I have Bella in a smaller crate (I made it super cozy) and sit it right on my nightstand directly level w/me.
The only time she whines (and boy does this irritate the SO) is when I have to get up to pee. She'll whine until I get back and then go right back to sleep. Occasionally at some gosh awful hour in the early AM she'll whine and scratch and that's her way of telling me it's "time to go pee". I take her out and she pees, we come in and she'll got back in her crate to sleep. Fortunately this doesn't happen very often.
