Oh what a night....

It all started way back when, on Mother's Day (i.e. yesterday). Now you have to know that, although our house is really bonkers during most days, once we get the kids wrestled into bed at night, it's pretty calm around here. I've worked darn hard this year to get PB's bedtime to 7 pm. Still working on getting Batsheva and Chana into bed around 9. But I digress. Back to the wonderful day where mothers are feted and their children behave like little angels....

Sam was working on work stuff. I was working on soap company stuff. I needed help. By the time he could help me and we worked out what the heck was the problem with our printer, it was 1 am (hi Fern! Which explains why I was writing to you in Israel then. How could I pass up the opportunity to speak in almost real-time?).

And Batsheva was roaming the upstairs very upset about not being able to sleep well, and would we PLEASE come upstairs (needed her across-the-hall teddy bears, I guess).

So we finished and got into bed. Only to find that Goldilocks, er, PB was already there. And would not leave for love, money or threat of all potential for a goodie the next day being taken away. So Sam and I went into the guest room. But that bed was toooo little, being only a single, and had a lack of pillows. So we made our way back into our room and tried to move PB into her sleeping bag on our floor. Which worked for a little while, until she half woke up and discovered our nefarious scheme....

Then Ilana woke up. It was now 4 am. Nursed her, which took a surprisingly long time (maybe it was close enough to daytime for "first breakfast") and put her back in her crib at the foot of our bed (no room for her to stay since PB was already there). She wasn't having any of it. Have you ever gotten to the point of exhaustion where you find it totally possible to fall asleep with a screaming child less than three feet from you (I bet most of you have, actually....)? She finally stopped screaming and took a different tact. She stood up in her crib, looked over the edge endearingly and said, "All Done" ("Ah Dah"). So we smushed her into our bed and got the final 1.5 hours of sleep until it was time to get Batsheva up for school.

On the bright side: Chana slept the whole night. And the birds.

p.s. from the next day: in a totallyn pathetic display of exhaustion, I fell asleep on the floor of the YMCA during PB's gymnastics lesson (Ilana was having a snooze in her carseat, and Chana was only too happy to take a break from doing her math with me). Sure felt better after, though!