3 am

Do you know where your children were at 3am? I can tell you exactly where mine were.

James was sleeping blissfully in a tent at Camp Borein, Boy Scout camp. He LOVES camping. He LOVES Scouts. By 3am I am sure he was sleeping off a crazy game of Manhunt that ended around 11pm. Scouts is FUN!

Riley was sleeping in my bed. When Dad and James are off in the woods, Mr. Riley MUST sleep with Mommy. The past few weeks he has started to have a little fear of the dark. For some reason he thinks there are monsters that will eat him. Now, I have told him many times that there are no monsters AND he wouldn't taste good, to no avail. Riley fell asleep in my bed around 9 pm and was fast asleep at 3am.

Madeline...hmmm... at 3 am she was awake... wide awake. She was not very happy that her mother wouldn't play with her either. I rocked her and put her back to bed around 3:30 am. At 4 am she was letting her displeasure be known again. I checked on her to find a VERY full diaper. So, Miss M's diaper was changed in the dark. I rocked her again and lovingly put her back to bed. Now, normally, Miss M. is a great sleeper.... By 4:45 am she was ticked... now I am not saying that to exaggerate. This little lady was angry. She wanted NOTHING to do with bed. I chose to forego rocking and to hold her over the crib. This peanut decides to point to the crib and start shaking her head NO. Who taught her that?? haha At this point we had both been up for 2 hours. My tired brain is saying... if she sleeps now, you have a shot that Riley won't wake up until 7 am or so .... 2 more hours of sleep should take the edge off. (Wishful thinking) I kiss my sweet girl and lay her down.

At 5:20 am you would have thought someone was beating the child. She was SCREAMING. It was not a scared scream... it was an angry scream. I waited about 10 minutes before entering her room. Oh my goodness she was angry. I picked her up and held her and rocked her until 6 am. That is when I gave up.

At 6 am I made a bottle and let my girl stay up. Now, I am not allowing her to fall asleep before nap time. I have visions of us going backwards with this whole time change thing. She is one tired girl.

By 8am tired delirium had set in. Madeline is 14 months... yes I understand this, but being as tired as she is, she had lost all common sense that her 14 month old body once contained. She was now hitting a wall.... wanting to be held then wanting to be put down. Throwing herself on the floor in fits of laughter and then tears. She was pooped... exhauted.... spent. She can't focus. She has little circles under her eyes.

So... at 3 am I was awake. I have been awake since then. I feel bad for Madeline having this struggle today.... though I am thankful that these struggles have been few and far between. She is normally the supreme trooper, sleeping for 11-12 hours at night and taking a 2+ hour nap. One sleepless night won't kill us. I did have to say a few Hail Mary's to combat the negative thoughts that were pulsing through my brain around 4:15 am, though...

So... let's all hope that tomorrow at 3 am we will ALL be fast asleep... snug as a bug in a rug, in our warm, cozy beds, dreaming of happy things and not waking up until the sun rises. (A girl can dream, right??)