early mornings

I remember the times when one of my kids would wake up in the middle of the night just needing to be comforted. Last night it seemed that all 4 woke up at the same time. First Brian came into my room saying he needed to use the bathroom. Ok I told him and walked him to the bathroom only to realize he was still asleep and peed in his bed. Oops accidents happen I tell him. About an hour later Dylan comes in to tell me that Ashley is crying and that makes him not able to sleep so can he watch cartoons? I tell him that there are no cartoons on at 2am. I go to check on Ashley who is sound asleep. At 3am I hear Nick knocking on the door because he needs a refill on his milk. As Im walking dreamily back to my bed I hear Ashley call out. It is 330am and Im wondering what plan is going on between these two babies. Do they have twin osmosis? They are talking and laughing even though they are in separate rooms. I decide that the best thing is to bring them into my room before they wake up the boys and my parents. I try to sing them to sleep, but apparently Im not the next american idol. Ashley puts her little hand over my mouth and Nick yells NO! I cant help but to laugh which of course gets them laughing. Now falling back to sleep is pretty much out of the question. At 430am I turn on cartoons. I fall asleep while Nick talks to the tv and Ashley plays with my hair. Finally at 630am I look to see that both of them have fallen asleep. I close my eyes and in what seemed like only a moment I hear the older boys fighting over who's turn it is in the bathroom. I look at the clock and its 745am. I get up to settle the fight and make breakfast and some very strong coffee. At 820am I send the boys out to the bus stop. I sit on my bed looking at my sweet sleeping babies and ponder do I lay back down, or do I wake them up so I can take a nap in the afternoon when they do. I decide to wake them up, because I know that as soon as I fall asleep they will wake up and never want to take that nap. I take the kids outside to play and drink my strong coffee. Now it is nap time and I cant sleep.
There is nothing more in the world that I enjoy more than being a mother.