Some nights

Well, this weekend will prove to be more memorable than we anticipated.

Phoebe’s fall on Thursday has made our lives a bit more interesting. And our precious sleep hours have diminished further the last two nights.

The worst part for the ever-energetic Phoebe is having her arm in a sling that prevents her from moving the way she wants to, and she’s very uncomfortable. The fact that she can’t sleep the way she wants is torture.

Between Faye waking up every couple hours to eat and Phoebe waking up every couple hours, crying in pain, we got little sleep during the Thursday-Friday overnight hours. Last night was worse.

Phoebe would wake up. Kates or I would settle her down. Return to bed. Faye would wake up, crying. Kates would take care of Faye. Phoebe would wake up again. At one point, they were both screaming. Kates headed to Faye’s room, and I went to Phoebe’s.

I got up around 1 a.m. to answer Phoebe’s crying and spent the next hour at her bed side, trying to calm her down while she pounded on her bed – with her good arm – in frustration. We read stories and sang songs. Finally, I agreed to sleep in her bed with her. But that ended abruptly when she started complaining I was taking up too much room. … At around 2:30 a.m., Phoebe started crying loud enough again that it woke Kates. A few moments later, she appeared at Phoebe’s door, we switched places and I headed back to our bed.

It went on like that the rest of the early morning hours. And when daylight broke, Kates and I looked at each other in despair. “O-M-G,” Kates sighed.

“MOM-my,” called Phoebe from her room across the hall. And we got out of bed to officially begin our Saturday.

We had anticipated the memories we made today stemming largely from today’s homecoming festivities at the university.

With Phoebe not doing the dance thing this year, last year’s drama – thankfully – was absent. We dressed and were ready to go in plenty of time this year. We buckled Phoebe into the stroller so she didn’t have to walk and could rest easy with her arm, and Faye went in the Baby Bjorn with me. (Yes, the Baby Bjorn, which I discovered a couple weeks ago in what was probably the last box left unopened since our move. Don’t ask me how I missed it this past summer when we wanted the Baby Bjorn for Faye’s first baseball game.)

We walked up to College Drive, on the parade route and found an open spot on the sidewalk, near the alumni house and the president’s house, which is one of the hot parade-watching spots.

Soon enough the firetrucks, police squads and other emergency vehicles rolled up the hill to signal the parade’s start. There was the usual collection of colorful floats. The community groups walking in the parade or waving from trailers. The variety of marching bands. And this year we had the added bonus of political groups pushing their candidates for Tuesday’s election – including two people dressed and wearing masks depicting the likes of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Faye had fallen asleep before the parade was over. And Phoebe ended up with a nice pile of candy on the tray of her stroller.

When the parade ended and Kates and I started the walk back to our house, Kates and I looked at each other, smiling. Our sleepless night aside, the morning had been a success. The kids were happy, and smiling, and a good time was had by all. “That was a lot of fun,” I said.

After some lunch, Phoebe and I headed back to the campus for the afternoon’s big football game. It was a gorgeous afternoon for a football game.

Our beloved Bearcats went into the game ranked No. 4 in the nation. The opponent was ranked No. 20 and had led the conference for most of the season. … The game was no contest. Pheebs was ready to go midway through the second quarter, and I obliged. We walked home and I watched the rest of the game on the TV at home. Our team won, 55-10.

It was  great day. Now let's hope we all sleep tonight.