The Bedtime Battle.

Bedtime kicked my tail tonight. And not in the "I'm so exhausted, I just want to fall into bed way."

T and M have had their share of nights. M especially has worked her charm and bedtime magic more than once and I fully admit we've at times let bad habits creep in.

I'm not even going to talk about the fact that we spent nearly a year letting M come upstairs in the middle of the night and sleep next to our bed. On the floor.

The going down part has it's moments.

E is the easy one for now. Lay her down and to sleep she typically goes.

I used to brag that H was easy and scoff at friends who told of issues.

But lately we've been too lax and created a bedtime monster that pulls out all the stops.

As a baby, he'd nurse or have a bottle, burp, lay down and go to sleep.

Easy as pie.

And then in his babyhood transition to toddlerhood the routine switched to a book, a song and prayer.

And sleep he'd do.

Once he moved to his toddler bed there were a few shaky nights but the ease continued. And then his bunk beds and still he remained.

But somehow, someway we've gotten too lax.

There are requests for drinks.

Trips to the bathroom.

Trips out just to see what everyone else is doing.

We'll hear a crash. A bang. A yell.

Sometimes we'll go in and see what's going on but sometimes I can't even go there.

I know my limits.

Sometimes I admit more often than not we've allowed him to win and if he's not tired enough allowed him to watch a DVR'ed episode of Curious George or SuperWhy. Knowing full well tv before bed isn't a good idea but needing the time and for convenience sake having that 20 minutes to put E down or transition T and M, who are busy thinking of miscellaneous bedtime injuries to need icing and medications. Or better yet burning questions.

Yeah, I'm not sure why I didn't tell you earlier, but my arm feels like it's broken and my throat is throbbing when I swallow. It's been like that for two days now. They'll say. And I only wish I were kidding.

What happens when we die? They'll ask hoping one, or both of us go into a long winded explanation. They're really grasping and hoping for something when they pull this old favorite out; why did my mom and dad get divorced? Or better yet, will we ever all live in one big house? My mom, my dad and so on.

With H mostly NOT napping anymore, many nights, especially his nights after an afternoon at school, he falls into bed about 6:05pm and doesn't wake 'til morning.

Honestly, I love those nights. Is it bad that I admit that?

But some nights, like tonight, he catnapped in the car and was wired.

He had his bath. His book, his prayer, his song.

And then he needed a drink.

He needed to go to the bathroom.

Pretty soon an entire bookshelf of books was heard crashing to the floor.

Just about the time M was walking upstairs to tell us for the 7th time that the dishwasher was running and kind of bugging her. She's also hearing someone coughing, could it be, a ghost?

I wanted to scream.

J may argue I did scream.

We've created a mess. Even if it's not every day. Even if it's only one day or three days or whatever that week may be.

Unless H is exhausted from no-nap and an afternoon of school and falls into bed just barely hearing half of his bedtime book we've allowed him to push the envelope. Something I've scoffed at, loudly declared that I'd never do. Yep, I did and it isn't looking pretty.

We've allowed T and M to give us laundry lists of ailments that need attending to and even when we've vowed to combat this have slacked once again.

It's time to kick it into high gear.

Bedtime is bedtime.

Our evenings are short and sacred and we can't be taking them up with the constant bedtime struggles on the nights H isn't quite tired enough yet and the nights T and M are pushing the buttons between health ailments and inquiring minds would like to know.

So this is my public admission that this household doesn't have the bedtime act mastered these days. And I'm taking responsibility for the habits we've allowed to creep in out on convenience.

Do you have any suggestions or advice to get all four kids in bed and keep them there?

Here's to sticking to the rules and better bedtimes tomorrow.

(By the way, in the time it took to write this, M has been upstairs 3 additional times and E made a surprise guest awakening. T managed to trash his bedroom while 'reading' and H rolled into the wall twice causing M to run upstairs thinking our house was being invaded.)