What a night!

With Brad being in Utah, I figured we’d have a very relaxed evening around here, reading, eating cookies, and going to bed early. Lucy hadn’t had a nap, so I figured I may be able to get her down earlier than her usual 11:00pm.

I had just started making cookies with Charlie and Lucy when I noticed Lucy really needed to go to the bathroom. So, I decided to seize the opportunity and encourage her to sit on the toilet. She wasn’t going for it until I told her she could eat a bowl of ice cream while she sat there. That worked, but only if I was in there with her. So, I spent the next hour sitting in the bathroom with Lucy, both of us eating ice cream, but never accomplishing the “going potty” part. Then, Lucy decided she wanted to take a bath, so I sent Spencer to supervise while I finished the cookies. Once that was done, it was after 8:00pm and I was anxious to get Lucy to bed. I told the boys they could get themselves something healthy for dinner and then have some cookies.

Lucy threw a massive tantrum before bed because she wanted to eat cookies too, but I had already brushed her teeth and I figured the bowl of ice cream was enough, so I said “no” and insisted she get into bed. She was really upset about it saying no less than a million times, “I want to eat my cookies! I want to eat my cookies. . .,” until finally she fell asleep around 8:40pm. I was thrilled, thinking the next few hours would be great, just sitting in bed reading, until I drifted off to sleep.

Whenever Brad is out of town, I usually let the boys take turns sleeping in my room. I feel a little more secure having someone by me. Not that they could really “save me from a bad guy” or anything, but it puts my mind at rest. So, as soon as I crawled into bed, all the boys started fighting over who got to sleep in my room first. As that was being decided, Charlie was sobbing about nobody being willing to have a Pokemon battle with him. My patience was wearing thin as the clock was ticking and my idea of a “relaxing evening” was dissipating.

Thankfully, Charlie and Sawyer left to a have “a battle” and Spencer fell asleep in the recliner. Yeah! Quiet at last. I read for a few minutes and went to bed around 10:15pm. At 10:40pm, I awoke to terrible screams. Lucy was crying for cookies again! I got her settled and back to sleep and slipped back into bed. Spencer was in our bed by this point and Charlie and Sawyer had just dragged their sleeping bags in to crash on the floor. A few minutes passed and Lucy started screaming again. This time, I just brought her into my room and said she could sleep in my chair. Moments later, she was in bed with me as well, coughing up a storm. After listening to that for ten minutes, I brought her some cough syrup and water. Then, Charlie came whimpering over, saying he was having nightmares and wanted to get into bed too. At this point, I contemplated sleeping elsewhere. The entire family was in my room, four in the bed, and I was relegated to a twelve- inch space on the very edge. What’s wrong with this picture? Needless to say, I didn’t get out of bed until 10:00am when I called Brad to see how his night went?! He told me he was still sleeping and asked if he could call me back. Sure, no problem. Get your beauty rest!

When I came down this morning, the boys were “sneaking” Game Cube time and Lucy smiled while telling me, “she ate her cookies.” Good for her. I decided to break all norms and have three cookies myself for breakfast. Man, I really let my hair down when Brad’s gone.