I've Trained Them Well

Imagine having an infant who nursed every 3 hours on the clock, a 3 year old who just wanted to check on you while you were sleeping and a 6 year old who was going through the "I had a bad dream" phase.  I was one tired mama.  Before all of this, I had spent countless days and nights in the hospital from preterm labor and was constantly being woken up from beeping monitors, nurses checking my blood pressure, medicine times, false labor, real labor, etc.  As a new mom to 3, I needed some sleep already!  I know the older two were probably coming to our room because I hadn't been home in so long and didn't have the words to express their concern but needed to see that we were all there together in our home.  But I was one tired mama.  I remember crying at night thinking I was never going to feel sane again.

Don't think negative of me, but it got to the point where I pretended to not hear them when they came to my side of the bed.  Of course I heard my newborn and attended to his needs, but the other two were on their own!

What this did, unintentionally, was send my kids to Jason's side of the bed.  Every time.  Sadly, for him, they still go to his side of the bed and they are now 13 (almost), 10 and 6.  He also lets them get in our bed; I do not.  They learned that trick real fast!  The rule still applies - this is my half of the bed, that is yours.  You allowed said child to get in bed with you, the two of you can share your space.

I sound terrible, I know.  But my sleep is important to me and is also very important to the well-being of my children.  They don't want a mama whose sleep has been shafted; it just wouldn't be a pretty day!

This background leads me to tell you this.....

Last night I feel Jason leap out of bed.  He didn't say anything, just jumped out of bed and left the room.  I did ponder what exactly made him get out of bed in the middle of the night so quickly - I didn't hear the smoke detectors go off, I didn't hear children in our room, doorbell didn't ring, no phone calls, Oakley was still sleeping.  But nothing made me curious enough to get out of bed.  A bit later Jason must have come back in the room and he told me....

.... Colton had thrown up.  WHAT?  How, as this child's mother, had I not known he was sick?  Why didn't my baby come and get me?  My Colton was probably scared as he threw up all over the bathroom walls and cabinets, probably asking for his Mommy.  Why didn't Jason come and get me?  I could have at leats helped clean up.  Something!

I thought about all of this while lieing in bed, then came to the realization that my children have learned to seek out their daddy in the middle of the night.  This isn't a bad thing!  I will deal with lots of vomit today, surely Jason can handle the night-time spew session.  Right?

I've trained them all well and am SO proud of myself!  Jason's a night owl AND a morning person, this is the perfect task for him!  I need my sleep and this allows me to get the sleep this mama needs.  Let's just call it back-sleep from all those sleepless nights of nursing infants, the nights I spent sitting upright in a rocking chair hoping for an ounce of sleep when my babies were sick, the nights of scrambling to their rooms in the middle of the night when someone cried out on their sleep.  Let us not forget the ear infections, the bleeding nipples and pumping, RSV, middle of the night asthma attacks, the bumped heads and checking to make sure they were alive and especially the stomach bugs that I had surely gotten from my children. 

I always had the theory that it was pointless for BOTH parents to be up at night.  Why wake Jason when it was time for a baby to nurse?  What was he going to do?  He slept, I tended to the babies.  That's how we operated.

My love, you have proven yourself to be an INCREDIBLE father, and I proudly pass the the night-time torch to you.  Do not fear, I am not actually sleeping while you are tending to the children.  I lie awake thinking of how proud I am of you.  At one time, you didn't handle vomit very well.  Last night, you were a CHAMP!  You took Colton's temperature, cleaned up vomit from walls, counters, cabnets and drawers, calmed an upset child and put him back to sleep!! YOU ROCK!

Thank you for crawling back in bed to tell me, "Colton probably shouldn't be going to VBS tomorrow."  I was wondering what to do when my baby has been throwing up?!  I promise to check his temperature, love on him, and give him any medicine as he may need.  As an added bonus, I'll even do his vomit laundry.  If you'd like, I can even call you with regular updates!

I'm logging off for now.  Very soon, I will hear the cries and whimpers of my youngest child.  I can see a day of snuggles in my future :)

Thank you Jason for all your help, I LOVE YOU!