7:32 AM

I woke up at 7:32 this morning. Well...I actually woke up for the first time at around 5:30. Morgan was doing her usual 4:30-5:30 "fussies." She usually wakes up around this time and rolls around in her crib and makes some noises. I wonder whether she is really awake at these times or in some kind of dream state. I know she can't be hungry and when she actually wakes for the day she'll sit up and start "yelling." So, I'll usually wake up to her fussiness and then will "will her" to go back to sleep for a little while longer. Usually she'll wake for the day around 6:30-7:00 am, sometimes a little earlier though. It also depends on when she goes to sleep the night before. Our routine has her asleep by 8:00 on most days, but some days it's later if we have social events.

So this morning we went through a similar routine with the fussiness, and we both fell back asleep. But...this morning I jolted awake and it "felt" later than usual. I looked at the clock and it said 7:32 am. I clicked on the video monitor and saw Morgan sitting up in the crib. I thought to myself "how long has she been awake, sitting there waiting for me to wake up?" I wondered if she had cried and I didn't hear her. With all those guilty voices playing in my head, I got up and went to her room, peeking in the door...and she was not sitting up in her crib (the camera does not get one corner of the crib too clearly), but she was sound asleep. I was stunned, and thought "OK, now what do I do?"

I went in our family room and turned on the news. I am so used to seeing the local morning news as well as the opening into of the Today Show and the "top stories"...it was strange to see that it had all started without me. I watched for a bit, turned on the computer...even considered taking a shower, then at about 7:50 my bliss was interrupted by the waking cries of our Boo Boo girl. Then I realized that Morgan had gone to sleep last night at about 8:20. This is a little later than usual, because she took longer to settle down. I think she's in a growth spurt. The other day she had 10 ounces (yes, TEN) of formula before bed. I've been making sure to feed her plenty of solid food during the day, especially yesterday...and again, she needed 10 ounces to get to sleep. That's another subject, anyway, that means (not counting some early morning fussiness) she slept for 11.5 hours! She has never broken the 11 hour "barrier." Usually it's about 9.5-10 hours, with a random 11 hour stretch once in a while. I thought it would never happen. Maybe it's a fluke, but maybe, just maybe, we've turned the corner. I'll certainly keep you posted! This might just be the beginning of a wonderful new sleeping trend!