A Note On Pulling Night Duty

Boys, There are many reasons why I hope you grow up to be just like your dad. I hope you get his kindness, his humor, his silliness, his love of trip planning, his big dreams, his financial smarts, his organization, his self-motivation, and his protectivenes. There is one other thing I hope you get (future daughters-in-law, you will thank me for this one), his willlingness to pull night duty. Perhaps because I wake up at 5:00 a.m. every day or perhaps just because I am a weirdo, I have a big problem falling back to sleep when one of my precious children (or really anything) wakes me up in the middle of the night. If I have to take my head off the pillow and open my eyes, then I might as well get up and start my day because under no circumstance will I fall back to sleep. Annoying. This is particularly problematic when pregnant (because you get up several times a night to go to the bathroom) or when having small children who like to drink three times their weight in fluids a day and wet the bed at 2:45 a.m. and wish to begin their day at this obscene hour. I'm talking to you Joe. Daddy is amazing and loves me so much that he pulls night duty every night that he is home so that I can stay in bed and stay asleep. It didn't work this morning, unfortunately, and I have essentially been awake since 2:45 a.m. (along with two other members of the household). I forced myself to lay in bed until 4:15 but then I gave up and the day has begun for me; it will be a long one! I heard Joey call out at 2:45 and per usual Dean jumped up and ran to check him. I then heard them talking and got up to investigate the situation (fatal mistake). Dean was changing Joey's clothes and changing his sheets. Dean sent me back to bed (are you taking notes, boys?) but the commotion of drying up the wet mess obviously completely woke up Joe Bug who proceeded to lay in his bed and talk to Dean for about an hour. I then heard Dean take Joe to the bathroom around 3:30 and Dean tried to put Joe back in his bed and he returned to our bed. This worked for about 20 minutes and then Joey started crying and saying he wanted to get up. aaahh. I caved and gave Joe what amounted to a double shot of milk to calm him down and Dean went back to his room to lay on his floor with him. As of right now (4:40) all is quiet and hopefully will remain so for the next few hours. I think Dean knows how much I appreciate him pulling night duty so that a day like today is a rarity for me; it's amazing how different it feels being up at 4 versus 5...there is a difference. I sincerely do appreciate his selflessness in taking on this task. I know he has to get up to go to work every day and probably doesn't enjoy his sleep interuption many nights but he willingly takes care of whatever is needed so that I don't have to. So sweet. So write it down baby boys. Night Duty is a great trick to have in your back pocket if you want to keep your wife happy. And trust me, you WANT to keep your wife happy. Sweet dreams my loves. x0x0 Mom