4 am

I woke up the other morning and it was 7:15. There was no screaming. No crying. No dog nudging me with her nose. No husband snoring or blowing his nose or brushing his teeth with the loudest electric toothbrush on the face of the planet.I just woke up. It was magical.I never thought I would say that about 7am. I was the kid (adult) who, given the opportunity, could sleep until noon or 1:00. I used to bemoan the loss of the day while feeling super rested. I've forgotten what 'super rested' feels like.Since the nugget was born, we have had a love/hate relationship with sleep. He slept great in the hospital then tortured us the first night home (he screamed all night... thank you Happiest Baby On The Block DVD for saving our lives). Then he would sleep five hours at a time at night and then for about a month and a half, he woke up every. 30. minutes. all. night. long. It was at that point that we hired a sleep therapist to come help us. She made a world of difference and his sleep has been a lot more normal since then.But there are still nights... usually when he is teething... that we struggle. He will wake up at 4am and it's just the perfect, exact time that you don't know what to do with him. Bottle? Advil? Will he go back to sleep? Probably not... Especially not if I bring him into our bed... then it's such an awesome adventure, forget sleep! Ok, what if mom crawls into the crib with you? Now will you sleep? 50/50 shot on that one.I totally get that this is part of babyhood. But every morning that I open my eyes and the clock says 7am (and not 4am) and the nugget isn't crying, I say thank you. Not to G-d (though I'm sure he had a big part in it), but to the nugget. Thanks, baby, for letting mommy sleep until a normal time.