Rain, rain go away

We had a major thunderstorm last night. But the booming thunderclaps and the heavy rain and the whipping wind didn’t wake me; what woke me up was a slamming door, the pitter-patter of little feet and a nine year old screaming, “Mom! Mom! Mom!”

Rebecca is not a fan of the thunderstorm. Doesn’t matter if the storm comes during the day or night she does not like them. And she lets everyone around her know she doesn’t like all the noise the storms bring.

So last night she wanted to share her disdain of storms with me in my bed at 2 in the morning. I was so tired I couldn’t even open both eyes much less get my legs in motion to get up and take her back to her room. I just had her climb in bed with me. And this is where the problems began.

Rebecca is a tiny little girl. But that child takes up the majority of whatever bed she’s in. Within a minute of her being in bed with me I lost any access to my pillow and had to share with Sean.

Then the kicking kicked in. I know she’s asleep and has no control over her legs but that doesn’t take away the sting of her quick jabs under the covers.

After about 45 minutes the storm died down and I was wide awake so I moved her back to her bedroom. It was three in the morning and I thought, “At least I can get another 3 ½ hours of sleep.” Famous last thoughts. Fifteen minutes later another round of thunderous booms came through and my youngest was back in my bed.

I couldn’t send her back; she was petrified. But I knew Sean only had an hour left to sleep and I didn’t want to disturb him by sharing his pillow again. So I thought, “I just have to lie still right on the edge of my pillow for an hour. Then Sean will be up and I can have his side.” (Yes, Sean gets up at 4:15 am. Isn’t that sad?)

The hour passed, Sean got up, I rolled over and slept soundly for two hours. At 6 Rebecca was wide awake wondering if my alarm was going to go off in time for me to get ready to take her to her last day of school. “Is your alarm set? My alarm’s set, Mom.” All I could think was, “Then go back to your room and listen for your alarm and let me sleep for the last few minutes I have!”

I must have said it out loud because when I rolled over to turn off my alarm she was gone. But her precious Teddy was still in bed with me, sharing my pillow.