When I should have been sleeping...

This is likely to become a weekly post with the frequency I am up in the middle of the night. My secret hope is that by turning it into a blog post I will "jinx" myself and sleep peacefully every night from now on....bwahahahaha! Did you laugh out loud right there with me? To give you a very brief (hey, I didn't laugh there;) history, my kids were terrible sleepers for many years, leaving me sleep deprived and with oodles of late night time on my hands. They, in general, are much better now but occasionally I have nights like this one...

• 10:00 p.m.- fall fast asleep, ahhhh feels so wonderful (ok, I assume it does, lets be real nobody really knows what sleeping feels like while we are actually sleeping:)
• 12:45 a.m.- wake up. I am not really sure if the cause was a) the wind HOWLING outside or b) my husband being restless and disturbing me (shame on him). Whatever the reason I was awake and now totally aware of the wind whipping my house like Paula Dean making a lemon meringue (did you guys know meringue had a "u" in it? Well I didn't, thank goodness for spell check).
• 1:00 a.m.- shortly after using the restroom I snuggle back into bed, only to hear the tale-tell sounds of my youngest working his way out of his bed. I jump up in an attempt to stop him but I can tell by his level of alertness he is not going to go back to sleep easily, so in my sleepy stupor I decide putting him in bed with me will be the quickest way back to sleep... bad idea
• 2:30 a.m.- yeah...an hour and a half later I am still not asleep because my wiggling 2 year old is restless, he is not fully awake but not fully asleep. He keeps trying to put his fingers in my mouth (a weird thing he has done since infancy, it's comforting to him, to this day I can't believe he still tries), putting his legs up on me & scratching his legs. Finally, my slow sleep deprived brain catches on that his skin is dry and he needs lotion. 15 minutes later I talk myself into actually getting out of bed and getting him some lotion, obviously the problem is not going to go away on it's own.
• 2:45 a.m.- my husband, tired of being kicked and poked climbs out of bed to go sleep in the guest room. I feel horribly guilty for taking the "easy road" rather than forcing my son to stay in his own bed (which usually has me climbing out of mine frequently). I mumble my apology (to which he sweetly & sincerely says "it's no big deal"), he kisses me and leaves the room.
• 2:55 a.m.- finally settled in and *hoping* my brain is going to shut down I start to drift off and then hear a thumping sound outside. Recognizing it as the same sound I had heard the previous morning, I knew immediately that the wind had blown open the other side of the hot tub lid. While thinking "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!" I climb out of bed, check to be sure I am right, then alert my husband. He and I then wander out to the french doors leading to the back patio to figure out what to do. I had already used the only bungee I could find in the garage that morning to secure the heavy wooden stairs we have to climb into the hot tub to the lid, so he had to come up with something new. Standing outside in boxers and a coat he uses a rope to secure the opposite side of the lid. I call him my hero, kiss him again and we both go back to bed.
• 3:05 a.m.- I would like to say at this point that I just passed out into a deep restful sleep but alas it is not the case. Completely over-stimulated for 3 am, my brain went into hyper drive, reliving recent conversations with friends, thinking those "what ifs", questioning my logic in wanting another child and committing to more sleepless nights. I even thought that this would make a funny blog and began planning it out...yup, I'm that big of a nerd. Finally, after what felt like hours (but I think was really only 30 mins, my brain is lightening fast;) I fell asleep.
• 6:00 a.m.- My oldest wakes up ready for the day, I tell him "yeah right" and make him go back to sleep.
• 8:20 a.m.- I wake up to face my day, looking about 10 years older. Thankfully I had plans with a friend I really enjoy spending time with, if not for her I likely would have spent my day staring into space, never fully waking up, because my brain doesn't mind shutting off when I supposed to be awake...only when I should have been sleeping...

Our rigged up hot tub: (R) my side, done at 8:30 a.m Wednesday

(L) David's side, done at 2:55 a.m on Thurday...not a fan of the wind.