"Cash, are you trying to kill me?"

I asked this question a few nights ago when Cash woke up for the fourth time at around 4 am.

Kristie chuckled as she heard me say this as I got up to check on him, which usually entails taking him downstairs for a bottle and rocking him back to sleep. Of course, that usually entails taking him back upstairs once he falls back asleep and trying to lay him down in his crib. This often leads to him promptly rolling over and sitting up and crying. That leads to repeating the whole process over.

Kristie and I have completely forgotten what six consecutive hours of sleep feel like. This too is one reason I cannot stay awake past ten - or even nine.

Cash's routine is to fall asleep sometime between 7-9. He usually sleeps until midnight. If we are lucky, he stays asleep until five. But he usually wakes up around three. Sometimes he wakes up around four. And then five. Those are the rough nights.

This is compounded by Kenzie who has started to want to sleep with Mom and Dad. She usually falls asleep reading with Kristie. Then I carry her to bed. If we are lucky, she usually sleeps all the way through until six. However, she has started to come into our room and crawl in bed sometime after midnight.

This wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't a complete bed hog. We have no problem letting her snuggle in between us, but inevitably she will shift to sleeping perpendicular between us, which leaves both of us teetering on the edges.

Last night was a great example. Cash fell asleep early, so I put him in his crib. Kenzie has been coughing a lot and she wasn't feeling the best so she had settled down with Kristie in our bed. When I crawled in, she was contently watching a Teenage Mutant Ninja episode. Kristie was reading her Kindle. I tried reading a short story, but fell asleep after about a minute.

I woke up to Kenzie getting restless. I scooped her up and took her downstairs for a little time in the rocking chair.

That lasted for about 20 minutes. Then she decided she was hungry. When I ask her what she wants to eat, her favorite response is "Let's check in the cupboard." Of course, she knows full well that the cupboard is where we keep the chips and snacks. Not exactly what I want her to have at 9:30 at night.

After Kenz said she was hungry, I tried to beat her to the punch so I asked, "What do you want?" Then I quickly added, "And do even ask to check in the cupboard."

Kenz smiled and asked, "Okay, let's look in the cupboard."

She had me there.

So after some juice and a couple Chicken in a Biscuits, she decided she wanted to cuddle up and lie on the floor. This worked great, except we both zonked out and woke up at 11. By this time I was still and ached all over from sleeping on the floor.

I carried Kenz up to bed and actually got to sleep for a couple hours in our bed until I heard Cash crying.

I scooped him up (there is nothing sadder than walking into his room and seeing him standing up in his crib with his hands on the bars crying and crying) and took him downstairs. Six ounces of formula later, he was out.

I set him down in his crib and got back in bed . . . for about an hour before he was back up.

This led to rough stretch from roughly 1-3 where I tried repeatedly to set him down to have him sit back up and cry.

At one point I actually set him down successfully and had him all covered up. I was just pulling his door shut when Kenz started to cough and cry.

Uh-oh. Of course, she cried more and woke up. She coughed louder and cried even louder. This, unfortunately, led to Cash waking up and bawling.

Let me tell you, it was wonderful.

"Why do you guys hate us so?" I asked as I brought Kenz to our bed where Kristie got her calmed down and settled in. Then I grabbed Cash and carried him back downstairs.

Around three Cash was finally out. I finally set him down and picked Kenz up and put her in her bed. I was able to enjoy two hours of sleep. Then the alarm rang and it was time to hit the shower, which I did.

Then I faced a dilemma: crawl back in bed until Kristie had to get up (around 6:20) or go down and look at email, read the news, and get some coffee going.

As I yawned, I thought, I'm crawling back in bed.

I snuggled up next to my wife and had a peaceful two minutes before Cash began coughing. I held my breath hoping he'd fall back asleep. But it wasn't to be. He began crying, and it was time to grab him.

While I do long for a nice full 6 hours of sleep (I've completely given up on ever getting the suggested 8 hours of sleep), I know all to well how quickly Kenz has grown up and how much I miss those nights - though they don't seem so enjoyable at the time - when I used to snuggle with her in the rocking chair. So whenever I get frustrated, I just look at little Cash as he is snuggled in either against my elbow or my neck (depending on how I rock him) and just savor the moment.