I've done the math. I will finally have the opportunity to sleep right around the year 2033.

So that's fun.

In the meantime, I live in that world of uncertainty. Mila might sleep through the night. She might not. She slept ten straight hours in her crib the other night, but then she woke up every two hours the next night.

It's not anything I'm doing or not doing; she's just kind of a pain in the butt about sleep right now. She's the kind of pain in the butt that keeps you up even as she sleeps, because certainly she's just moments away from waking.

I am at her constant beck and call. (It's kind of fantastic.)

On a night when sleep eluded the little one who truly does love sleep, we were away from home. We declared it a girls night and gave the husband a bed to himself while Alexis, Mila, and I piled into the other bed in the cute little hotel room. Alexis picked one side of the bed, leaving me with the other. We made a Mila sandwich.

As the night went on, Mila found herself awake every few hours. It was right around 2:00 am when her awakedness spread like wildfire and a dark shadow rose from the other side of the bed. Nine years into the Parenting Alexis gig, that shadow still makes me shake in my boots. That kid. That kid STILL hasn't managed to sleep ten straight hours in her own bed. 2:00 am is prime time for a long conversation about nothing according to the kid who doesn't need sleep.

I cringed in the dark.

But, instead of plunging into a long one-sided conversation, Alexis looked around for a moment. Then, she found what she was looking for. She scooted down the bed a bit and found a way to nuzzle in around both Mila and myself. The sandwich was squished as she cuddled tightly.

I may miss sleeping hours without interruption, but some day I'm going to miss those middle of the night cuddles more.

(Right? RIGHT? PLEASE TELL ME YES.) (Seriously. I really need to believe it right about now.) (Ahem.)