No such thing as a good night's sleep

You know that blissful time right before you fall asleep? Every muscle is relaxed, your brain has settled and you're all warm and cozy. It's the time of the night that unless you are woken up during it, you probably don't even know it exits. This is the time my son decided to wake up at last night. It was about 12:15 a.m. and it happens just about every night.

Saturday, my husband and I were able to get away for a night out alone. We went to Atlantic City for his company's after Christmas Christmas party and it was the first night we were away from home without any kids for at least 18 months. A friend offered to watch both kids for a single night. Almost every person we know will only watch one at a time, so when she offered to watch both, we jumped at the chance.

After the party, we settled to sleep in our hotel room. I was so excited to sleep past 4 a.m. "Imagine," I said, "we will wake in the morning without the sound of a screaming baby. We'll be able to get at least eight hours of completely uninterrupted sleep."

No dice.

I woke up at least four times during the night. It was brief, I just opened my eyes, looked around and reminded myself I wasn't home and fell right back to sleep. My husband woke around 4 a.m. and did the same thing.

The alarm clock I set for 10 a.m. was in vain because by 8:30, we were both wide awake and disappointed we couldn't stay asleep any longer.

I guess my mother was right; we should plan not to get a good night's sleep until the kids are at least 18.