# Chateau de la Tobler

## Friday, February 29, 2008

### A Night in the Lives of the Smiths

Let me set the scene for you. We'll start with me: As you're probably aware, I've been pretty sick recently. I'm feeling much better, of course, but I have this lingering cough...you know the one. It makes me sound as if I'm either dying or turning into a big dog, depending on who you listen to. It scares my poor children, especially Jayson, every time I cough. I swear, he's going to have major dog issues because of this cough. Anyway, add to that a really runny nose and you've got my situation down pretty well. Both of our kids are also struggling with major congestion at the moment, which is more of a real problem with Jayson (as it prevents him from eating and sleeping) and more of a real annoyance with Katy (who has snot constantly running down her face because of it). Tyler has been doing pretty well, considering. I mean, the house is in a constant state of chaos because I haven't had the energy or the desire to clean it lately and that sort of stresses him out. (What this really means is that the kitchen is a disaster area...Tyler's good about cleaning everything else, even without my help sometimes.) But I try really hard to let him sleep as much as possible at night, because he has to go to school and work during the day and needs his sleep. This was the state of things last night as we bedded the kids down and then waited a reasonable amount of time to go to bed ourselves.
Katy was completely out of sorts last night, because, although she did take an almost three hour nap, she only got the one nap. She's in a lovely in-between stage right now, where it's better for my peace of mind and hers if she gets two naps during the day, but she's stubborn and will only take one. So, by eight o'clock, she and I were both more than ready for her to go to bed. All seemed well on that front. She went right down, with little struggle. An hour later, I fed Jayson one more time and then put him down. He still sleeps in our room right now. It was 9:30. Tyler and I could be reasonably sure that we would be able to go to bed by 10. It sometimes takes Jayson that long to fall asleep, but rarely does it take longer. All seemed to be going well, Jayson wasn't even crying.
Then, it all fell apart. Around 10, Jayson started crying. Not too hard, but enough. So, we waited. We let him cry it out. When he stopped, we gave him a few minutes to really fall asleep before we headed in to bed. Just as I was about to suggest that we go to bed, he started again. So, we did the same thing. And again, just as I was going to say we should go to bed, he started crying again. Finally, it seemed he was done. By this time, it was almost 11:00 and my sight was starting to go a little fuzzy around the edges for want of sleep. We went to bed. No sooner had we settled in, than Jayson started to fuss again. I'm pretty sure that he didn't actually start to cry, but I'm not certain. I checked to make sure he wasn't laying on anything he shouldn't be, stuffed his pacifier (which he doesn't really like that much) back into his mouth and ignored him. Since I can't usually sleep through his cries, I'm fairly certain that he went back to sleep. Just as I was drifting off, I heard a faint cry from Katy's room and I knew then for sure...it was going to be a LONG night.
Sure enough, I was up twice and Tyler once with Katy, and Jayson fussed pretty much all night long. Never really crying, just gasping for air and being generally distressed. When 6:30 rolled around and Jayson really woke up, needing to be fed, it was still MUCH too early for me. As I groggily fixed him a bottle and rescued him from his bed, I thought about how mornings like this almost make me wish we had a nanny. Someone who could take Jayson in the morning and feed him, burp him, and change him. Someone who would play with Katy, help her get dressed, and change her diapers. Someone who could clean my kitchen (sheesh, my whole apartment, why not) and make fabulous meals for my husband and children. All so that I could go back to sleep for as long as I wanted, take long, luxurious showers, and maybe do my hair and dress up for my husband every once in a while. Ahhh, that would be the life.
But I find as I look at my children this morning, Katy tucked close beside me, her thumb in her mouth and her head resting on my arm as I type, and Jayson contentedly sitting in his swing, that I wouldn't trade little moments like these for the world. I love my children, almost to distraction sometimes, and I wouldn't give up raising them myself for anything. No matter how much I think about it in the middle of a sleepless night.

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