Best-Laid Plans...(Subtitle: "Why Eight Hours of Sleep is Overrated when you are a Mom)

Tonight is the night. In bed by 9:30 for some light reading and quiet music. A deep breath and a stretch or two. A few good thoughts about how great it will be to get up at 5:30 and do the long run before it gets too hot. Lights out by 10:00 on the nose. Ahhhhhhhhh.....

(Disclaimer: The following is not for the faint of heart - you've been warned!)

11:30pm "Mommy, can I sleep with you??" "Just go back to bed honey, it's okay."
"But I had a bad dream!" "Okay, let me grab my pillow, I'll come back with you to your room."

11:37pm "Stop wiggling and go to sleep, honey" (Who is the slacker that keeps forgetting to trim this child's toenails that keep grazing my leg??)

11:43pm "Seriously honey, you need to lie still and get to sleep!"

11:44pm "bllllllllllllllllarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhh"

11:44:37pm Try to not panic while simultaneously comforting child who has just thrown up a massive amount while trying to clean up said child while calling down the hall for husband reinforcement while trying to be quiet enough to not wake other sleeping children.

11:47 Bathe traumatized child while hubs starts first load of laundry........(remind self that one should never leave a load of wet clothes in the washer in an attempt to get to bed early.....really, one is just asking for it)

11:51 Wrap child in towel and try to salvage mattress (Note to self: Just because child doesn't typically have nighttime potty accidents is apparently not a reason to NOT have a waterproof lined mattress pad!) Find it remarkable that 6 hours later, dinner is recognizable.

11:58 Make temporary bed on floor and get every settled back down. Listen to child claim they are sick because "Mommy didn't give them hand gel." (Anyone who knows me even remotely knows this is NOT the reason a child in my house would be sick....far from it.) Take 20 minutes to decompress and consider putting on pot of coffee.

11:59pm Decide coffee would be a bad idea considering it's still technically nighttime.

12:01am Reconsider coffee as it is now technically a new day.

12:12am Switch load of laundry. Try not to think about the article you just read about how important 7-9 hours of sleep is to the immune system. There are plenty of people walking around that only log 6 1/2 regularly and they're not puking all over themselves, now are they?? Mental fortitude.

12:15am Still pretty awake, everyone else is asleep, decide to humor oneself with a few minutes of blog reading on the computer since one is not sleeping anyway and who knows when one will be needed - no point in getting all comfortable. Push away thoughts of coffee.

1:07am Look at the clock, decide to get back into bed. Say a prayer of thanks for Clorox wipes, Tide and modern-day washing machines.

1:14am Just starting to get comfortable.

1:14:43am Round 2.

1:31am Re-pajama, re-position, re-bed, repeat laundry. Sick child claims, "It's going to be like this foreverrrrrr!!" Sympathize and reassure that a new day will dawn. New day dawning reminds one of coffee and the run that most likely won't happen.

2:10am Might as well switch another load of laundry.

2:17am Really want to go to bed, but fear the repercussions. As long as Mom is awake and up, things seem to be running smoothly.

2:25pm Climb into bed.

2:26pm Round 3. Wish I could tell you I made this up. Didn't.

Post 3:00am Get back into some sort of sleep until 5:00am when hubs thinks he hears little one getting sick. It was just a dream, little one sleeping just fine.

5:30am Little one wants to get up. Mom looks at clock and thinks of the run not taken.

7:00am Sigh at the thought of the run that would have been accomplished, contemplate how/when to formally start the day.

7:37am Coffee in hand.....sweet reward:)

9:34am 3 crackers and some water staying down.....yea!!!

9:36am Totally okay with not running and snuggling instead:)