Who needs their own beds anyway?

You know that saying "Don't rock the boat"? Yeah, well, I never abide by it.

It seems that whenever something is smooth sailing, I find a good way to mess it up.

Take sleep for instance. Our kiddos have been sleeping with us all our lives. But after we got back from New Mexico I got this brilliant idea - why not see if they'll sleep in their own rooms?

We put up a new bed for Miss H (again...), took one of the mattresses out of our room and stuck it in their room for baby B. They both went to bed without a hitch the first night.

I nursed baby B to sleep and H fell alseep on her own since I was in the same room.

And then clock struck midnight. And all hell broke loose!

Baby B woke up screaming, H woke up screaming. Everyone was mostly incoherent. I'd litterally just fallen asleep (try falling to sleep without a baby next to you when you've done so for the past two years. Not as easy as I had been fantasizing!). J woke up in a panic. So we played musical beds and H ended up in bed with J and I fell asleep in bed with Baby B.

What's that? We were sleeping just like we typically do? Only now J and I were in seperate rooms?

Yeah. I didn't realize that...

But we tried and tried again, and now we're mostly down to H and B sleeping on the mattress together, and I end up in there around 4am for some tumultutous sleep until they rise at 6am. But that's better than our first night, right?

Mostly, if this doesn't get better in another week I'm calling it quits. I don't know how real people do this; how they get their kids into their own beds. It's exhausting. And co-sleeping just isn't. And I miss my sleep.

The Family Bed

Hippies sleep with their kids. I totally knew that long before I had babes of my own. I'm definitely not cool enough to be a "hippy." So I'm not. And thus, I never intended to have a "family bed."

But I do. Actually, I have two. Two mattresses thrown on my bedroom floor and smooshed together. Baby B and I sleep on one, J and Miss H sleep on the other. Occasionally we all roll around and do a weird mix, but mostly, we stick to our own beds.

This was never supposed to be. Like ever. In a million and two years. Sleeping with your kids is crazy. It's irresponsible. It's for the lazy. Or the free-lovin'. So I thought...

But then I had Miss H and couldn't put her down for the first 72 hours after she was born other than to pee (though I did master holding her while peeing pretty quickly!). And that was okay. She was mesmerizing and amazing. I loved just holding her. And since I didn't put her down, she naturally came to bed with us. And that's just kind of where she stayed.

We tried the crib. We gave it a real honest effort. But she'd scream and I never have been one who can stand to let my babes cry, so she just ended up back in bed with us. I bribed her with picking out her own toddler bed. She picked a gaudy, tacky, awful pink plastic Princess bed (and she doesn't even freaking know what Disney Princesses are - she's never seen a single movie or read a book with them! They know how to lure little girls, that's for sure!!). She got the matching bedding and everything. And for an amazing 4 weeks she slept in her own bed....and then she didn't.

I keep saying maybe when baby B is bigger I'll just throw them in bed together. Maybe. Who knows? I'd love to go to bed with just my husband each night. To have him be the one beside me. I mean, I love my kiddos, but I'm with them all day long. A little space at night wouldn't hurt.

That being said, they are more than welcome to sleep with us as long as they need (though I'm really hoping it's not until they're in college). I'm a firm believer that everyone does what works best for their families, and for us, the family bed just works. Doesn't mean I always love it, but I certainly don't hate it. And my babes sleep well and are the better for it. And that's okay. It may not be conventional, and I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with it (I sure as hell would have before I had babes!), and really, that's okay. I don't think it's the "right" way, that's for sure. But I don't think it's wrong, either.

It just works for us. For now anyway...