all i want

• 12:00 midnight I have just barely fallen asleep.
• 12:34 a.m. Sarah taps me on the head. She says, "Zach is sleeping so loud that I can't sleep." The poor kid has a stuffy nose so this is not a shock.
  
• 12:35 a.m. I drag myself out of bed to take her back to bed, knowing that I will have to lay by her until she goes back to sleep. It turns out that Zach is screaming his head off. Apparently, I was sleeping right through it until Sarah was kind enough to wake me up. For all I know, I could have been comatose through 33 minutes of his screaming.
• 12:37 a.m. Tell Sarah I will be right back and drag Zach back to my bed where he wiggles about and curls up with the sheets, sucking contentedly on his binky.
• 12:51 a.m. Return a now sleeping Zach to his bed, and note that Sarah, thank heavens, has fallen asleep independently.
• 12:52 a.m. Get a drink as I am already awake.
  
• 12:53 a.m. Go to the bathroom.
• 12:55 a.m. Go back to bed.

This brings me to my point. All I want for Christmas, my next three birthdays, Mother's Day, and my anniversary next year is to be able to sleep through the night from 10:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. (or even better like 8:00 or 9:00) with no screaming or crying children, no children tapping me on the head or climbing in bed with me or standing next to me until I jerk awake in a terror, no waking up to go to the bathroom, no waking up so thirsty I must get a drink, and no waking up to make sure both kids are still breathing. I realize that this is a lot to ask, but as I haven't slept through the night since sometime in December of 2006, I don't think that it is too much to ask. Plus, also, I might like some flowers. Or a new pair of jeans. Or a gift card to Ann Taylor Loft. Or some new shoes. Or something from my Amazon wish list.