Lady and the Sleep-Deprivation

Remember the beginning scene of Lady and the Tramp, where little Lady is put in the kitchen for her first night in her new home? She cries and cries and finally works her way out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and hops up onto the bed. The night fades into day and we see that Lady is now a full-grown dog, and is still enjoying her cozy spot at the foot of Jim Dear and Darling's bed.

In a nutshell, that's pretty much what happened with our Jemima. We bought her an adorable, shabby chic bed on the same day we bought her, but her constant crying was enough to melt our hearts and we let her sleep on the bed with us for "just one night". Now, two years later, she hops up on the bed as soon as she sees us start brushing our teeth. She looks hurt and disappointed every night that we won't let her sleep right in between us. She's a textbook case for the "what's not to love?" syndrome.

She spends half the night jumping out of bed to go investigate noises, pull all her toys out of her toy box, and stare out the window, which was fine back when she would just jump back on the bed when she was ready to go to sleep. But NOW she's decided that it's much easier just to wake her mama up and have me pick her up onto the bed. For the last few weeks, about every hour or so she comes over to my side of the bed, stands on her hind legs, and starts batting at me until I wake up. It's driving me CRAZY!

Of course, she has no qualms about jumping up there during the day, before she goes to bed, or early in the morning. But during the middle of the night I guess she just can't be bothered to jump up there herself. And why should she when she can just have me pick her up, right?

So now I'm trying to find an antique, or at least cute ... version of something like this.  The only thing I can really find on-line are library steps. These are cute, and I'm pretty sure she'd use them, but I don't know where to find and buy them.

This doesn't really fall under my "just find one on Craigslist" abilities. I was also thinking of trying to build some, but I already have my husband working on plans for a coffee table, a dining set, and we still have to finish this chair, so I'm trying to pace myself with my demands. Although, the lack of a proper night's sleep might be enough incentive for me to push this project up to the next in line.