Mommy Radar

Elisabeth and Julia at about a month old. Ebeth is on the left and Julia's the one on the right. So hard to believe that they were ever so small.

The other night, I was sleeping soundly in my bed, when my Mommy Radar went off. Do you know this Mommy Radar I speak of? Do you other moms have this? It's when one of your children call out or make a noise that indicates "I need you!" and you are woken from a sound sleep, ready to go! When my Mommy Radar goes off it's like a snap in my brain and I get a tingling sensation that one of my kids needs me. Seriously, do you know what i'm talking about or am I just crazy? Is this a programmed instinct in all mommies from the dawn of man?

It was much stronger when they were infants. Sometimes I'd wake up right before they started stirring. As they've gotten older, it only goes off when they are upset. Or, like Julia did 2 nights ago, when they are awake at 4 and giggling and talking loud enough for me to hear over the monitor we still are using. (Hey, they are both upstairs and we are downstairs and Julia will SCREAM in the morning if you don't get her out of bed after her first two attempts to call your name and it wakes up Elisabeth who sometimes gets frustrated and will start crying because, "I never get to sleep because all Julia does is cry and I can hear it through the walls!!!").

One of the things I find humorous about being a parent with older kiddos, is that they can tell you about their dreams.

The other morning, Julia woke up crying for Evan. When Evan went to get her, she was obviously upset about something. He asked her if she had a bad dream. She told him, "Mommy take my toothbrush. I want my toothbrush back." I had to apologize when I saw her. She was not very happy with me.

One night, when Elisabeth was around 4 years old, she called me into her room. She hadn't been in bed very long, maybe 30 minutes or so, and I figured she'd forgotten a stuffed animal or needed to use the bathroom. I walked in and see her sleepily rubbing her eyes. I asked what she needed. "Mommy, will you go look in my closet for me. I think there's a lady in there watching me."

I will not lie to you, that completely freaked me out. No, I will not check to see if there is some creepy woman watching you sleep from your closet. Do I look like an idiot?! And what in the world is in there that you think some lady is in there.

Don't worry. I was a grown up. I walked to her closet and opened the doors, but not after saying a quick prayer and grabbing a hard object to beat the scary lady in the face with in case I did find her. No one was there, thankfully.

Ah...the joys of parenting children during the night.