5 A.M.

Boy is he lucky he is cute. Because at 5:00 a.m., I am not thinking about how cute he is. I am thinking about the last hour of sleep I am about to lose. Sometimes, he even tries to get me up when there is a 3:00 in the first number when I look at the clock.

Now I understand when you gotta go, you gotta go. But he is old enough to make it thru the night without having to potty. And the remarkable thing is how my husband, whose side of the bed Finn's crate is on, can sleep right thru all the commotion he makes. Uggghhhh. It truly amazes me. I will confess. I think he fakes that he is sleeping so he does not have to get up.

And the usual culprit for this early morning wake up happens to be the cat.

Finn LOVES Toby. Toby has reservations about how he feels about Finn. The cat will wake at 3 am as that is prime time to hunt any palmetto bug or lizard that thinks they can make their way in to his house. And when he gets bored with that, he either howls to see who is going to answer him, or he just comes and lays in the doorway to the bedroom - where little puppy eyes can see him. And that is when it starts.

I must tell you, I am feeling the strain of losing that hour every day. I was never someone that stayed up late, but I can barely make it past 9:00 p.m. I am less motivated at work - of course truth be told, that has been there long before the dog came in to my life. And I have to drink more caffeine just to jump start my self in the morning.

I am hoping that once he is old enough to be out of the crate, he can and will sleep thru the night.

Here's hoping, right?