I woke up at midnight on Friday night to a barking dog. My stomach sank, because we don’t have a dog and it wasn’t our neighbor’s pooch either. JD walked slowly into my room moaning, “Mommy” between barks, his little blue blanket trailing behind him. Croup!

Today at the park my married mom friend, Regan, said: “Whenever I get to sleep-in, I think of you and I want to come over in the morning and get JD so you can sleep.” She has two girls under 4 and her husband trades off with her so she can sleep-in some days. I never get to sleep-in, but I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m used to it. I was even used to it on Sunday when the time change had Mr. JD up at 4:30 AM. “Can I watch Cars 2 and have some cereal.” Guess who watched Cars 2 and ate cereal in my bed at 4:30 AM? Yeah.

Hello and sorry for the delay! My Internet got knocked out thanks to OctSNOWber. Last week’s blog prompted a lot of feedback in the comments and via personal messages. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Dr. Leah is back to answer some of your questions.

Last night I collapsed in my bed after a long day that started at 5:30 AM: Breakfast, Pre-school drop-off, freelance work at a magazine office until 5 PM, dinner at the diner with my Mom and JD, play-time, shower, books and bed for JD, then back to work for me. I teach an online writing class and I’m in the middle of a four-week session. When the chat session ended, I dove into my bed and turned on the TV. By 11 PM I was half-asleep and turned off the tube. At 11:30 PM I heard little feet…