A looooong night..........

At 10pm last night my husband was hunkered down and ready to go to sleep.  I was trying to finish a book I've been reading for almost 6 weeks (pure fluff...), when Mick started to cough.  I went in to give him an inhaler dose, and he insisted that I lie down with him till he fell asleep.  So, I got my book and read by his closet light until he was asleep.  After about 15 minutes I swore he was asleep and got up gingerly from beside him to go back to my bed.  As soon as I opened his door, he opened his eyes, and patted his pillow, and would NOT take no for an answer, so I laid down again.  Read a few more pages.  Thought he was asleep again, so got up again and he woke up again!!!!!!!  Since he was still coughing a bit, I brought him downstairs and got him settled on one couch, while I lay on the other couch to finish my book.  No sooner had I read the last sentence, when I heard Kiley upstairs crying.  I knew that I would probably get to take a nap this afternoon, and that Tim would not, so I went up and got her and brought her downstairs with me.  I turned out the lights, and laid her on my chest, and she promptly fell asleep.  Until Mick started coughing again.  Here is how the rest of the night went:

He:  cough cough cough cough cough cough

She: pops head up to see what's going on

Me:  I try to hold inhaler with spacer on Mick's face long enough for him to actually inhale some albuterol.  He blows out instead of sucking in.

12pm.

She: cries because she can't get comfortable

He: in between coughing fits, pats her back to comfort her

Me: I think about making a bed for her on the floor, but decide against it because she can now climb the stairs, and the gate at the bottom does not fit well.

1am

He: is sound asleep, sitting upright, on my feet.

She: is sleeping comfortably on my chest

Me: freezing because he has my blanket, and the door from the hall to the garage/playroom is open because Katie is sleeping in there.  Afraid to get up and either close the door because Katie might freeze, or turn up the heat because it might make it harder for Mick to breathe, or pull up the blankets because I might awaken #s 8 and 9!

2am

He: Still sleeping comfortably on my feet

She: wakes up fussing

Me: I decide to move with her to the other couch with the warmer blanket!

3am

He:  sleeping comfortably on the couch

She: sleeping on me, with her knee in my neck and her elbow in my eye

Me: wondering if Tim will get the job at the Pentagon or in Quantico, and how much our utilities will cost when we have bought a house, and the kids leave the windows open with the a/c on, or they leave all the lights on.....

4am

He: still asleep

She: making some strange sucking sounds over my shoulder

Me: I get up to make her a bottle when I discover that she is sucking on the mouthpiece to Mick's inhaler spacer

5am

My Marine wakes up, makes coffee, asks if I got any sleep, and kisses me goodbye

He and she sleep on

Me: I remember another evening when I didn't sleep - New Year's Eve, two years ago (see blog entry), and decide that there are much worse things then losing sleep while I am caring for my children.........

6am

The dawn of a new day

12:53pm

Going to take a nap!