Nap time

When is the point where napping goes from being a dreaded childhood event to a luxury that seems too good to be true? I think it must happen sometime around the years you go to college. You know you have to nap during the day so you will be fresh for all the late night partying.

There is a small window of opportunity if I need to get the four of us (the kids and I) down for a nap on any particular day. Today the kids and I were outside and Hailey started to get fussy. I realized it was about 12:45, so time for baba and nightnight for her. The boys asked me if they could run around back and play with Luke and Nathan who were outside. I told them they could for a few minutes while I put Hailey down then they were coming in for resters as well. Spence is home sick for the second day in a row that began with a trip to the ER on Saturday as soon as the last guest exited Ev's party. He just has a virus but was complaining of a headache, sore throat, ear hurting and running a high fever. He has none of the symptoms today but a nap would still do him a world of good. I get Hailey down just shy of 1pm. I go out on the deck and am semi-mortified to see my kids plus Luke and Nathan plus their Mom outside in our backyard. OK - feeling like a horrible Mom who just lets her kids run wild. I apologize to the Mom (who is super nice and says she was just out there because Nathan still needs a lot of help navigating around our monster play set - she didn't use the word monster) and tell the boys it is time to pick out a book and take a nap. They came running in without another word so I was thinking that this nap thing was going to happen after all.

I got Evan into his sleep diaper while Spence stripped down to his unders. He always sleeps better in this unders - his words. Evan picked his new Star Wars book to read. Spence came running in with a Toy Story book that had A LOT of words. I didn't think it was worth the fight so we read the books. Finally ready to go to sleep at about 1:20 or so. I tuck the boys into their beds, turn on fans etc. I went back to my room and got under the covers. I feel like I am getting a touch of what Spencer had (scratchy throat, achy body) so I really wanted to nap. I think I slept for about 20 minutes when I heard Hailey start to cry. I willed her with all my might to go back to sleep and after a few minutes of crying out I think she did. Then I could hear sounds from Evan's room - his Star Wars birthday card playing music, his voice undoubtedly playing with his bed full of creatures and guys. A few minutes later I hear his door open. Now I am starting to get annoyed. Just sleep for the love of God! I get up and go into the hall to find him whispering EVAN in an annoyed tone. I run into Spencer in the hallway who informs me that Evan is in the bathroom because he has to go poop. I tell Spencer to get back in bed and take a NAP! ( I thought he was sleeping for sure! My main reason for chasing down Ev was that he didn't wake Spence) Evan is done going poop so I tell him he is coming to my room to sleep with me (get him away from his room of distractions). He plays the fake sleeping game a couple times and laughs at me and then is out cold and snoring. YES! Just as I start to fall asleep again...Hailey starts to cry. It is 2:30. She is not stopping. Her nap is SO done. Bummed, I sneak out of bed and get her and bring her downstairs. About 3.5 seconds later Spence is calling "MOM" from the top of the stairs. He didn't sleep a wink.

So here we all are. I guess I should be happy for my 20 minutes but it just seemed like more of a tease than rest. Evan is still up in my bed snoozing - he will be until 4:30 I bet - I am SO jealous.