4:20 a.m.

4:20 a.m.: The alarm goes off for the first time. At least I think it does. Something in my sleepy brain tells me to roll over and hit snooze.
4:38 a.m.: The alarm goes off for the third time (It's set for every 9 minutes. Why nine minutes? Because I don't know how to change it.) I finally sort of realize I'm supposed to be getting up, but I hit snooze one more time.
4:47 a.m.: I roll over and tell the beautiful (though very sleepy) wife, "you need to get up."
"I Know, don't remind me," she says through gritted teeth as she swings her legs over and down to the floor.
This is when the action really starts. Stephanie tiptoes to the bathroom and herd the dogs as quietly as possible to the back of the house to let them out, back in and feed them.
I sidle past the bathroom and into Big sister's room, where I pull her out of bed and put slide into the bathroom where I set her on the toilet. (Since I get up every morning really early, I do this so she won't wet the bed -- it's worked mostly for six months now)
She kisses mommy in the shower and I put her back in bed.
5:02 a.m.: Lay down for about five minutes when Stephanie gets out of the shower and comes into the bedroom. I get up and go make her cream of wheat.
5:14 a.m.: Go start the car and pour the coffee, feed the cat.
5:28 a.m.: Stephanie is out the door and I'm back to sleep for at least another 2 hours...Ihope.

*This schedule completely depends on whether we are able to not wake up Little Sister. If she wakes up, the schedule includes a lot more whining and crying than usual.