Exhausting.

If I had to sum up last night in one word, it would be exhausting. Actually, if I had to sum up Savannah in one word, it would be exhausting. So you can probably guess how last night went for me.

This child has been high-strung from the very minute she was born. When we were in the hospital, the nurses brought her back to my room at 2 am claiming that they could do nothing with her. That should have been my first clue.

Savannah has had croup for nearly a week now. Her fever only lasted two days, but the cough is lingering. So, she hasn't been sleeping very well. This, as you can imagine, is quite unfortunate.

Last night, it was very difficult to get the child in bed. I like to think that I'm pretty strong-willed, but I have met my match. James Dobson wrote his book for this child. No amount of spankings, time outs, bribes, or anything else will keep the kid in the bed. I need Super Nanny at bedtime.

Last night, when it was time for bed, she kept getting up. First, she insisted that she had to go potty. She has just started sleeping in panties at night time, and I just knew that if I called her bluff, she would pee in the bed out of spite. So, up she went to the bathroom. Did she pee? No, of course not. But she really thought she had to go.

After doing this three or four times, I said that is ENOUGH. You are going to bed. She finally went.

And then 1 am came. And she began to cry. Now, my motherly instincts think.. she is sick, so I will give her the benefit of the doubt. I went in her room, and she said she had lost her paci. Yes, she still sleeps with a pacifier. Don't judge me... we have enough sleeping problems without trying to take that away. I found the paci on the floor and gave it back to her, and went back to bed.

1:10 am... more crying. Seriously?! I go back in there, and you guessed it, she has to go potty. I blindly feel along the wall and we shuffle to the bathroom, where she barely tinkles. Awesome. back to bed.

1:15 am. Sweet mercy, you've got to be kidding me. She thinks she has to go potty again. NO, you do NOT. Go to sleep!

1:40 am. Just enough time has elapsed for me to actually be back asleep, when she coughs and then resumes whining for me. Sigh. Go back in there, and tell her to go back to sleep.

1:45 am. Thats IT. She gets a spanking.

2:05 am. "Mooooommmmmmyyyyyy!" This time, I give her some cough syrup, primarily because she is coughing, and also because I have high hopes that it will somewhat sedate her. She has no fever, and I'm pretty sure she is just being rotten.

2:15 am. Lord, bless her soul. And my sanity too, while you're at it. Savannah, GO TO SLEEP!

2:18 am. Forget it. I get up and go crawl in bed with her. She proceeds to ask me 50 questions, and I answer every one with "I can't talk to you until daytime. Go to sleep." She finally gives up and is sound asleep within minutes, essentially proving my theory... she could go to sleep if she wanted to!

2:30 am. I sneak out of her bed and out of her room, crawl back in my bed and settle down to go to sleep, only to realize that I'm wide awake. Sigh. Spend some time praying over my little family until I drift off.

6:20 am. The alarm goes off way too early, and about two minutes later, a three-year-old girl appears. "Good morning, Sunshine Mommy! Is it daytime yet?"

That child is exhausting.