Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Or maybe not.

There are some nights that when you crawl into bed and your lay your weary head on your pillow and you just KNOW that you will be awake, ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

It started at 8:37PM when the power went off in the whole town of Dillsburg.  I had just finished my second of two cups of coffee, hoping the caffeine would keep me awake for what promised to be a long night of catch-up on school work and other odds & ends.  Instead I found myself snuggled in our bed with both Monster and Middle Monkey wedged in between the Maker and myself.  Covered in inky darkness I laid there listening to the harmony of sleepy, rhythmic breathing.  Blessedly the Miracle and Mini Monkey had found their way to bed prior to the outtage.

Alone with my thoughts, no blogging, no Facebook, no Words with Friends to distract me...I opted to write the old fashioned way.  With a pen and paper the words flowed, inspired by the night, the quiet, the stillness of everything.  I wrote until my hand cramped and my eyelids grew heavy and then I drifted off into a peaceful sleep...

For about 30 minutes...

Until Monster Monkey was awakened with a night terror, "Ahhhh!!!" he screamed.  "I think you are trying to kill me!!!"  He thrashed against the confinement of the covers, tearing the rest of his bed mates out of our sound sleep.  When I finally calmed him down I carried all 75lbs of him down the hall to his own bedroom guided by the light of our battery operated candle, as the power had yet to come back on and plunked him onto his bed like a giant sack of potatoes where he promptly fell back into a deep sleep.
I returned to my bed and slipped back under the covers.  I snuggled up against the remaining Monkey and drifted off into a peaceful sleep...

For another 30 minutes...

Until Middle Monkey made a gurgling noise as he lay there beside me.  I sat up just in time as the gush of puke spewed forth all over my pillow, where my head had been seconds before.  There was no time to be grossed out, only time to react.  I was running, carrying his leaden 50lb body to the toilet to commence with the barfing.  Thankfully the power was back by this point.  Monkey-Maker changed the bedsheets and fetched new PJ's for Middle and having emptied himself sufficiently he curled up again in our bed and fell back asleep.  Shaken from my near miss with throw-up shampoo it took me slightly longer to return to sleepy town but I did get there...

For another 30 minutes....

Until Miracle Monkey decided he would like a little one-on-one with Mommy in the middle of the night.  I fed him his bottle and rocked him to sleep.  I was just melting back into the welcoming embrace of my bed when..."euaahhggg...."
Yep...Miracle Monkey too - all over the crib, the wall, himself - EVERYWHERE.

But he was unfazed, grinning from ear to ear, happy as a clam. 

So I gave in, got some coffee and settled in for the long haul. 

If 3 AM doesn't give you enough time to get it all done, try 2:)

If you need me, I'll be curled up under my desk, asleep. Sweet Dreams.