I started writing an admittedly boring post about what happened today. Seeing as how I didn’t take notes and nothing particularly interesting happened today, I figured that wouldn’t make for the most interesting of posts. While reading through I noticed a theme that made sense as it’s own post: waking up.

Personally, I like waking up gradually. I’ve been known to lay in bed on a Saturday for an extra hour or two just lounging and enjoying myself. When I went to school or had a regular job that required getting up at a certain time, I was always worried about not waking up on time. As I wrote about on my other blog, I’ve never had an easy time falling asleep. Knowing that I had to wake up and be somewhere made falling asleep harder many times. Sure, I got used to it during high school, college and at my jobs, but it wasn’t always easy. I greatly enjoyed the year-or-so that I had as a freelancer where I could get up whenever I wanted. Those days are over now as I find myself waking up to Lucy sounds every day which is far better than the old rooster alarm clock I used to have.

Luckily, Lucy wakes up pretty well in the morning. She doesn’t start of screaming, but does move around and makes a few noises, enough to wake me up. I think there’s something built into parents that zeroes in on their kids’ sounds because she’s not even being that loud. Anyway, I’m usually greeted with a pretty darn happy looking baby when we get up anywhere between 8:20 and 9:15AM as you can see above. Napping’s a bit of another story, though, especially if she’s in her bedroom. She usually wakes up a bit crankier in there, but once I get in there to liberate her, she’s all smiles. However, I have noticed that every now and then she’ll wake up immediately sad, we’re talking to the point where she’s not only crying but tears are forming. It’s super sad and I try to ease her back into her waking moments, but it usually takes a little while for her to realize she’s okay. My wife thinks it’s because Lucy’s starting to teeth and that, when she’s asleep and her other senses pause, her mind can focus on the pain in her mouth.

If it’s not that, what else could it be? Nightmares? I guess, but what do babies dream about that’s so bad? A world without milk? Never being let out of a swaddle? I guess that’s kind of scary stuff. Heck, maybe it’s just the realization of how huge the world they now find themselves in is. Sometimes that freaks me out and I’ve developed coping skills. If not that, I wonder if it’s something in her genes. I worry that some of my problems and personal challenges are inborn and possibly passed on to her. Could she be worried about waking up or upset because it takes so long for her to fall asleep some nights? I don’t even know if babies can be worried, but she sure looks it sometimes.

I think, for peace of mind, I’m going to go with the teething explanation for right now even though the idea of her teething makes me both tired and sad already. I’ll put my own worries off for now and just try to make her waking up experiences as good as possible, though I wouldn’t mind if she started enjoying her own lounging time. That’d be pretty sweet.