My Anti-Sandmen, circa July 2007

Oh Good Lord my family hates me. Just something I say in the hours between 10 pm and 6 am, when no one sleeps without Mommy’s constant presence.

Last night’s agenda:

10 pm: Greg’s cold gets the best of him, so he collapses after taking Nyquil (effectively taking him off the Team).

11 pm: After my fourth try, I get Kelly to sleep. WHAT got into her last night? Suspecting there is mischief in the air, I go to bed.

12:00 am: Sara wakes up crying in an unusual manner. Check on Greg who is on Sara duty….nope, he’s in a coma. After crawling into bed with her, I realize she is scratching from head to toe. She’s on an antibiotic. NOT good news. Dose of benadryl, crawl back into bed with her and hope for the best.

1:20 am: The phone rings. I dash down the hall and grab the phone next to Greg’s head, who has regained semi-consciousness (I emphasize semi based on his ability to reason), and realize it’s Randy calling. I can make out his voice, but not the words. It sounds like he is eating chips? It’s Randy’s number on caller ID, but Greg’s insisting it’s not Randy’s number. His family’s area code, after all, is not 304. I was unable to convince him that area code on caller ID was 703, not 304. Never reason with Greg at 1:20 am. He once told me the cats were “going industrial” in his middle-of-the-night-state-of-mind. I surmise Randy’s phone has inadvertently called us, no emergency (unless he’s out of snacks) and hang up.

2:00 am: Sara finally responds to benadryl and falls asleep. I doze next to her until 4. I get excellent sleep in a twin bed with a fidgety 2 year old. What? You don’t?

4:00 am: Back to my own bed.

5:30 am: Kelly wakes up for a bottle. I convince Greg to feed her, as I’ve essentially been asleep for 90 minutes. Ahh, yes, sweet slumber.

6:00 am: Greg returns to bed and reports she ate the entire bottle.

6:45 am: Greg is in the shower, but has forgotten to turn off his alarm. One more thing to make sure I’m not sleeping too many minutes in a ROW.

7:00 am: Greg kisses me goodbye.

7:45 am: EVERYONE IS UP! And man, I feel SO GREAT!