Exhausted

Here is a timeline of our last night bedtime disasters:

6:30pm - Nolan is exhausted, which means he is literally running full speed across the house, jumping on and off furniture (Thunder jump!) and dragging every noisy and giant toy loudly across the kitchen tile.  Both kids are screaming (for fun) and resemble a pack of deranged rabid hyenas.

7:00pm - Nolan heads to bed.  Eric sits with him and he is out and sawing logs in about 15 minutes.

7:10pm - Livi is whining and following me around with her pink baba and her thumb in her mouth.  I ask her if she's ready for bed and she nods.  I get her a bottle, we pick out some books, and begin to rock her.  Her eyelids are heavy and drooping and I gently lay her down in her crib.  Instantaneously, her eyes open wide and she hollers, "Daddy, bed!!" (Translation - Daddy puts me to bed!) over and over, getting more hysterical by the moment.  I have learned over the course of these many exhausting months, that she will NOT go to sleep if I walk away when she's in that state.  So I bring her out to snuggle for a few minutes until Eric is back downstairs after putting Nolan to bed.

7:15pm - Make a new bottle, and send her in with Eric.  She fights him like a wildebeast and has no interest in going to sleep. Bring her back out to try again.

7:45pm - Attempt #3 went about as successfully as the previous two tries.

8:15pm - She's playing piano in the family room.

8:30pm - Give her some IBU profen, in case there's some mysterious ache somewhere that's preventing her from sleeping.

8:35pm - Make another bottle and send her in with Eric.  Eric can't get through the book before she calls for Mommy instead.  I go in and read her the books and give her a bottle.  She springs up the second I put her down, hysterical.

8:50pm - Climbing on the dining room chairs.  Yells defiantly at me when I tell her to be careful.  She falls of chair.  Hysterical again.  When I pick her up to comfort her, she snuggles in to my chest.  Is she maybe sleepy?

9:00pm - Rock, bounce, rock, bounce, rock, bounce - Try to put her in her crib - hysterical.  Rock, bounce, rock, bounce, rock, bounce...

9:30pm - I finally lay her down without hysteria and sneak out with the stealth of a ninja.

9;31pm - Eric and I decide to watch one episode of a show, to give the illusion we had a relaxing evening.

10:00pm - Bedtime for the grownups.  And I'm WIDE AWAKE!  Lack of downtime before bed makes it nearly impossible to fall asleep.

11:00ish pm - I finally drift off after a hefty dose of melatonin.

11:07pm - Nolan is awake and asking for some milk.  Eric assists.

11:30ish pm - We're all back to sleep.

2:00am - Livi's up and she's crying.  I go to make her a bottle, stumbling in the dark kitchen after my melatonin induced sleep.  Start to rock her.  She doesn't want her bottle.  Rock, bounce, rock, bounce.  Try to lay her down - hysteria.  Now she wants her bottle.

2:37am - She's finally asleep and again I'm WIDE AWAKE.

3:00ish am - Drift off.

5:45am - Nolan's up for the day.  Eric gets him set.

7:07am - I hear a child calling for me, "Mommy, wipe my butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"