and that's what broke baby bird's balloon.

So, my husband was supposed to be home around midnight on Thursday. He called and said his flight was postponed a couple hours and that he should instead be home around 3:00am. And then he added that I should go ahead and try to rest and also, since this was a late flight and there was bad weather that should he die that I should not close on the house in Texas but instead take the equity and move back near my parents.

I slept like a baby after that.

Oh, I jest.

I actually stayed up and waited for him because that is what I always do. And by the time he got home at 3:20 am I had his funeral completely planned including the minister (T. Elliff), the songs(I was hoping I could get Steven Curtis Chapman to come in person and sing a few) and a couple of his friends who I would ask to say something nice about him.

I'm serious.

So we were pretty exhausted come Friday morning. He had to leave around 7:30 that night for a flight to New Orleans so we tried to spend quality time with him that day. And, of note, my son lost a tooth. This is important later on in the story.

So, about an hour after my husband got to the airport, they announced his flight was delayed. I'm sure he was shocked. Okay, so maybe not so much. But it was really late when he boarded the plane and I'm just sure I asked him to call me when he got in. Since I had taken a benadryl around 8:00, I was able to drift off to sleep in an effort to rest a bit until he got in. I woke up around 1:00am and realized he had not called yet. I called him and it went directly to voice mail which it usually does when he is in flight.

So I went back to sleep.

Around 3:00am my daughter came in because she was having a bad dream. At least she said she was. She seems to only conveniently have these when her daddy is gone and she thinks there is a chance I'll let her sleep on his side.

And it usually works.

So at that point I realized that he had not called. I figured either his plane had crashed and he couldn't call or that he was exhausted when he got in and didn't call. I figured I couldn't change anything by calling him except to wake him up.

So I didn't.

But I lay there and contemplated his death once again to the point that I decided at 4:00 am I must call him.

And so I did.

He was just fine but said didn't call because he didn't want to wake me up. Very sweet, but he didn't know I was anxiously awaiting his call. So all was good and I finally went back to sleep.

5:55am cue son, who had lost his tooth. He was distraught because his tooth was gone and the tooth fairy didn't leave him a gold dollar.

Darn that tooth fairy! She was so tired she forgot all about the tooth under his pillow.

And he wouldn't let it go. He wanted answers right then. Why would the tooth fairy take his tooth and not leave him anything? Why? Why? Why?

All my pleading for him to go back to bed and mama will deal with it in the morning would not work. So I dragged my drug laden body out of bed and went to investigate the Great Tooth Fairy Mystery of North Georgia.

Fortunately I found the tooth on the floor. I explained that the tooth fairy must have not been able to find the tooth. I proposed that we put the tooth in an envelope and try again Saturday night. He was placated and we both agreed we should try to stay in bed until at least 7:00am.

So on Saturday night I had two goals.
1) Get that tooth and exchange it for a gold dollar (that's what we call the dollar coins).
2) Get at least 6 hours of consecutive sleep.

At 10:30 I went to bed (was waiting on my husband's phone call after his conference) with a good 2 hour head start from the benadryl.

I had a good feeling about that night and I went right to sleep.

2:00 am - cue daughter with "bad dreams". I heard her start to cry but was hopeful (in my drug induced state) that she would go on back to sleep. It was no good. I heard the crying get louder which meant it was coming for me. I was so tired that I readily agreed that the best place for her was on daddy's side of the bed. Problem solved, back to sleep.

4:00 am - cue middle son with "bad dreams". I heard him start to cry and he actually cries out, "mommmmy...... mommmmy......". I give it a couple minutes because by this time I'm so tired, I'm just not for sure I'm going to make it. And then I hear it getting louder. Yes, that's right. He was coming for me.

So I hopped out of bed and was greeted by not one, but two boys. I ask the oldest what he is doing and he says "I'm not staying in there if he's not staying in there." I do the mental math and figure out that with 3 children in my bed, I'm likely to end up on the couch. And I like my bed. It has one of those foam toppers on it.

So I made my decision. All the boys back to their room. I wrapped up the middle child and lay down beside him and asked him about his dream. He said he dreamed that his brother locked him up in jail. We had just been reading about Joseph so I could see where this would have come from. But still, not the worst dream I could think of.

He was just starting to settle down and almost asleep when my oldest discovered that the tooth fairy had come. He had to get up right then (4:30am) and put his coin with the other two he was saving.

Are you kidding me? Go to sleep child!!!

After several minutes of searching and not finding his secret stash of coins, I convinced him to go back to sleep and we would find it in the morning.

It took a little longer to get middle child settled down and he had just gone to sleep when I heard from my room..... MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good grief!

She's going to wake the other two.

And then she gets louder and suddenly she is standing in the middle of the boys' room. MOMMMMMYY I can't sleep without you!!!!

I finally got her back to my bed and everyone settled in around 4:45 am.

And which point I felt like I was trapped in the B Book by the Berenstains'. You know the one that starts out with ..

Big.

Big Brown.

Big Brown Bear, Blue Bull, Beautiful Baboon, blowing bubbles biking backwards, bump black bug's banana boxes and Billy Bunny's breadbasket and Brother Bob's baseball bus and Buster Beagle's banjo-bagpipe-bugle band.....

....and that's what broke Baby Bird's balloon.


Yep, that's exactly how I felt.


I'm thinking about giving everyone benadryl tonight.


Just kidding. Or maybe not.


So is it just me? Or does anyone else have nights on end where sleep is elusive? If not, what is your trick? Desperate minds want (need) to know.