30 for 30: Day 25

Hey - did you know that some 3 year olds don't sleep through the night?  Heh, heh, heh...I sometimes I forget how great my kids sleep.  Until I hear other parents talk about their children's sleeping habits - then I count my lucky stars.  My random act for the day was comforting a little sleepless 3 yr. old while his mommy was at the hospital having a baby.

As it turns out, we were on overnight duty for my friend's little boy while she was at the hospital.  SLUMBER PAR-TAY!  Well...not so much slumber, but definitely a whole lot of party.  I had a youth group activity that night, so Kenta was at home alone putting the kids to bed. However, when I came home at 9:00 p.m., all the kids were still awake in their room.  By the time I went up a few minutes later, Thomas had finally conked out, but Abby and our little friend were still going strong.  Somersaults are incredibly fun on a floor mattress, didn't you know?

Anyway, once I separated the two and sent them to their respective beds, it was quite clear that this little guy was sad and missing his mama.  I sang him some songs and rubbed his back and he was soon asleep.

Victory!  I said to myself.  That was easy!  All the kids are asleep and I will sleep wonderfully tonight!  Bahahaha!!  Famous last words, right?

Ha!  Not so much.  At 4:00 a.m., I was woken up by the sound of not one, but TWO crying boys knocking on the door.  As I shook off sleep, I realized Caroline was sleeping next to me and remembered that at some point in the middle of the night, she had gotten up and I got up with her and brought her to bed.  I woke Kenta up to either grab the boys or Caroline (at this point both Abby and Caroline were still asleep....and I wanted it to stay that way).  So ran off to put the boys back in bed while I put Caroline in her crib.  Then I went into the kids' room.  Thomas and his friend were back in bed, but not back to sleep yet.  Our little pal was crying that he missed his mommy and Thomas was crying because his friend missed his mommy.

So, I once again began soothing the little guy back to sleep.  It took a bit longer, but he finally quieted down and fell asleep.  I had *almost* made it out the door when I heard,

"Mommy...I'm hungry."

Doh!  NO!!!  The sun's not even up! Go back to sleep!  I thought to myself.  I was desperate for more sleep myself at this point, so I climbed in with Thomas and snuggled with him.  Thankfully, he forgot his hunger and fell back asleep.

45 minutes after the first knock, I was back in bed.

I wish I could say that everyone slept in and I recovered from the chopped up night of sleep....but I did not.  Not gonna lie.  It was a rough, rough day.  But you know what?  I was happy to do it.  Happy to help a friend in need.  And her little guy was a TROOPER.  He hadn't ever done a sleepover before and he was superb.  A little sadness is totally normal.  But he fell back asleep both times.  And was the only one that slept in in the morning.  Go figure.  No matter how sleep-deprived, my kids are allergic to sleeping in.  Just like their mom.

But as rough as my night was, my friend had it rougher - she delivered an ELEVEN pound baby!  Wow!  I mean every word of it when I say I got the better end of it last night.