Everything seems to be happening so fast lately, I am having a terrible time keeping up with day-to-day stuff. Our house is a pit, I know each child is letting go various things they know they should be doing (for example, I know Prankster is not brushing his teeth the four times daily his orthodontist has prescribed), the van needs new brake pads and the dogs need shots and grooming.

It is that time of year when the school year is wrapping up, baseball is in full swing, birthdays and holidays are never-ending and every person in my house seems to have a severe case of cabin fever. I always start to feel overwhelmed at this time of year. Days aren’t long enough to get everything done. The slightest thing can set everyone on the path to Cranky Town.

Soon, the kids will be home all day, destroying the house and eating us bankrupt. Summer is completely different experience with kids. It’s still good, it’s just…not the lazy, relaxing season it used to be, I guess.

To top it all off, my next class starts this week. “Financial Law.” Yeah, that will be a barrel of laughs. At least the sun is shining, the birds singing today.

I’m going to tell this story about last night, and then I am going directly to bed. By the end, you’ll see why.

9:30-10:00: I finally put Monkeyboy to bed. He gets up four times between 9:30 and 10:00, and each time I manage to get him settled back into his bed. I fall asleep before my head hit the pillow the last time, and it was a deep slumber.

Midnight: I wake up with Monkeyboy wrapped around me, and we are both drenched with pee. When I say drenched, I want you to understand that the quantity of fluid was remarkable for his almost-four-year-old body. I could have wrung my clothes out. Anyway, I get up, get the wet clothes off of us and dry ones put on, and we go to Monkeyboy’s bed to sleep. Monkeyboy is barely conscious for any of this. However, in his sleep, his little hand continues to find and pull on my hair. This is a strange behavior of his that he’s had all his life. Touching people’s hair comforts him. Anyway it wasn’t comforting me.

1:00: I give up and go to my bedroom. My side of the bed is still drenched and Bucket is still snoozing happily away on his side, which I shall henceforth refer to as “the island.” So, exhausted, I grab my pillow and curl up on the floor.

1:20: Monkeyboy comes in and curls up next to me. The hair pulling commences.

1:40: Bucket gets up to go to the bathroom and almost steps on my head.

2:00 Prankster comes in. He had been pretty ill all evening and he has started throwing up again. Inside, he’s still just a little boy and he wants his daddy. After explaining to Prankster and Bucket why they both aren’t going to fit on the island, they both lay on the floor on the side of the bed. We all start to doze.

Every ten minutes or so Prankster wakes up feeling yucky. He’s loudest when he’s sleepy and sick. For anyone that knows him, you understand that he’s loud to begin with.

3:00: I have realized that I am too old to sleep on a floor. Of all things, my hips hurt. And, frankly, I have a headache from all the hair-pulling. Then I realize what an idiot I am. The island is empty! So I make my move, leaving Monkey boy on the floor asleep. Ah, bliss. A warm, dry bed (as long as I lay still in one spot), and no one is touching me in any way. I begin to sleep almost immediately.

3:30: Monkeyboy makes his way onto the island. But first he trips over Prankster and Bucket, knocking his head into Prankster’s braces-filled mouth. Yelping ensues. I pull Monkeyboy into bed and leave Prankster to Bucket. I can only do so much here.

Of course, the hair pulling starts again immediately, but I’m so tired it doesn’t even matter. I fall deeply asleep.

5 a.m. (twenty minutes before what I consider to be my FIRST alarm):  I awaken to Monkeyboy pulling on my face. As soon as my eyes are open, he says, “Mommy, get up. It’s time to play.”