Stormy

Last night was stormy.  Simultaneous lightning and thunder stormy.  See the flash from all the windows, hear the bolt make that cracking sound, stormy.

When I put the boys to bed, they asked me to sleep with them.  I told them that I might, after they fell asleep, if there was room for me in the bed they shared.  I had bills to pay and some sanity to recover.

I came downstairs, logged into the bank account and was plugging in numbers when E showed up by my side.  "I'll just wait here until you're done. It's too scary to fall asleep."

I looked at him and realized they were in no way going to let me off the hook.  And I hate storms.  So, I quickly finished then offered--- for the first time EVER (well, since they were each 4 weeks old)--- to sleep in my bed with me.  Of course that turned into 20 minutes of them squealing and jumping and being absolutely nuts while I tried to squeeze in a quick phone call to the hubs.
Z screamed when I turned off the lights.  Apparently he has a real fear of the dark.  So, I turned them back on for him, which meant he thought it was time to party again, but eventually, after much proving to him that I was *serious* (by flipping out the lights any time he got rowdy), he fell asleep.  At 11pm.  At 3, I woke up to pee.  At 5, Zach woke up begging to go back to his room to sleep. 

I'm not a fan of 24/7 parenting.  It's hard.  And I'm just dyyyyyying for some minutes alone today. But they ran upstairs for quiet hour while Makenzie was still wide-eyed so I've spent the time with her. I figured after she'd been awake for 3.5 hours, it would be safe to put her in bed, but she went down screeching.  I just want to faceplant.  Hard.  In the dirt.  And then let it rain on me.

On the plus side, my bed mates weren't too intrusive.  I'm amazed at how still they lie when they're actually asleep!  I'd totally let them join me more often, but I kinda need them in bed before 11pm if we are all going to survive.  :op