An Early Morning Minute by Minute

We didn't do much this morning but it certainly felt busy...  Here was the start of our day:

1:00am- Get up after hearing one of the most horrible sounds I can imagine coming from Patrick's room.  Rush in and discover that he's coughing with every single breath.  Pick him up and take him into our room and lay down next to him and nurse him while he wheezes and coughs while trying to swallow.  Worry that his cough sounds a lot like one of the public service announcements in California that was on TV all the time when the Whooping Cough started popping up more frequently.
4:30am-Wake up with Patrick's feet kicking me in the ribs.  He's coughing and smiling at the same time.  Hear Sadie start coughing in the other room  Pray that everyone just goes back to sleep.
4:37am- Realize that the bed is wet from a diaper failure.  Get up. Walk downstairs.  Find Paul already awake and studying.  Hand him Patrick.  Noisily descend into the basement to get a new sleeper for The Boy, hoping that any mice that may encounter have the common sense to hide.  Grab a sleeper and head back upstairs.
4:42am- Head back to bed.  Grab a clean towel from the bathroom and put it on the bed.  Climb into bed.  Try to convince the boy that it's still night time.
4:44 am- Hear the monkey jack-in-the-box start to go in the girls' room.  Listen to more coughing from that room.  Give up.  Yell down to Paul that we might as well get them up because they aren't going back to sleep.
4:46am- Tell a not-too-happy looking husband that I have a plan.  Explain that I'll be getting up with the kids and that he can get dressed and go to school right this second as long as he comes back in the afternoon and lets me take a bath before I have to make dinner and get the bunnies to bed and help Sadie get ready for the Daddy-Daughter dance (which is called something else this year since Daddy-Daughter dance isn't PC).  Cling to the idea of a bath.

4:47am- Help a now happy husband take the kids downstairs.
4:48am- Present Sadie with her princess dress and cape and help her try it on.
4:49am-Rush around the room and find Mae's Aurora dress after she sees Sadie in her princess dress and starts to sob.
4:50am- Find the dress in question and help slip it on over her pink footed sleeper.  See Patrick look over.  Tell him he looks like a super hero in his red sleeper and see his face light up while his biggest sister sings "You're a Super Patchy!" in her loudest voice.
4:51am- Search for matching lids to sippy cups, decide that a blue fish cup can work with a pink princess lid, fill the cups with almond milk and find something that each child will eat.  Stumble back out and fall down onto the couch.
5:02am- Glance around and wonder if a nap is possible with Patrick sitting on my lap, Maggie sitting on my right side and Sadie sitting on my left side.
5:03am- Decide that it's not possible and that it's going to be a long day.
5:12am- Notice that the kids have drifted away to play.  Burrow under a blanket and hope they don't see me trying to rest.
5:23am-Spotted!  Maggie sees me laying down and runs over and climbs up next to me.  She pulls the covers away from my face and I tell her that Mommy needs a little more rest and that she should go play with her brother and sister.
5:24am-  A certain three year old plops down on my stomach, feeling not unlike a 35 lb weight being dropped two feet, which is basically what's happening.

5:25am- The three year old moves down and tries to sit on my head.
5:27 am- Someone sticks their finger in my ear.
5:29am- What is it with little people trying to sit on my head?
5:31am- Patrick joins in the quest to keep Mommy awake.
5:32am- Maggie and Patrick work in shifts at making sure Mommy is paying attention, beginning an hour and a half of fun.
7:00am-  It's time to start the rest of our day and get ready for therapy and school and meals and chores.  Wonder if I can pull off staying in my sock monkey pajamas all day.  Decide that that might make the therapist uncomfortable.  Consider it a second time.  Go downstairs to find real clothes... hear someone say they're hungry... back to the kitchen...

I'd keep writing, but let's face it we're only slightly over two hours in and this is already too long, and besides, once we hit 7 the day becomes a blur of going up and down stairs and making sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing when they're supposed to be doing it.  And so that is a beginning of a day (with approximate times since I definitely wasn't writing everything down minute by minute at 5 am) in our house... I'm hoping they sleep in tomorrow.