Mornings with Max

Max likes to start his day REALLY early - around 5:30AM. When we hear his screaming, one of us stumbles into his room, searches blindly around his crib for a pacifier, sticks the pacifier in his mouth, says a little prayer that he will fall back asleep, comes back to our bed, snuggles down in the covers and braces for the screaming that happens until 6 AM. For some reason, Judd and I think that Max has a clock and knows that 6:00 AM is an OK hour to wake up, but 5:30 isn't. So, I watch my clock, and when it hits 6AM, then I'll go get him. He usually settles down after a few minutes of screaming and may drift off, but mostly kicks his walls, crib, and moans to himself for a half hour.

At 6AM, we come downstairs, get his milk, and cuddle on the couch for a few minutes in the dark. I may turn on the news to see what same 5 stories will repeat for the next hour. Max eventually gets out of his horribly grumpy mood - the kid has yet to wake up truly happy - and will play for a few minutes.



His sister eventually comes downstairs and we all eat breakfast.

I wish he'd give us another hour to sleep in the mornings - 6AM doesn't seem so early to me anymore. But, I know that this too will pass eventually. In the meantime, I'm going to do my best to be a much less grumpy mom in the mornings. It is going to be hard, but I'm really going to try.