A Long Night

It was a long night.  A Very. Long. Night.

Yesterday was Thursday, so those who know me well know that I was awaiting the girls’ bedtime all day long so I could get to the all important weekly task of watching Survivor.  I basically look forward to next weeks episode as soon I finish watching this weeks.  And it is like that every week.

Now, you all know that I am a shining example of a top-notch mother who would NEVER cut corners.  Especially not for a TV show.  For example, an 8 o’clock bed time would never become 7:45 just so that I don’t get too far behind on the wonderfulness that is Thursday night TV.  No way.  Not in this house… (Seems like I’ve written about lying recently.)

Anyway, it is 8:03 and my husband and I are SO ready to get this party started.  Kids in bed?  Check.  Popcorn?  Check.  TiVO queued up? Check.  And then comes the pounding.

Ah… nothing like the sound of two-year old fists banging on a door after bedtime.

Up the stairs I go because my 6th mommy sense has told me she has turned on the light, which she can turn on quite easily but can never seem to turn off, making sleeping pretty impossible.  And that, of course, makes mommy and daddy time impossible.  My mommy sense was right (don’t act so surprised) so I flipped the switch and began to leave.

“Poo-poo, Mommy.  Poo-poo.”  she tells me.  Well, I’m about 98% sure this is a bedtime stall tactic, but since we are in the process of potty training, and she had such a good evening in that area, I didn’t want to risk it.  So I got to sit on the bathroom floor for a while waiting for Zoey to do, well, nothing.

When I had her wrap it up and get her “pin-cess peejammies” (princess pajamas) back on she starts in on “I’m hungry Mommy.”  Let me tell you about my child- she is ALWAYS hungry.  The girl would quickly snack herself into childhood obesity if I let her.  All day long I hear “Cheerios Mommy” or “orange Mommy” and “crackers Mommy.”  Of course when I say “no crackers right now, it’s dinner time” I hear the scream of “NO DINNER!!!!!!!!”

This stall tactic did not work, I don’t let her snack after bedtime.  So I get her back in bed, covered the light switch with tape (we have had this little problem throughout the night for three nights now), tell her I love her and go back downstairs.

Of course the baby started crying at that point.  Why wouldn’t she?  We’re clearly creating an un-funny SNL sketch (also known as an SNL sketch) so this fits in just perfectly.  I made the decision that this was a sleep fuss and she would be quiet again quickly.  I got a break this time, and this actually happened.  Go mommy sense- twice in one night!

At 8:36 we finally got to start our show.  And it was good. ( Survivor fans- I have never love-hated anyone as much as I love-hate Russell!)  At the end of the show it’s looking like I can check my email and various social accounts before turning in early.  I’m chuckling as I write this.  That’s funny.

As I was finishing up on the computer I heard a rather loud thump.  Followed by wailing.  I run upstairs to discover Zoey has fallen out of bed.  She has a toddler bed, so it was a short fall and she wasn’t hurt, but she was definitely scared.  I held her and rocked her until she calmed down and then put her back to bed.

I came back down and played some pretty pointless computer games, waiting for Zoey to fall back asleep, as she was once again up and playing around.  I finally resigned around eleven, and let her come in our room.  She watched Horton Hears a Who, jumped on our bed, asked us what we were doing about a thousand times, and was beyond happy.  We put her back in her bed sometime around midnight. Maya woke at 1:30 for a feeding, and was up for the day at 5:23.  Like I said, it was a long night.

Normally I hate nights like this.  I wake up yelling at the coffee pot that it isn’t brewing fast enough, I am grumpy at my husband and kids, and I let it affect my whole day.  Last night though, as I was sitting in Zoey’s dark room kissing her scared, tear stained cheeks, I realized that as unglamorous as being a mommy often is, it is simply the most divine thing I have ever been blessed enough to enjoy.  And enjoy I did.

I enjoyed Zoey wiggling and giggling as she layed on our bed, I enjoyed cuddling with Maya as I admitted that we were up for the day.  The hard nights will someday end, and with them will go the tender moments when I can show my kids that I love them no matter the hour.  So I try to cherish these moments while I still have them, no matter how long the night may be.