A Sleepless Night

So, last night was one of the craziest nights we have had at our home...ever. Let me start with the fact that Nathan was flying, and I knew he would be gone until the early hours of the morning. So, we usually put the kids to bed at about 8:30, but since Nathan was gone, and Brianna took a late nap, I let her stay up a little bit later. So, by 9:30, we had completed the bedtime routine and Brianna was in her bed, and I was attempting to put Nathan to bed. Then, Brianna comes out of her room and tells me that she is awake now. She did not look one bit tired. I told her she had to go back to bed, and so I took her back to bed. Now, I cannot remember Brianna ever getting out of bed once we put her down, so this was a very unusual thing for her to do. So, back I go to trying to get Nathan to bed, and here comes Brianna again. We repeated this process four times, and she still continued to get out of bed, just as happy as can be. Even the thoughts of getting a spanking (and the actual spanking) did not deter her. I told her she needed to close her eyes and go to sleep, and after she woke up she could come out of her room again. So, she cried, and about 20 minutes later, she came out and told me, "I closed my eyes and now I am awake!" So, of course since she had closed her eyes, she had slept, and it was OK to come out of the room, right? So, here we go again. By this time, it is after 11pm, and no one had gotten to sleep yet. I finally told Brianna to lay in her bed and wait for me while I put Nathan down, and then I would come lay down next to her. By the way, the reason Nathan wouldn't sleep is because he had slept all day because he had a fever, and then his fever finally broke that afternoon, and he was all full of energy again. So, I finally fed the baby, put him in bed- screaming and crying- and then went back to Brianna. She finally fell asleep within just minutes of me being in there with her. I finished cleaning up while I waited on the baby to cry himself to sleep. Then I went and took my shower. By this time, it was after midnight and I was pretty keyed up due to all the activity. So, I sat down to write a few cards and pay a bill and stuff like that. So, 12:30am comes around, and the baby wakes up. Now, normally I would have let him just cry it out, but since he has been sick and it was time for his next dosage of medicine anyway, I went ahead and got him. I was rocking him back to sleep at 1am when Nathan finally came home. I related this story to Nathan as he decompressed after his flight...it always takes him a while to be ready to go to bed after getting off a late flight. Anyway, we went to sleep between 1:30 and 2am. Crazy night, huh? But, it isn't over. I had been sleeping peacefully for about two hours when I hear "Mommy!" right next to me. OK, Brianna had gotten out of bed and walked all the way downstairs in the dark at 4:00 in the morning. So, Nathan grabbed her and put her in bed with us...which I am very against. Not that I expect it to never happen, but our children have never slept in bed with us, not even as infants. So, of course I was getting no sleep. Not that it would have mattered, because 30 minutes later Baby Nate woke up. So, I was laying there in bed with Brianna awake between me and Nathan, Nate upstairs screaming, and I just could not believe the night we were having. So, I picked up Brianna, took her to her bed and told her to sleep the rest of the night there. Then, I went and got the baby, fed him (I honestly think he was just really hungry because he was feeling better and he hadn't eaten well in about four days) and then I finally got back to sleep at about 5am. I actually got three hours of solid sleep before I had to get up for the day. Needless to say, we all took a good nap today! Can you believe how crazy that night was???