Long Nights

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This is the 7th night in a row we've been up with a sick boy.  The first 4 nights it was Micah, who had a terrible cough and stuffy nose, then the 5th night it was Micah and Jaden, and now it is mainly just Jaden (Micah is still sick but sleeping through the night now).  We have been playing "musical beds" each of these nights.  This is what Saturday night looked like:

8:00pm- put boys to bed in their room with humidifier on
11:00pm- Micah woke up with stuffy nose and came into our room
12:00am- I went to bed with Micah on our bed, Martin fell asleep on the couch
12:30am- Jaden woke up, and Martin held Jaden on the couch
1:00am- Martin went to sleep with Jaden on Jaden's bed
2:00am- Jaden woke up and came into the bed with me and Micah
3:00am- Martin came into the bed with all of us, and I woke up to go sleep in Jaden's bed
3:30am- Jaden came into bed with me (in his own bed)
5:00am- I went back to our bed with Jaden
6:00am- Both boys woke up.  Martin got up with them and I crashed until 8am.

Crazy, right?!  Our days and nights have been mixed up and I feel like we have a newborn in the house or something!  (Definitely makes me NOT miss those days).  When our nights are all mixed up like this, it is hard for me to focus during the day. All I want to do is sleep.  Micah is still coughing but sleeping through the night now, but Jaden is not doing well and just threw up all over his bed (right before I wrote this) from having a coughing attack.

Honestly, though, I am actually thankful, because since Micah's surgery last May he has hardly gotten sick at all. This was the sickest he has been in 10 months, and it didn't turn into an ear infection!   I remember we used to go through this at least once a month.  Jaden rarely gets sick, so it is unusual to see him like this, but he handles it really well.  (He hardly cries at all and always asks for medicine.  I give him teething tablets instead and suddenly he feels all better) :)  I know that all the studies say we shouldn't give our kids medicine when they are under 4 years old, but I practically have a CVS pharmacy in my house.  I do give my kids medicine to help them sleep through the night when they're sick. I don't like the effect the medicine has on their bodies (makes them a little "loopy"), yet it helps them to sleep when they otherwise would be up crying.  I use children's Motrin, children's Tylenol cough and cold, and Little Noses (not all at once, of course).  The humidifier is our life saver - I see such a huge difference when we use that.

I'm so thankful that God has given me a husband who is a total night person and does not mind staying up with the boys at night when they're sick. He has this unusual ability to hold them upright AND be able to get a good night's sleep.  I don't know what I'd do without him.  I am a mess when I don't get sleep and feel it for days.  We have had a team-approach to our kid's sicknesses and I'm so thankful for that!

Here's to hoping tonight we get a little bit of rest (although it is not looking that way right now) :) Off to play another version of "Musical Beds"! :)