Is it Friday yet?

I know there are going to be moms out there who think this is nuts (and it is), but it is my husband, 9 times out of 10, who wakes up with the kids during the night. This may seem extraordinarily unfair since he is also the one who has to be up at 4:30 in the morning, but I promise there are two very good reasons why this is true. The first reason is because even if I DO get up to take care of the baby/toddler, he would still get up with me anyway. He is a ridiculously light sleeper. I can not tell you how many times I have heard the baby/toddler and dragged myself out of a deep sleep to take care of things, only to come back to the bedroom and find my husband wide awake asking me how everything was. Eventually I said that enough was enough. Why were we both waking up when it only takes one of us to take care of the baby/toddler?! He agreed that was silly, but he is such a light sleeper he wouldn't be able to sleep through it. At that point he volunteered to do the waking up. Seriously. That is just the kind of man I married. The second reason that he does the waking up is because he knows what kind of ugliness I can possess when I have not gotten enough sleep. I am just not one of those people who can function (well) on 4-5 hours of sleep. So my husband loves me (and himself) enough to know that if I have gotten sleep, everyone is happier.

(At this point I want to include a disclaimer that I am referring to your average, run-of-the-mill nighttime interruptions. If illness on the part of either my children or husband are involved, I'm up. When Elijah has a night terror, I'm up. I'm not selfish, just sleepy.)

So this brings me to this week. The week of transition. The week that we have moved the baby (after 5 months of false starts) into the nursery. Overall it has gone well. The nights have gone relatively uninterrupted. Bedtime takes a little longer as they each lay in their respective beds and make each other laugh (what are they laughing at? Oh, well), but eventually they fall asleep. The problem has been coming every morning around 5:45. It is about that time that Elijah, lying in bed, will open his eyes and, like a 7-year-old does on Christmas morning, realizes there is something far too exciting going on to roll over and go back to sleep. "Bruber" is in his room!! Sleeptime has ended for all in the house. My husband has already left for work, so he can't rescue me from this one. I must get up.

So today was day 4 of this. Try as I might to go to bed earlier, it just doesn't happen (not to mention I keep carrying the false hope that tomorrow will be the day he doesn't do it), so with every day that passes, I am adding to my sleep deficit. And as I mentioned before, this does not bode well for my mood or my energy level. God has been recieving the same prayer from me every morning this week...that I would be successful in living in the Spirit and not the Flesh, so that my lack of sleep will not matter. And He has been faithful to answer my prayer. My mood has been good. I have had enough energy to get done what needs to be done. But ladies....I am tired! And it's only Thursday.