If I Had a Dime...

... for every time that I've said this to my husband over the past few years.

"If it's not one child, it's always another. No fail."

You've said it too, right? If one child gets well, the next will be sick soon. If one child is happy and content finally, the next will need water, food, questions answered, tears wiped, and boo-boos kissed. If one child is finally sleeping all night, another will need tending to many times the next night. I think it's some sort of law like Murphy's Law, but I haven't come up with a name for it yet...

We moved Brigham to his big boy bed right away when we moved into this house a couple of weeks ago. {It just seemed logical to not have to put the crib back up for a few months and then disassemble that to assemble the new bed.} He's done amazing with the transition, sleeping well for naps and over night. The last week, though, he's been waking around 3-4 times a night for water or just an MIA binky. {or three!} I've been tired again in the morning, dragging for hours or even the whole day after waking many times at night again. He's finally slept through the night for months {thank you, Lord!}, but getting smart again with Mommy coming to his aid for little wails and grunts. I told Mark two nights ago before bed that I was getting behind on sleep again and dragging in the morning.

That night, sweet Brigham didn't make a peep! {If I don't count the one time before I went to bed that he was up...} But, alas, Bella of all children was up FIVE times that night! I can usually count on her to sleep like a rock for 11 hours or so. Thirsty, tummy hurt with childrens' Tums & thirsty again, potty {big surprise after the first two wakings...}, bloody nose and sheet stripping, and something else that I can't remember, since I'm pretty sure I was sleep-walking through that episode at that point. Hmmm, funny... Not so. At least there was some comic relief during the tummy hurting waking. After fetching Bella water and returning to her room, she candidly told me {don't tell her I told you!} that she had "a pooter as loud as Daddy's i-phone". Okay!? "Well, that should help your tummy feel better." The things children come up with in the middle of the night... *chuckle*

Fast forward to last night... Bella slept like a pro again, but Brigham wanted his turn again in grand fashion. I don't think I fell asleep until well after 2 or 3 A.M. I'm wondering now if his four canine teeth coming through had something to do with it. {Genius me didn't think of that last night!} Or maybe he was just being a little stinker... I'll never know.

Either way, it's all part of parenting. {This mysterious law that is...} Either way, I always like to think of it as some part of God's sense of humor to keep us parents on our toes. That makes me feel a bit better to think of nights like that in that sense. Now, if I could just come up with a name for this phenom to make me feel even better...