Morning edition

On a normal work/school day, I get up almost an hour before Greg and over an hour before I wake up the girls.

I use the time to shower, do my hair and makeup, feed the cat, eat breakfast while reading the paper, brush my teeth, sometimes check online, and to get my thoughts organized for the day.

It's my quiet time. I don't watch TV and I don't talk to anyone except maybe Greg, if he's not still trying to get nine more minutes of clock radio snooze.

Greg is in Pittsburgh (he'll be home tomorrow), so this morning I got up quietly and went down the hall to get fresh towels for my shower. The linen closet door sticks a little, so it made a little bit of a noise as I opened it.

I went back down the hall to our bathroom, got my things organized, and I noticed that the bathroom door was open slightly. I've set the cycle on our electronic thermostat to kick in and start bringing the house temperature up as I get out of the shower, so I went to close the door against drafts.

And in walked Julia, holding her blankie up to her eyes against the light. She was awake, and I couldn't pan her off on my husband to try to get her to go back to sleep.

Did I mention it was 5:30?

Things have been just a little bit off all day, ever since. They'd both better sleep in until I wake them in the morning, or I'm going to be panning them off on Daddy as soon as he walks in the door.

Welcome home, honey. Bye!