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Familiarity can be a wonderful thing. It can let you know how to soothe a sleepy child, it can give you the insight to know when to walk away from your spouse when he's in a mood or when to push to get him to talk.

It can also teach your lovely, adorable children just how to push each other's buttons as well as your own.

My girls are pretty good about letting me sleep a little later on the weekends.

One of the many, many drawbacks of co-sleeping is that I know the instant they wake up because they tell me so.

Just this yesterday morning, Olivia woke up at 4:30 announcing she was hungry. When I didn't jump right out of bed to get the princess a little nibble, she decided she was thirsty instead.

I muttered, "Oh give me a break..." even as I stumbled out of bed and got her a drink of water.

A half hour later, she told me she was still hungry.

On the weekends, she'll let me lay there for a good fifteen minutes after she wakes up (usually at 6 freaking 30 on a Saturday morning) before she announces she has to pee.

She knows I'll get up and take her pee. She hopes we'll stay up. We never do. I always tell her we're going back to bed after she goes to the bathroom because 6:30 is just too darned early to start a Saturday.

One of the things that irritates me the most these days is the almost constant repeating of the phrase, "I'm hungry."

I can feed my children a full, five course meal and ten minutes one or the other, or sometimes, both, will chirp, "I'm hungry."

It makes me crazy! I know, they're growing children.

Except, they never know what they want to eat. They always want to go to the kitchen, WITH ME in tow, and look around, as they decide what they'd fancy to eat that moment.

I've been known to say, "I am not standing in this kitchen a minute longer. Once you've decided what you want, come find me."

I know, I'm such a meam mom. But one can only stand in the kitchen gazing about oneself for so long before one loses one's mind.

Those of you with more than two children have my complete and utter sympathy and awe. Those days when my nephew is around, growling his echo of A's and O's chirps, I think I just might need to run for cover.