Fighting the Sleep Wars - the Chicago Way

Malone: You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I'm saying is, what are you prepared to do?
Ness: Anything within the law.
Malone: And then what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way. Because they're not gonna give up the fight, until one of you is dead.
Ness: I want to get Capone! I don't know how to do it.
Malone: You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?

-- Officer Jim Malone (played by Sean Connery) and Eliot Ness (played by Kevin Costner) in The Untouchables
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Our little girl is cute and generally sweet but she knows how to play the sleep game the Chicago Way. The baby won't sleep in the crib. We pull out the Snuggle Nest, and she pulls out the all-nighter. We pull out the car seat, and she's fine for a week and then pulls out the "I'll only sleep for 90 minutes at a time" trick. We pull out the bouncer chair, she pulls out the post-meal spit-up. We pull out the swing, she pulls out the scream that will blast your eardrums off and then tops it off with the "I'm waking up the neighbors between 1 and 4 this morning" trick. She's our little Capone!

For the last week or so, Hannah had been looking forward to going to the first-time moms group at the hospital for the first time. It sounds like a great opportunity to meet new people who are going through the same experiences and to get out of the house. So, the big day was today. And, of course, the parking lot was full when she arrived and she trolled unsuccessfully for 30 minutes trying to find a space. Then, the little one went postal and screamed her head off. An hour and a half after she left, Hannah was home -- without being able to go to the new moms group.

The only redeeming feature in all of this is that I spoke to two other parents today who were having almost identical experiences.

Next step, medication. We're just not sure if we'll need it for her or for us!