroom and because the white noise CD was on, she didn't hear anything. Makes sense. Everything is fine now. Then her dad who is cool as a cucumber goes, 'Same time tomorrow?' I said, 'Sure.' Thinking to myself, 'what's the worst that can happen.'