By the Light of the Silvery Moon

I really don't know if there was a moon that night - or if it was silvery - even though I was up most of last Thursday night on into Friday morning. Want to know how my night went? Because I really want to share.... This is what mommy-ing is about sometimes - being the go-to girl at any hour of the night, no matter what the request, and trying not to be cranky about it....

11:45pm - Fall asleep sitting in a chair in the den while trying to catch up on the shows you DVRed because prime time is not ok for children to watch.
2:30am - Wake up in chair, realize bed might be more comfortable, so tiptoe upstairs to get into bed.
2:45am - After changing into pjs, peeling contacts out of tired eyes, and brushing teeth, quietly crawl into bed so as not to wake hubby.
3:00am - Finally get back to sleep.
3:15am - Wake upon hearing footsteps of 4-year-old making his way across the carpet to your bedside. Due to extremely tight tucking-in by Daddy, combined with wiggliness of a 4-year-old (even in his sleep), the sheets have come off of said 4-year-old's bed, and he's requesting that they be fixed so he can go back to sleep.
3:30am - After making bed by the soft glow of a blue fiber-optic "nightlight", return to own bed and try to go back to sleep.
3:45am - Walk to son's room to turn down his CD player. He's listening to a "Between the Lions" story on CD to help him drift back off to sleep - but the whole neighborhood does not need to hear it.
4:00am - Walk to nursery to retrieve howling 20-month-old from her crib. Bring her back to bed with you (no comments on co-sleeping - just not in the mood, folks) to try and get everyone in the house sleeping at the same time.
6:00am - After hours of walking between the master bedroom and the nursery - rocking, bouncing, patting, shh-ing, and trying to get the shrieking toddler in your arms to finally go to sleep, you resign yourself to sleeping upright in the rocker and not trying to put said toddler in the crib when she finally goes to sleep.
6:15am - With snoring toddler still attached, gingerly make way back to master bedroom, put an extra pillow on the bed to maintain a semi-upright position, and slowly, slowly lean back onto pillows to try to get some rest without waking toddler. Remember to set the alarm clock for 20 minutes later that usual so you can get some rest.
6:30am - Drift into tired-but-still-alert mommy-sleep, while trying to figure out how to make up for those extra 20 minutes you are trying to spent asleep.
6:55am - While still asleep, toddler gently rolls from your arms to a comfy spot beside you. Ahh, you can finally rest easy....
7:00am - Alarm clock begins buzzing, after a generous 5 minutes of true sleep. Time to get the preschooler up, dressed, fed, and out the door!

Of course, it's not like this every night. And, truly, I was perplexed about the real reason for all of this unrest. My kids had both just finished a round of antibiotics and seemed to be feeling better. By Friday afternoon, my daughter was running a fever. Only then did the lightbulb come on and I realized my sweet little girl was just not feeling well. For my son the perfectionist, sheets that come off of the bed is a BIG deal - but he can't go to sleep without the tuck-in, either, and Mommy just doesn't do it right. It's good to know that they do rely on others - but good to know that they still need Mommy, too. :)

By the way, if you were doing the math, you realized that I got about 3.5 hours of interrupted sleep. Thankfully it's not like this all the time!