Wonderings and Wanderings

I woke up this morning with the equivalent of a hangover.  I blinked at the ceiling, perplexed.  What did I do last night?  What year was it?  Where was I?  And then I knew. 

"Moooooommmy, can we PLEASE go downstairs and get some cheerios now?" piped one of my early rising children. "Yeah, come onnnnn, moooommmmmmy, we are sooooo hunnnngry." shouts another. 

I groaned and looked at the clock on my dresser.  5:30. 

The events of the night come back slowly at first and then start rushing back as I pull my tired body out from the warm covers. 

First, I stayed up too late last night...11:15 the clock read when I climbed into my bed.  Darn you bills!  Darn you Modern Family!  Darn me for talking to my husband for the first time all week!  What was I thinking?  I never stay up that late! 

And then the waterfall of sleeplessness began to pour.  And pour.  And pour.

• 2 am:  My 2-yo wanders into my bedroom.  I am awakened to a whisper of "mommy?".  I open my eyes to see a little blond-headed child sucking his thumb and holding his hair with the other hand.  I sit up, scoop him up and deposit him back into his bed with a dreamy "I love you, go back to bed".
• 2:30 am:  And repeat.
• 3 am: My 4-yo is shaking my shoulders telling me that he forgot to put on his pull-up last night and has had an accident.  First of all, how in the world did I miss THAT one??  I pull my ever-increasing tired body out of bed and change his clothes.  Changing the sheets seems like climbing Mt. Everest at this point, so I nod sleepily when he asks if he can just sleep in my bed.
• 4 am: The 2-yo is BACK.  My brain is no longer coherent enough to get the message to my legs to move out of my bed to return him to the proper bed.  I give in and pull him into my bed. 
• 4 am - 5 am: I am kicked, elbowed, head-bonked and pushed between my 2 children who are both residing on MY pillow. 
• 5 am: The baby wakes up.  I drag myself into the nursery and feed him for a few minutes and put him back in the crib.
• 5:15 am: On the way back to my room, I am greeted by my 5-yo who is ready to start the day.  I groan and fall back into bed where my 2 other children have heard their oldest brother and are now also awake.  I drift back to sleep for what is apparently only 15 minutes.
• 5:30 am: Cheerios are demanded.

Ironically, my 11-week old baby is my best sleeper. 

I should be working right now....calling Intuit Support to discuss Quickbooks file compatibility for a client, but my brain isn't functioning well enough to process the information and translate the broken English that the customer service rep speaks, sitting halfway across the world.  Instead, I'm falling asleep while typing about how tired I am.  I wonder if I'll still wander my halls in the dark when my kids are all grown up, just out of sheer habit.  I wonder if I'll go to bed when I should tonight - at 8.  I wonder if my kids will all sleep better.  I wonder if I will even know what hit me when I finally sleep again.  I wonder.........