Number 3 co-sleeps, as they say, with us. This is more born of convenience than anything else. Number 1 and Number 2 each spent their first eight months in this world in a Babybay cot at the side of our bed. We still have the Babybay and Number 3 begins the night in there but from about 11pm he can generally be found in the bed with us. We're used to it now. Six legs, you see, is a manageable amount.
Last Friday night began like any other but shortly after 1am I was awoken by cries of "Mammy, I'm sick" from Number 1. He'd thrown up. I carried him to the bathroom, where he continued to be sick for another few minutes. Once he'd got it all out of him system, I brought him to our bed and snuggled him in at the foot end before sorting out his bedclothes and getting him a just-in-case basin for bedside the bed.
When I returned to our bedroom a few minutes later, I smiled to myself on seeing Number 1, Number 3 and the Bavarian all sleeping soundly. I even felt a little sorry for Number 2, alone in the boys' bedroom, and wondered would he be upset on waking in the morning to find he was the only one who didn't spend the night in the big bed. Congratulating myself on efficiently resolving a (literally) sticky situation, I settled back into bed, naively onfident I would doze off and sleep easily.
You'd think that after almost 7 years of parenthood I'd know better. No matter how I lay, the bed was a sea of legs and feet keeping me from sleep. And so I lay awake with thoughts of octopus and spiders and how they probably don't have any problem with eight legs. But everything is relative and when you are used to six, eight is a lot of legs.
My three year old co-sleeps and my 5 year old use to sneak in at night until eight legs meant the hubby slept on the couch! Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Yanique.
DeleteIndeed 8 is a lot of legs! 6 was too many for me- our baby was banished to his cot fairly early on. In fact, sometimes 4 is too many (she says as the Mrs snores and kicks next to me)
ReplyDelete#twinklytuesday
True, Sometimes two legs are enough :)
DeleteAt various times on various nights we also have some combination of our three kids in bed with us. Kara, our youngest, typically relocates to our bed for half the night, while the two older boys will often snuggle in with us whenever they wake up (which is early!) and sometimes before if they're unwell or have perhaps had a bad dream. On occasions when I'm doing a late-nighter, I'll come upstairs to bed at 2-3am to find the bed full, at which point I'm effectively banished to the spare room - on the bright side, at least I can stretch out!
ReplyDeleteSince our youngest has arrived, 6 months ago, the older two want to play with him as soon as they come in in the mornings. The days of all snuggling up for sleep have passed, it seems.
DeleteAww this is so lovely! Zach ended up in our bed for the whole night a couple of nights ago and I literally woke up at one point with my head almost off of the bed and him sleeping diagonally on my pillow! As uncomfortable as it was though, I didn't want to wake him and so just maneuvered around him until the alarm went off! I do sometimes love those nights where he ends up in with us, I feel together :) Thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday
ReplyDeleteThey manage to get into such impossible positions, don't they Lisa? It is lovely though when they cuddle up to you sleepily. Thanks for your comment.
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