Early Mornings

Yesterday morning Erin woke up way, way too early. She is still struggling with the time change from last weekend, and she is often heard chatting away at 5:30 in the morning. Sometimes if we ignore her she will go back to sleep, so I waited for a bit to see if she would drift off to dreamland again. After a couple of minutes her babbling turned to whining. Then the whining turned to crying. The crying soon became a loud screeching. I worried that she would wake her older sisters, and a sunrise breakfast with three little girls was not an appealing thought. Since Dan was already up and heading out the door for an early meeting at work, I dragged myself out of bed to check on Erin.

I felt a little aggravated as I headed toward her room. Why couldn't she just sleep a bit later? Why did I have to get up so early? Would I ever get a good night's sleep again?

I grumpily pushed open the door and saw little Erin curled up in a ball in the corner of her crib, sobbing. She picked up her head and looked over at me. "Mama", she said, smiling through her tears. "Mama".

I picked her up and discovered that she was soaking wet. I changed her into warm, dry clothes and sat in the rocking chair to cuddle her. She put two fingers into her mouth and started to close her eyes. I kissed her head and held her close. It may be years before I get a good night's sleep again, but sometimes a good cuddle is worth getting out of bed for.