Keeley Love

I love my daughter, I really and truly do.

Here are some of my favorites right now:
1. how she whispers "dada" and looks at me like she's sharing a secret when she hears Kelly come home. And then how she goes as fast as she can to the door and squeals when she sees him.
2. her recent fascination with cuddling with me - so sweet
3. the big, wet kisses she gives
4. how she says, so deliberately and seriously, "up" when she is screaming at my feet with her arms raised and I tell her to use her words
5. her fascination with dressing up
6. her sweet smile
7. this face! What's not to love?8. her determination to do everything by herself
9. how she likes to lift up my shirt and pat my tummy when I ask where baby Kayden is
10. how she carries around stuffed animals under her arms
11. how she lays flat on the floor to look under the bed or crib for any toys or pacifiers
12. how she tries to make Carbo wear her hats
13. how she squeals and runs away when you chase her

Things I do not love right now:
1. lack of sleep
2. the grumpiness that lack of sleep causes in my otherwise adorable little girl.

You see, the list of things I don't love is really quite short. However, it often overpowers the other list by the end of the day and first thing in the morning.

For an entire week now, Keeley has been waking up before 6. THIS MUST STOP. Usually, it is around 5:15 or 5:30. Yesterday it was 5:55. Today, 4:45. The most special thing about it is that she wakes up exceptionally grumpy but refuses to go back to sleep. Also, she still naps for a maximum of 2 hours (usually more like an hour and a half). So, if you do the math, waking up at 5:30 (on average) and taking a maximum of 2 hours of naps a day isn't going to allow a toddler to stay happy very late into the evening. And, if you think about it further, a mom that woke up at 5:30 and is pregnant (thus needing more sleep) doesn't have a ton of patience at the end of the day to deal with said grumpy toddler.

We've been trying to move her bedtime up thinking maybe she is waking up because she is overtired. This whole problem started one night when she got too tired so it seemed logical to us that moving her bedtime up might help. However, I quit. If she is only going to sleep around 11 hours at night, wake up grumpy, and not nap, I'd rather all that nonsense start at a more reasonable hour for me. Fortunately, it is easy for me to make this decision today because I have to leave the house around 6 so Kelly will have to deal with super grumpy Keeley. I only hope that she allows him to watch his hockey game. Hopefully, keeping her up late (or at least her normal bedtime of 7) will make wake-up start at 6:30. Even better, maybe it will make her go back to those blissful times a few weeks ago when she woke up at 7:15 or 7:20.

Here are some suggestions I'm sure my helpful readers are thinking:

1. Let her cry some of you may be saying. She's still tired and she needs to realize that it is not time to wake up. You people have clearly never spent time with my daughter. She does not go to sleep when crying and that will only make me even more unhappy when I finally get up and go to her.
2. Rock with her in her room so you can both get more sleep. She rocks for about 2 minutes and then Kayden gets the hiccups or starts kicking which distracts her OR she realizes that she can bounce on my legs and starts to say "ball" and "dog"
3. Bring her to bed with you. Problematic for several reasons - the dogs sleep in our room which is a huge distraction to her, Kelly wakes up before 6 to start getting ready for work which wakes her up, and finally, she likes to flop around in bed more than cuddle.

People keep telling me I will look back on these days and smile. I do not believe these people. People also keep telling me that Kayden will be easier. I do not like these people as I feel they are jinxing us.