I prefer to acknowledge only one 5 o'clock per day.

Today, I get to acknowledge both.

I woke up at 5 this morning as Hubby whipped off his CPAP mask and mumbled at the small figure who'd just entered our room, telling her to go to me.

It's Small Fry.  She leaned against me and whined, "I don't feel good."

I felt her forehead, and sure enough, it was too warm.  In the process of reaching for the thermometer on the headboard, I touched Hubby's arm...which was extremely hot.  Clearly, he hadn't been kidding when he'd come to bed several hours before and said he wasn't feeling well.  And without the thermometer, I could already tell he won.

Small Fry's temp was 99.7.  I pulled her up onto the bed and she snuggled in while I managed to get a brief reading off Hubby's forehead--100--before the batteries died.  I thought his fever was higher than that, but I went and got Small Fry some ibuprofen.  Then I crawled back in bed.

I saw a shadow waving on the wall in the hallway, but figured it was the fluffy cat, Minou, walking down the hall.  Until I heard the shrieking and screaming.  Keiki was in the hall, but so was Medium Fry, who'd been waving her arm at Keiki to shoo her away, without success.  Keiki got mad and hissed, and Medium screamed.

It's got to be some sort of twin thing...whenever one of them wakes up early, the other knows shortly and comes looking.  I brushed my hand across her forehead.  "You, too, eh?"  Another round of ibuprofen.  I settled Medium on the bed with her twin, checked on Large Fry (who was warm, but not overly so, and might just have been sleepy-warm), and went downstairs looking for my extra AAA batteries.

They were not in the catch-all drawer in the kitchen where I keep batteries.

Crap.

That meant I was out.  I searched the drawer three times to be sure.  Yep, no extra AAAs.  I have 9Vs.  C cell.  AAs coming out my ears.  Several disc batteries.  But no AAAs.

I resigned myself to a twenty-to-six run to the store.

I shook Hubby awake enough to tell him I had to go to the store for batteries.  He grunted.  I told the girls to rest, and I'd be back.

One thing about going to the store at oh-dark-stupid.  The parking lot is virtually empty.

I'm back home within twenty minutes, switch back into jammies, and crawl in bed, trying to claim enough turf on my own queen-sized bed so that I can get a little more rest before I have to get up and get Large Fry off to school.  Hopefully.

However, the twin Fries are not interested in being quiet and sleeping.  Hubby hasn't put his CPAP mask back on, so he's snoring to beat the band.  Between Small Fry walking her fingers all over my arm and trying to strum my lower lip and Medium Fry making soft smooching noises at the cats, trying to get them to come to her, the only one getting any sleep is Hubby.

A little before 7, Medium crawls up and snuggles on Hubby.  He makes a good bed.  Except for today.  Because Medium is a chunk, and weighs enough to make him uncomfortable.  I stave off the tears by telling her to come lay next to me.  So she lays on me instead.  She's out within minutes.

At 7:30, Large Fry moseys into the room.  I shift Medium off me, which wakes her up, and discover Small has fallen asleep.

Too bad both of them only power-napped.  I could use a nap myself about now.  And Small has proclaimed that she's "all better" now.

This is the stuff they didn't tell you about motherhood!