2:00 in the Morning

Monday night, the kids didn't go to bed very well, and the next thing I knew I was finally heading off to bed at midnight (for those who don't know, I like to be in bed by 10:00 and asleep within 5 minutes of that!). Anyhow, for whatever reason Jalen Andrew awoke at 12:20, and began to wail. That's not usual; he generally sleeps through the night. But that night he was upset, and he would not settle back down to go to sleep. I tried tough love - sending Joseph and James off to my bed to sleep, while I stayed in with Jalen Andrew as he screamed himself to sleep. Didn't work. Then I tried to give him a drink of water. He took one sip, and then got really mad. I finally took him out of his crib, and went downstairs to watch The Nativity and Mr. Krueger's Christmas. No luck. Still just mad. Finally at 2:00 I gave in and gave him a bottle (I found an extra can of formula in the pantry, so I'm letting him finish that off with his bottles before I switch him over to whole milk and a cup). And he finally went to sleep. So, I've been terribly tired today, and it was too busy a day to have any time to rest. On top of my tiredness, I have also felt queasy. Joseph "lost his cookies" at church on Sunday, just as we were walking out to go home. Luckily he had come in crying from Primary saying that his stomach hurt, and so we promptly made a leftover Gladware container with no lid that had been abandoned in the church's kitchen, our "friend." It worked beautifully. I determined to go to bed early tonight, but with Erik at high council, James in a wild mood, Christine needing help with her algebra homework, and me having a meltdown over James' non-compliance and deliberate attempts to wake up the baby, not to mention the judgemental comments I was getting from child number 2 over my meltdown, I simply needed a chance to unwind. I don't know what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was heading to bed at midnight plus one minute. Aaaargh. How did that happen? But, there's still hope . . . if everyone sleeps through the night, I can still get 6 hours of sleep and maybe a nap tomorrow (notice - I did say "maybe"). 1:15 a.m. or there about, I hear crying/yelling/exclamations coming from the girls' room. I thought they were asleep a long time ago! What is going on? As I head in their direction to see about the commotion(I need the house quiet so that Jalen Andrew will stay asleep), I cross paths with Christine who mumbles as she walks past, "That's it. I'm so not sleeping in there!" Just a few more steps, and I see why. More lost cookies. No Gladware container this time. Not pretty. The kids are all asleep now. The room has been cleaned as best it can. Each child has a plastic bucket keeping watch over them in their beds (or couches in the girls' case), and I have laid towels all over the floors next to where they are sleeping. I have just loaded Rebekah's sheets and bed clothing from the washer into the dryer, for a nice hot sterilizing session. Now that they are tossing around in the dryer, I can finally retire to bed (the extra one downstairs so that I can hear if anymore "cookies are lost" - Christine, like me, has been complaining of an incontinent tummy). And what is the time, as I log off and head for bed? 2:25 a.m. of course. Aaaargh! How did this happen . . . AGAIN?