It is 10:49pm...do you know where your dog is?

Seriously...10:49pm...uh, nope...10:50pm...but sleep fails me for a number of reasons. Most of them small, but when coupled together prevent my favorite part of the day from coming true. Sleep. Oh how I LOVE to sleep. And how I MISS the kind of sleep I slept before children tumbled into my life. But here I am. Dark living room. Glowing computer screen. Heater humming quietly. The dog followed me in here...faithful, weary animal that he is. I wonder how he functions on the few, broken hours of sleep he gets. Woken abruptly when the children squeal or throw a toy in his direction. Or when curiosity gets the better of him and he MUST see what delicious morsel I am putting together in the kitchen. And then there is night after sleepless night...it never fails...the baby cries or big sister is in need of a monster slayer...and so Mommy rolls out of bed, followed by Simon, our nine year old trusty border collie mix. His hips are creaky and his eyes cloudy...but he has a duty, he is our protector and his "people" are more important than sleep.