Sleep. It's a precious commodity in this house at the moment.

Generally, all the children have been pretty good sleepers. Aside from the horrific time when Alex was a baby, you would expect to put all three to bed and not hear from them again until morning. Zachary especially, has always been an excellent sleeper.

Times have changed. All three, for the past month or so, have been waking at least once a night. At LEAST. Amelia seems to often have bad dreams, and will wake screaming, dragging me from sleep, my heart racing, stumbling out of bed to her to try to get rid of whatever unseen monster is occupying her thoughts. Alex has a habit of waking very early- sometimes four thirty, sometimes five. Sometimes, two. Two AM. And not going back to sleep. He will stay in bed, but get progressively more vocal.

And Zachary. Zachary takes the sleep (or lack of) cake. Last night for example, I got six hours sleep. That six hours was broken four times by the youngest member of our family. Not needing anything more than a stroke on the head. Sometimes, the three of them tag team. Last week, I got up EIGHT times in the one night.

I wonder how one can keep going on such small amount of sleep. Surely it must come to a head one day. Perhaps those people who suddenly go postal have been sleep deprived and stressed for years.

But, for today, my eyes are heavy, my head hurts and I am sadly lacking in motivation.