Warning: back off

Sometimes at the end of the day, you look at the sweet restful faces of your children and say, "you suck the life out of me, you little monsters". 

Today I want to scream. I have had two very demanding kids. I can handle that, but once bed time hits, that's it. I'm of duty, so when one of them insists that I lay with them and scream hysterically if I leave, I feel like a hostage. That's MY time. If I don't get MY time, then the mommy they'll get tomorrow will be monster mommy. 

They are finally sleeping now but just like every night for the past 4 weeks, Andrew will wake up with a bad dream, three times and I'll have to deal with that. 

I just want a stretch of time where nothing and no one requires anything of me. Don't ask me to arrange a picnic, don't ask me to watch your kids, don't ask me to go out of my way to help, or be nice. Maybe next week if I get to sleep through the night at least once, I'll be able to do it, but not now.