Making Memories of Us

Sleep comes pretty easily at my house.  Hope started sleeping through the night at 12 days old.  Ellis took quite a bit longer than that, but always had good, 5 to 6 hour stretches from fairly early on.  Ellis will still fuss on and off in her sleep occasionally, but never anything that really interrupts MY sleep.  So, while I know many parents deal with sleepless nights, I'm NOT used to it.  So, last night was no fun for me!
Ellis was fussing on and off throughout the night.  Not the fussing she usually does, that lasts only a few seconds.  I was actually having to GET OUT OF BED to check on her and calm her down.  I would rub her back and, as soon as I thought she was asleep, I'd slip out of her room.  Right as I would lie back down in my bed, she would start up again.  Finally, at about 3:15, I nudged Brandon and asked him what I thought we should do.  I wanted to bring her into our bed - if she must have my hand on her back, she can have it there while lying next to me, so I can GET SOME SLEEP!  "We don't want to start that", was Brandon's reaction.  While I totally agreed, I still wanted to sleep.  Both of us were beyond tired at this point, so we finally decided to bring her in.  Here's how the next hour played out:

EJ: Is Hopie sleepin' in her bed?
Me: IGNORE
EJ: Daddy's sleepin' too.  Thunder sleepin' in Hopie's bed.  Hopie sleepin' in Hopie's bed too.
Me: IGNORE
EJ: Daddy sleepin', Mama.  I'm pettin' Daddy as she's rubbing his arm.  Mama's sleepin' in her bed too.  Is Hopie sleepin' in her bed?
Me: (No longer able to ignore) Yes, EJ, everybody is sleeping and you need to go to sleep too.
EJ: I'm pettin' Daddy.  Mama, I'm singin' you a song - "Happy Birthday to you . . ."

Yes, this went on for AN HOUR!  Different versions of the exact same thing.  Brandon's alarm was going to go off at 4:30, so right before that, when she started saying. "Do Dah! Do Dah!" Camptown Races, I guess? I told her that I was going to put her in her bad and she needed to go to sleep.  I told her she didn't need to cry anymore.  She responded with " Not yet, in a minute", but I took her anyway.  I layed her down, walked out of the room, and she went to sleep.  She slept soundly, until I had to wake her up at 7:20 to take Hope to school.

Hopefully last night was an anomaly and we didn't start any "bad habits" after only one night.  I must say, I feel for people that go through this all the time.  I think God only gives us what we can handle.  He knows I can't handle kids that don't sleep!