2:27 A.M.

I don't want to spend all my time writing about how Amanda is always keeping us up, but that's about all I can focus on right now. She has not been sleeping well, and therefore we have not been sleeping well. Basically, everybody pays. She's tired, I'm tired, and the older kids get the brunt of it because I have no patience and the baby is crying all the time. Fun times!

Yesterday Amanda had a fever for most of the day. It started on Sunday, went all day yesterday, and today she is fever free. I don't know if it's teething or from playing around in the doctor's office on Friday (quick side note - Andy had a weird rash on his chest so I took my three kids and one friend [I forgot I had told her mom she could come home with us from school when I made Andy's appointment] to the pediatrician. I hate taking my kids to the doctor, because we are always stuffed in that tiny exam room for what seems like forever and there is nothing to do in there except make each other mad and fight, so adding another kid was not the best idea. Of course the kids were touching everything and rolling all over the floor so I'm not surprised if Amanda got sick from being there.) or just from the fact that it's winter, but she was miserable. She didn't sleep well during the day so I made sure to put her down a little early. You'd think that since she wasn't feeling well she would sleep hard, but not so much.

I should have known it was going to be a long night when she woke up at 10:30p screaming. I gave it a little bit but when she wasn't quieting down I went up there for about 30 minutes. That should have been my sign to go to bed, but I'm not so good at reading the signs lately. So, I stayed up until 12:30a. On top of that, Charlie was in Miami on a business trip, so I had no reinforcement. When Amanda woke at around 1:30-2:00a, I decided it would just be easier to bring her into bed with me. We were still awake when Sarah came into bed with us around 2:00p. I thought we would all just fall asleep, until Sarah announced she had to go to the bathroom. Now, how to do that? I couldn't leave Amanda in the bed by herself because she was awake and would cry and probably fall off the bed. Sarah wouldn't go to the bathroom by herself because it was dark and she is scared of the dark. I can't tell you how sick I am of kids being scared of the dark. I cannot wait until that stage is over. Even Andy is still scared of the dark and he's almost eight.

Finally at 2:27 a.m. I took Sarah to the bathroom. I considered letting her just wet the bed, since it was Charlie's side after all, but I didn't want to mess with changing the sheets so off we went. All three of us. It was then that once again I wondered how single moms do it. What do you do when you have to be two places at the same time? Yep, you all end up in the bathroom at 2:27 a.m. After we got back to the bed it still took Amanda awhile to fall asleep, and then she was up and ready to go by 6:15a. I decided maybe she needed a dry diaper and a glass of water, and Sarah whimpered and cried the whole time we were gone because she did not want to be left alone in the dark. After I diapered and watered the baby, I tried to bring her back to bed, but she just screamed. Over and over and over, and she is loud. That behavior won her a trip back to her crib, but that didn't make her too happy and she just screamed there. At least I could lie down for a bit and try to wake up. I finally got her out of bed at 6:45a when my alarm said it was time to get up and now all the kids were awake and wondering what all the noise was about.

So now, Sarah and I are tired and cranky, the baby is trying to sleep every time I put her in the car, and poor Andy, who of course got a great night's sleep, has to walk on pins and needles so nobody gets mad at him. Did I mention already, good times? Luckily Charlie will be back tonight. I think I'm going to dig up a pair of those ear plugs he used to put in when Amanda was tiny and I was getting up with her a couple of times a night. Maybe we both will.