And Someday... I'll miss this.

Saturday (Family Project Day):
11am.
Of course, I try to do what any non-pregnant person would do and after a couple hours, my body is screaming at me to remember that I'm actually six months pregnant and not made to do normal activities for the time being.
1pm.
I finally get lunch made, and everyone called. Sitting down for half an hour causes amnesia to set in, and after lunch we get back to work. Then it's time to start putting kids down for naps. They have to go down in phases or else they keep each other awake all afternoon.
3:30.
All the kids are in bed for naps (they're not all asleep yet). Sir convinces me that I should take a nap too. My body agrees. I know it's no used trying to sleep while some kids are still awake and spend more time keeping myself awake anticipating no nap because of it. Finally, I crash.
5:30.
I wake up. At least I was smart enough to think about dinner at lunch time, and know what I'm going to make. I can't believe the kids are just starting to wake up! It's been ages since I got that good of a nap in. The kids all wake up and I finally get started on dinner.
7pm.
At last! Dinner is served. The kids love it for a change and they take forever to be done in order to stuff at much into their little tummies as possible. But it's Saturday night - they need baths, I need to whiz through the house on a 'tidy mission'.
8:15.
I draw the bath, order them to pick up the worst of the stuff on the floors in their bedrooms, and then plop them all into the tub. They play/fight/splash/etc. while I sweep the kids' bedrooms and the living room. Then I scrub Butler up, dress him for bed, give him his toothbrush and send him to Sir. Clean the bathroom mirror. Scrub PC up and send him out to get ready for bed. Clean the toilet. Scrub Dolly up and send her to get ready for bed. Clean the bathroom counter. Scrub Emma up, send her to get ready for bed. Drain the tub. Oversee the bedtime process.
Late.
The kids are all in bed, and are asleep. The house is presentable. My Sunday school class work is prepared, I know what I'll make for lunch on Sunday. It's been forever quite a while since Sir and I had a 'date' so I leave the next day's lunch for the morning, and I make a spicy shrimp appetizer snack and we stay up another hour watching a video.
Very late.
We go to bed.

2:36am.
"Mama!" I struggle to consciousness and follow the summons. It's PC.
PC: Mama, Butler was calling you.
He was? I didn't hear anything. And I know the monitor is on. I check on Butler. He'd lost his soother. I tuck him in, and tuck PC in too. I go back to bed.
3am.
"Mama!" It's PC again.
Me: What's wrong, PC?
PC: I'm scared. I need my promise.
I go find an old car key, loop a ribbon through it and give it to him since I'm not about to go looking for his other key at this time of night. Then I tuck him in, re-tuck Butler and stagger back to bed.
3:38am.
"Mama!" Again - PC. I stay in bed hoping he'll settle down on his own. Instead, 50 seconds later, he's standing next to my bed tapping my shoulder.
PC: Mommy, I's scared.
Me: You're scared of what, PC?
PC: I don't know.
I'm about to lose all semblance of sanity. The spicy appetizer is not agreeing with my getting up and down so many times and I'm considering the whole bottle of Tums as an option.
Me: PC. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong!
He starts to cry. Sir realizes I'm past the 'I need some help' stage, and takes over.
Sir: What's wrong, PC?
PC: I'm scared.
Sir: Of what?
PC: I don't know. And my mouth hurts... a lot.
At this point I realize he probably has a sore throat. I'd been battling one for the last couple days. I mention it to Sir as they head back to the boys room. Sir tucks the boys into bed again and comes back to bed. I'm so tired that I'm in tears. I don't believe we've seen the end of our nocturnal visitors.
4am.
Emma stands at my bedside, taps my shoulder and cheerfully asks, "Mommy, can I get up?!
Me: No. Go back to bed, it's still night time.
She bursts into tears and I follow her back to the girls room. As she crawls back into bed, PC pops his head out of the boys room.
Me: Why are you out of bed again?
PC: I heard somebody was up.
Me: Nobody's staying up. Go back to bed.
I tuck Emma in and head to the boys room to re-tuck PC. Butler is standing up in his crib as if he expects to get up for the day too. I tuck the boys into bed and go back to bed nearly sobbing because there's only a little over 3 hours left until the alarm goes off. Sir spends the next 20 minutes calming me down.
4:30ish.
I looked at the clock one last time. If the kids called after that, I never heard them. At least none of them came tapping on my shoulder that I know of.

Epilogue:
It's hard to believe that someday I could miss nights like this. Maybe I won't remember them. Right now, I'm just going to go to sleep. Only Butler took a good nap today, so hopefully the kids will be too tired themselves, to come visiting tonight!

THE END