The Lainey Blog

Last night I only got 4 hours’ sleep. Yes, that’s right, 4 hours. As a mother of four kids aged 5 and under, I’ve come to expect a level of night-time compromise. But hey, come on! Even superwoman has her limits.

However, while some nightly disturbances are well, expected, last nights’ movements were abstract to say the least. ALL of my children woke me from my slumber. This can happen sometimes, but not very often.

1.00am

I awoke at to the sound of my 10-month-old crying for help. Hmmmm… that’s him looking for his soother. So into the room I went… only to be greeted by my baby’s legs sticking out the side of his cot. Both legs, stuck!

Oh dear!

I manage to free his legs (poor little thing!) and tuck him in nice and cosy.

Great. Back to bed. Ah bliss! Back to the land of nod….

1.30am

My five-year-old makes her way into my bedroom. She’s just been to the bathroom. She climbs up onto my bed, sits beside me and says ‘Mummy, guess what?’ Really Emeline? Guessing games at 1.30 in the morning?!

‘What?’

She sniffles again, harder this time, little air actually makes it through her stuffy nose. She opens her mouth to speak, pauses for dramatic effect and…

‘I. Actually. CANNOT Breathe!’

Oh dear!

So I do what any sleep-deprived mother incapable of rational thought might do at 1.30am. I tried to pick her nose for her. When that didn’t work, (because why would it??) I sent her off to bed and told her to breathe through her mouth.

There! Problem solved.

3.00am

I don’t know what woke me. I can’t remember. But for some reason I found myself going in to the girls’ bedroom. And there I see my two-year-old, sitting in the middle of her bedroom floor. It’s a most unusual sight, like something you might see in The Ring, only miles cuter.

‘Bell what’s wrong?’ I asked.

But no answer.

Freaky.

Either she’s half asleep, or I need to run for the hills. So I lift her into her bed, and tuck her in nice and cosy.

4.00am

Footsteps!

Who’s this now?!

Bella. Wide awake. No! I am NOT getting out of bed again!

So I roll over to the hubby’s vacant side – he’s away in Milan on business *poor thing*. But his side is a LOT more comfortable than mine (possibly because it gets slept on more).

‘Come on in Bell’

And up she gets. And I get to spend the next hour listening to the wheels on the bus… And I also have the pleasure of being kicked in the stomach, back, and the face.

Awesome.

But then she starts to fall asleep…

5.30am

Now my three-year old is awake. But he’s awake for the day. Sigh!

You see, Jamie doesn’t just wake up and potter round. Oh no, when Jamie’s awake, EVERYBODY’S awake.

So what does this mean, exactly?

Basically this means lights on, hop into the baby’s cot (whether he’s awake or not), pull the room apart, bring in all the toys, move the furniture… you get the picture. You see, when Jamie wakes up, he wants to PARTY!!. He sets the mood; green lighting (courtesy of the green bug we bought from ikea), music (an iphone swiped from the nearest sleeping adult), and snacks (he actually goes downstairs, raids the presses and brings biscuits up to his room for everybody).

But this also means mammy has to get up soon, and make bottles and breakfast. And change nappies, and make lunch and more bottles, and more nappies…..

Lainey 😉