A Good Night's Sleep??

A good night's sleep? What the heck is that?? I am so tired this morning. I don't think anything short of going back to bed for another couple hours will help at this point.

My husband and I have the same conversation every single morning without fail. It's a part of our morning routine, and it usually goes something like this......

My husband: "How did you sleep?"

Me: "Ok"

My husband: "Just ok?"

Me: "Mmmm Hmmmm"

My husband: "You didn't have a good night's sleep?"

Me: "Not really"

And with a kiss on the cheek out the door he goes.....

This morning was no exception.

Last night, I tried to go to bed early -- I honestly tried. The girls were sleeping (or so I thought -- my first mistake). So I thought I'd call it an early night and relax in bed with some tv and a book before drifting off to dreamland. I handed my husband the remote, kissed him goodnight, and headed upstairs.

I knew I was in trouble as I headed up the stairs and heard my oldest daughter in her room singing the Little Mermaid soundtrack at the top of her lungs. I opened to the door to find all her stuffed animals lined up on her bed and Nani prancing around the room with a blanket around her shoulder. "Mommy - I'm a princess!". (Sigh.....) "Yes dear, I know you're a princess, but you know - even princesses have to get some sleep - especially when they have school in the morning." I tried to reason with her - telling her that now that it's nighttime, it's time to sleep and not sing. She agrees and goes back into bed. I tuck her in, give her another hug & kiss, and breathe a sigh of relief as I close her door and head into my room.

Twenty minutes later, I'm snuggled deep in my pillows, waiting for Mr. Sandman to come, when I hear it again, very softly at first, then increasingly building to the crescendo...

"Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun......"

(Sigh....) I throw the covers back and stalk across the hallway, throw open the door and ask Nani if she sees any sun right now. After convincing her again that mermaids sleep when the sun goes down, I try once again to go back to sleep. And I somewhat succeeded for about an hour....until my husband came upstairs to go to bed. I guess the sight of my body half-hidden under the covers wasn't his first clue to the fact that I was sleeping. Laying there I didn't realize that taking off your shoes and socks was such a noisy activity or that he felt the need to stand up after taking off one shoe and then sit down heavily on the mattress to take off the other shoe. I don't think the Japanese dive-bombed Pearl Harbor with that much force. He finally got himself settled, but I had yet to really fall back asleep as the rest of my night went something like this.......

11pm - Hubby begins another sneak dive-bomb attack trying to get comfortable.

11:15pm - Hubby is out cold, snoring loud enough to wake the neighbors 4 doors down.

11:20pm - Another dive-bomb attack as he rolls over after I poke him violently in the ribs to stop the snoring.

12:00am - I hear another round of snoring and as I ready my elbow for another rib shot - I realize that it's our 14-year old geriatric German Shepherd. I toss a wad of socks at her head....snoring stops.

12:45am - I hear soft whimpers coming from Nudge's room which quickly turn into baby babbling. I go in to check on her and realize that she's "sleep-babbling". I give her a pacifier and go back to bed.

2am - I roll over to find a dog nose in my face. Our 1.5 year old German Shepherd decides NOW that she has to pee. I lay there playing dead, hoping that hubby will get up to let her out. No such luck as the sounds of his snoring are drowning out her whining.

3am - It's time for the 3am showing of the Little Mermaid. I'm beyond trying to reason with her. I stalk across the hall yet again and tell Nani that if she does not go back to sleep this very instant she will never watch the Little Mermaid movie again.

5am - Hubby gets up and starts to get ready for work.

5:30am - Hubby's alarm goes off because SOMEONE forgot to turn it off before he got into the shower.

5:35am - I finally roll out of bed and stumble downstairs....totally giving up on sleep and just praying for a hot cup of coffee.

5:40am - I'm ready to cry because SOMEONE unplugged my coffee pot last night to plug in his phone charger, so my coffee did not autobrew. I now have to wait another 20 minutes for my coffee.

6am - Hubby comes bouncing down the stairs, showered and refreshed....ready for his day.

6:15am - I finally have that hot cup of coffee and am counting down the hours until the girls go down for naps!

So the next time my husband asks if I slept good, I think I'll just tell him - we have two dogs and two kids.....what does HE think?