If it sounds like cookie making gnomes it's probably not.

For the last week or so I have been waking up to this scratching sound in my bathroom at about 5 am every morning. I am not a morning person so this was extremely annoying.

The first morning I heard it my initial reaction was "STUPID HAMSTER SHHHHHH" but then after a few moments of semi waking up I remembered I no longer have a hamster so that's not what it was. My second thought was "KASSIE KNOCK IT OFF" but then I rolled over to realize she was sleeping on the pillow near my head. This was some what baffling to me considering Char was not awake yet and the only other things that could make noise were dead or laying next to me.

As I lay there I pondered a whole mess of things from little gnome men who were living under my bathroom sink and making me cookies while I was asleep (imagine my disappointment in looking for my cookies that didn't exist) to giant rodents that were going to eat my toes in my sleep.

I went several mornings hiding my toes and looking for cookies before I was able to finally find out what this annoying sound was. Then one dreary morning I had the horrifying thought that if it sounded like my hamster it was most likely something small and furry like my hamster; then I freaked out, I knew deep down in my soul there was a mouse in my apartment plotting to be gross where ever it went and help it's self to anything it wanted!!!

Every morning as I was woken by this dreadful sound I would slowly slip out of bed one body part at a time and try to crawl like a stealthy army man into my bathroom to catch this awful little thing in the act. I slide across the floor trying to stalk my prey only to be foiled by the incessant "meow meow meow" of my extremely co-dependent cat trying to figure out why my interest wasn't in her but in this strange sound coming from my bathroom.

Every time I got close to the bathroom Kassie would start freaking out and cause the scratching to stop. I thought I was never going to catch the culprit. Having a blind cat wasn't going to help this situation either.

Finally after weeks of being woken out of my peaceful sleep by this noise that made chills run down my spine and sleeping with one eye open at all times to make sure its furry little self didn't try to climb into bed with me I was able to slip out of bed this morning without waking the cat up. I jumped in my excitement of this heroic feat only to wake her up. I held very still barely breathing hoping she would fall back asleep and after a few moments of me trying to act like a very sleep deprived statue it paid off she dozed back off.

I snuck into the bathroom like a ninja on crack only to learn the scratching noise was not coming from under my sink like I had thought it was coming from the vent in the bathroom. Alarms in my head went off "OH NOES THEY'RE IN THE CEILING!!!!" but a few moments later I was rewarded and relived to hear the soft chirping of baby birds. There weren't man eating mice invading my house, it was just a mommy bird climbing back in every morning to feed the babies. I can now sleep peacefully knowing my toes are safe from being bitten by anything other than my cat who so fondly likes to bite them the moment my alarm goes off in the morning to wake me up. :)