Sleep seems to be a little fairy that no longer flits past our house.
Zach has taken to coming to our bed every night. Jeff and I are ok with co-sleeping. We co-slept with Teagan until she was almost 2 and then she got her big girl bed and was done with us. Zach never wanted anyone close to him when he was sleeping. Until now. He's a restless sleeper- he wants us close to him and will keep that connection by any limb-to-face contact possible. He also has to have his head on a pillow- preferably one of ours. Jeff and I often agree that we will start taking him back to his bed at night. The problem is that he manages to sneak into our room, into our bed... so you wake up with toes up your nose and have no idea how he got there in the first place.
Teagan has started coming to our bed about an hour before the alarm goes off. And then she and Zach are pushing and kicking each other in between Jeff and I.
Which all means that no one in our house is getting a good night's sleep. Which means there are a lot of early morning crankies.
Last night, my mom came through town. Spent the night and she's off to Chicago to visit family this morning.
We don't have a guest room so an overnight guest means interesting sleeping arrangements.
We ended up with Grandma and Teagan in Teagan's bed. Mommy and Zach in Zach's bed. And Daddy got our bedroom all to himself.
Worst sleep. Bad sleep. Awful sleep.
Zach was restless and kept THUNKING into the wall. He'd bang his head into it or flop his leg into it.
I was crammed into his twin bed with him scrunched between his restless self and the "don't fall out of bed" thingee on the outside of his mattress. Because I was in a scrunched up space, my hands and fingers kept falling asleep and I would wake up to roll over and would have Novacaine appendages.
My mom had trouble sleeping in Teagan's room and ended up getting up around 1:30 and going out to the living room. I then hear her in the kitchen... and then making space to lie down in the living room. She settles in.
And then Teagan starts her whimpery whiney thing. I wait for it to abate but... she's escalating. So I crawl over the "don't fall out of bed" thing and get Teagan and take her in to sleep with Daddy.
I slide back up into Zach's bed.
And the kids end up bounding out of bed by 6 a.m.
We went to bed at 10:30. We were up before 6 a.m. And people were awake lots of various times over the course of those hours.
I long for a solid night's sleep. Just one night. One night where we all go to bed at our bedtimes and then we all sleep all night long in our own beds and we all get up around 7 or so.... refreshed, well rested.
People keep telling me that when my kids are teenagers, I'll miss these early mornings and the times they need me overnight.
I look forward to the opportunity to miss out on these early mornings and sleepless nights. Really, really, really look forward to it.
12 comments:
I know what you mean! Last year I book a hotel for Jim and I to have a romantic evening. We got the hotel, and I took a nap. Comfy bed, total quiet, no child, it was great. The couple time was just what we needed, but the sleeping was too!
Yeah, sounds like you need a hotel getaway like when you took the business trip. Or take naps under your desk.
Uuuuuugh. Sounds awful. Hope it'll get better very soon so you can get on with missing it. Or not missing it.
I don't think I'll ever miss this part of my boys' childhood. I like sleep way too much.
We are going through the same thing. Allison sneaks into our room almost every night about 1am and we are just too tired to get up and move her. She is a little karate girl and kicks ALL night. I just keep thinking it won't last forever...it can't!
I haven't had a good night sleep in nearly 8 years. Someone always has to go potty, or had a bad dream, or just wants to get in our bed with us.
I feel your pain.
We used a "nest" when the kids got big and started taking up more space in bed than us. Zach may be too young but we had a camping foam pad and sleeping bag under our bed. The deal was they could come in at anytime but had to make their "nest" and go to sleep without bothering us. David was 11 before he stopped sleeping on his "nest".
I'm with ya. There's plenty of stuff I'm not wishing away, but I won't miss either. Sleepless (or less than refreshing sleep) is TOP of the list.
We have a sneaky sleeper too. He comes in, neither of us realize it until we wake up. I don't mind too much because he is my baby (my big 6yo baby!). But it is hard when it interferes with your sleep.
I never had this problem with my daughter, but I have tried to share a twin bed with my granddaughter. ("Tried" being the operative word!) Not possible. Luckily she was always the one to leave and now she's way too big to want to share!
You will laugh about it someday, I"m certain. Christmas this year, my estranged husband AND my brother were here. I gave Connor's bed to my brother, Aeryn's bed to my husband (it feels strange to call him that but there's nothing else that fits yet) and the kids, the three big dogs and I all slept in my bed. I tried to join them after midnight service, and of course no one was moving. So basically come Christmas morning, the one person who was expected to make breakfast and coffee had NO sleep. None. I had moved out to the couch around 4 am to see if that might work, but as it were, Aeryn was up at 5 to see if Santa had come, so that was all she wrote for attempting to sleep.
Someday when they are bigger we will mourn that they no longer fit in our beds, in our laps. That they might fit in our arms but no longer wish to be embarassed by our hugs. Hold them close while you can. :) Even when they kick you in the chin while sleeping. Boy, do I know what THAT is like!
Hmm...miss the days of broken sleep and extra bodies in the bed with us? Not bloody likely! And mine were all very quiet and still when asleep, if there was wriggling or kicking as well I don't think we'd have all survived those years!
Post a Comment