4:30

Sometimes the nighttime wake-ups don't go as well as they might. Sometimes instead of helping the baby latch on to eat and falling back asleep, you hear the cat hork something up, and you lie there wondering if your husband heard it too, but even though he's not breathing as deeply as he was, he still seems to be asleep and you figure you're awake anyhow, so after the baby finishes eating, you get up and get a drink of water and go looking for the cat puke. You find it and clean it up and then dig through the hall closet looking for the carpet cleaner, not bothering to be quiet for your husband's sake, because it's too early to be that polite, when suddenly you remember that you didn't double the baby's diaper before she fell asleep, so she's probably soaked, and if you don't want to deal with diaper rash or changing the sheets, you're going to have to change her and risk waking her up. You find the carpet cleaner, spray the spot on the rug, and go to change the baby. When you pick up the baby you realize that she is soaked and the diaper has leaked, so you also have to change her clothes, which means she will almost certainly wake up, even though nothing has to go over her head. And yes, when you unsnap her clothes, her eyes open and she smiles, and changing her is a struggle, because now she is wiggling and trying to play. Finally she's changed and you put her back down in the bed, and go to wash your hands and wipe up the carpet cleaner, and feed the cat while you're at it, because she's going to come around asking for food in another hour anyhow, as she still likes to be fed at the same time she was back when you had to get up early to get ready for work. When you come back to bed, the baby is awake, cooing and giggling and kicking her legs, while she watches the ceiling fan. You climb in between her and your husband, and curl your body around her, and she turns to look up at you and smile. You groan inwardly because it's too early for her to be really awake, but then you kiss the top of her head, so that you can feel her soft hair and smell her new baby scent, and you rest your hand on her lightly, and her eyes slowly close. And everything is okay, perfect, even, and 4:30 in the morning isn't so bad after all.

In fact, it might be exactly want you wanted. (Well, except for the cat puke.)