3:25 AM

3:25 AM. That's what the clock said when I woke up this morning.

Who knows how long Maggie had been awake, but by the time I heard her, she was in full-on, desperate, screaming mode. I flew down the hall, plucked her from the crib and let her dry her wet cheeks on my shoulder.

I sang and swayed and whispered sweet nothin's in her ear for about 20 minutes until, finally, I heard the comforting snore of a baby in deep sleep. I swayed for a minute or so more, then gently placed her back in the crib, covered her with a blanket and tip-toed out of the room.

I had just crawled back into bed my self when WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! The screams started again. "I'll let her cry it out for a bit", I thought. Then, I heard little Bart footsteps. He said absolutely nothing, didn't even look in my direction, and just crawled in between Homer and I in the bed, covered himself up and fell right back to sleep.

Maggie wouldn't let up, so back I went and tried the singing/swaying technique again. She wasn't falling for it this time. She was both signing for milk and whining "baaahbo, baaaahbo". We headed downstairs and I gave her a bottle. I'll just lay down in my bed with her and hopefully catch some sleep while she finishes her bottle.

Back upstairs, I see that Lisa has now joined the party in my bed. Finding no room for me and Maggie, I head for Bart's room and lie down there. Maggie is not content to lie down beside me. No, she must be on top of me, with her cheek on mine and cold milk drips running down my face. I sat up and properly cradled her so she could finish her milk. Finally, she had drifted off to sleep again and I carefully, carefully, put her back in her crib.

I went back into my room to turn off the alarm clock, as I would be sleeping in Bart's room. It's 5:02 AM. I just got back under the covers and WAAAAH! MaaaMaaa! WAAAH! MaaaaMaaaaa!

"Fine, Maggie, you want to be up? We're up! We're totally up!" I plucked the overtired baby from the crib and carried her downstairs. I finally got to watch the season finale of House, which I had PVR'd, and I folded a huge pile of laundry. Maggie happily played, helped me fold and occasionally came over and put her head on my lap. We ate some Cheerios and yogurt, got her dressed and she helped me put the folded clothes away.

When I left for work, my early morning playmate was sitting in her highchair, eyes closed in a deep sleep.

I resisted the urge to scream "Wake Up!" in her ear, because that's the kind of mom I am.