sound asleep one minute, moving furniture the next

[yawn]. {sigh}. anyone else tired?

i've got seven weeks (ish) till a new baby arrives and i find myself more tired than ever. i'd like to blame it on the lower back pain that has recently taken over my previous good sleeping habits, but i attribute it more to my 3-yr-old. yes, my 3-yr-old (not my 15-month-old). i don't know if it's the fairly recent move to a big boy bed or a new realization of his own dreams, but jack wakes up about three times every night after the midnight hour. fortunately he usually requires a quick fix and we're back to bed in a few minutes, but for me, falling back asleep isn't as easy as it once was; since waking up forces me to become aware of my full bladder, and also to have to reacquaint myself with a comfortable position for my back in bed. most mornings i feel like a zombie. why is he getting up? let's see, here are some things we've heard at 1am, 3am, 5am... in the last couple mornings:

"my pillow fell off!"
"my covers fell off!"
"my book fell out of bed!"
"i want to watch choo choo while baby goes to sleep in his bed!" (dreaming?)
"i want to eat dinner now!" (definitely dreaming)
"i want my music off!"
"i want my music on!"
"where's my balloon?" (he insisted on sleeping with a balloon he got from a restaurant)

now, since he went from sleeping in a queen-sized mattress on the floor to a single mattress raised on a bed frame, the first three complaints are probably understandable. the others are just annoying. he doesn't seem to be having nightmares or asking a drink/snuggle/etc. that would indicate he is feeling lonely or scared all alone. so i'm not sure what is causing this recent bout of wakefullness. i got to deal with the book falling out of bed problem at 3:30am this morning. and of COURSE it fell flat against the wall, in the middle of the mattress. and of COURSE i couldn't fit my belly under the bed to reach it, and of COURSE i had to 1) turn the light on to see it and 2) move his bed away from the wall to get it.
if it were as easy as allowing him to work it out and go back to sleep, i'd be all for it. but when he wakes up, he does it with a piercing cry and scream for "mama" or "daddy" that doesn't go away if we ignore it. and seeing that allowing it to go on would most likely mean we'd have two children awake, we usually run to his room as quickly as possible to quelch the screaming. lots of fun.

and in 7ish weeks i'll get even less sleep. mike's life will become more complicated, too. he will then get to handle the 2 older kids' night wakings while i deal with numero tres. so i guess i should just forewarn you now: if the case haubs begin forgetting your birthday, or to return your phone calls, please have mercy. it's not you; it's probably that we're running on 3-4 hrs of sleep each night.