January 12th, 4 a.m.

I was suddenly wide awake at 4 am on January 12th. It's terribly hard to fall back asleep when you know your stomach's going to be cut open in a few hours, and the little bean you've been growing in there the past nine months is about to break free and join the world.  I awoke at that same ungodly time on Corinne's birthday this year, too. I've made it a birthday tradition to decorate their bedroom door with streamers, and had completely forgotten the night before. This is not unlike the many nights that the tooth fairy has also bolted upright out of a dead sleep, because her subconscious had reminded her that a cute little girl would soon be waking up to search for her hard earned cash. Or those times when our Elf on the Shelf had forgotten to do something mischievous to delight the kids upon waking, and I grumpily had to walk through the house in the dead of night to stick that stupid elf in some kind of silly scenario while muttering the F word and cursing Christmas.

But Corinne is worth waking up before the sun. She has been counting down the days until she turned 6  since October, when she had to suffer through Taylor's birthday. She loved every second of her Paint A Dream party, and all the attention and affection that came with it. We followed it up with dinner at Chuck E Cheese with the fam and she was one happy little girl.

At 6 years old, Corinne is a drama queen. This has been the case for a few years now, and I've no idea where she inherited her over emotional personality from (some prefer the term "passionate"). She loves school, and absolutely hates being sick or missing it for any reason. She's incredibly smart and has picked up reading and math like a pro. She's a social butterfly and really lights up when she's with a group of pals. Her best friends are Ella and Taylor, but she'd hardly confess to the latter, even though they really do get along amazingly when nobody is looking. She's fantastic at gymnastics, and loves to listen to music.

She still can't fall asleep on her own and I hardly care. Sure, sure. She may have sleep issues when she's older and I take full responsibility for those, but I know this time is fleeting. So for now, we snuggle, chat, and take the occasional bed time selfie.

I have always adored this little Sprite and I always will.