A Great Beginning

I had the best start to my day that I can remember in a LONG time. I woke up, looked around the room, and thought that, judging by the amount of sunlight streaming in, someone should be waking me up by now. Sure enough, I looked at my watch and read that it was 6:50am, when Molly is usually whining and wanting to be taken out of her crib. I sat for a moment and heard... nothing. My house was completely silent. So I took out my tablet and checked my email. Then I caught up on Facebook. Then I played a game or two of Solitaire. I kept waiting to hear Molly stir so I could get her and plop her in front of my TV while I showered. However, at 7:15am when there was still no sounds coming from her room, I decided I just had to bite the bullet and jump in the shower, praying she wouldn't wake up screaming and disrupt her sisters' sleeping in the process.

I got out of the shower just after 7:20am to hear Molly talking to herself happily in her crib. I dried off and cracked her door open. She looked at me and said, "Mommy! Morning! Up?" I feel I have to explain - at best, Molly wakes up whining to be taken out of her crib, and more often is crying out of either frustration or loneliness. This morning, however, it was all smiles and happy noises. About 5 minutes later, Jocelyn walked into my room. I looked at her and smiled, saying good morning. She gave me the biggest, dopiest grin ever and ran to me to give me a huge hug. Another 5 minutes after that Ava woke up in a terrific mood too. It was the most amazing thing - all 4 of us, who do not tend to be pleasant in the mornings, were in high spirits. In my head I kept thinking, "See? This is what happens when you sleep until your bodies are really ready to get up! Why can't we do this every morning?" Because I'm no dummy - I know that tomorrow morning all 3 kids will be awake before 6:45am. It is really hard not to focus on the fact that this could be a recurring thing and is not simply because my children are convinced that any time asleep is time wasted. But I am trying with every fiber of my being to be grateful for the wonderful morning we had - to treasure how special this rare happiness was and rather than want for more be content with what I've been given.