Midnight Happenings

Clay has been out of town all week and Will has been sick with a lovely combination of hand, foot, and mouth, an ear infection, and teething. That has meant six consecutive nights of waking every hour.

It hasn't been pretty.

To give you a picture of my life/thoughts in the middle of the night...

1:00 a.m.: Will wakes up crying. I stumble blearily over to his crib, only to run into the rocking chair, door frame, and somehow end up in the bathroom. I turn on the light and stare at myself for a few seconds before I comprehend that I am in the wrong room. I go back into my bedroom, get Will out of the crib and mercifully manage to find the rocking chair without killing myself.

2:00 a.m. Will is crying again. I jump up and walk around the room, still searching for the crib. I find it by stubbing my toe on it. I pick up Will, discover he has a high fever, and turn on the light. Will, hyped up on sheer delerium, grins at me and begins to babble wildly. We have a very serious discussion about Tylenol vs. Motrin and diaper rashes. I find myself asking him bizarre questions and expecting him to answer. We settle back into the rocking chair and I rock him until his fever cools. As I am rocking him I think about how three children is a perfect number.

3:30 a.m. More crying. This time muscle memory takes over and I find the crib while still asleep. I don't fully wake up until I am sitting in the rocking chair and Will bites me. He immediately apologizes by wiping the contents of his nose on my neck. I kiss his hot little forehead, feel the wieght of his full diaper in my hand, and attempt to muster the energy to give him a bath. I then realize that the dampness of his back is not sweat from a breaking fever-it is a leaking diaper. I kiss his head again and think about how it doesn't seem right to have an odd number of children but that I would need to invest in a caffeine i.v. I give Will one last cuddle and stand to go run him a bath. Will looks up at me and gives me a gummy grin. I smile and then he throws up. All over me. We both get a bath. Odd numbers are appealing again.

4:45 a.m. Fever has finally broken. I put Will back in bed, stumble to my bed and fall asleep. Five minutes later I hear Will laugh and he starts calling for "ba-ba" (bottle). I make him a bottle, he drinks two ounces, and then falls asleep. I lay him back down and go back to bed. I realize that the sun will be rising in about ten minutes and since my children are all solar powered it is fruitless to try and sleep any longer. I make coffee and work on my Bible Study. Sure enough, Layton comes out of his room bright eyed and bushy tailed right as I am closing my Bible.