There might be something to this family bed thing

We spent our Father’s Day weekend camping about 5 minutes from our house.  In a tent.  With a group of preschoolers and their families.  You want to be me right now, don’t you?

But you know what? It wasn’t that bad.

It was our preschool’s weekend camp-out and it was nice to get to know some of the families a bit better, get to know some people in our little community better, and get to sit beside a little pond and splash around with our kids.  Steve and I are terrible about getting out and about in this little place of ours, so being a part of the preschool has been good for us.  Maybe we’ll even venture out to our local farmer’s market this coming weekend and be able to say hi to people.  Maybe we’ll even talk to them.   Whoa.  Wild.

Actually hanging out with the preschooler’s families isn’t what was scaring me as I prepared for the weekend.  It was all 5 of us sleeping in a tent that had me petrified. 

I have a confession to make: Steve hasn’t slept in our bed since Anna was born.

I bought two twin sized beds just before Anna was born for The Toddlers but my real intent was that Steve wouldn’t sleep in our bed for a little while.  Steve is not a nice person when he is tired.  One might say he’s a bit of a jerk.  That one being me.  The man is a jerk when he’s tired so I much prefer him well rested.  Babies don’t typically allow for well restedness (I don’t care if that isn’t a word, it makes my point well so I’m using it).   I can’t make Steve suddenly be all rainbows and lollipops on 5 hours of sleep so I decided that he would sleep elsewhere.  He very happily agreed to this arrangement and has been bunking in Callum’s room on the spare twin bed and relishing the fact that Callum doesn’t snore so he doesn’t have to wear earplugs.  Callum LOVES that Papa is there first thing in the morning and he can start talking right away! (Callum doesn’t yet care that Steve is Mr. Grumpy first thing in the morning, he just starts talking.  I find this hilarious.).

Since this new sleeping arrangement has been so well received the thought of getting into a tent with Steve, The Toddlers and Anna was daunting.  That’s a lot of sharing after two solid months of sleeping in a queen sized bed with a baby that just hit 9 lbs.  I wasn’t convinced it was something that would end well.

But it did end well.  The Toddlers sleep like champs anyway and once asleep stay asleep.  Anna got to cuddle in my sleeping bad so she was problem free, and Steve just pulled out the old earplugs and all was well.

The only drawback to this experiment is that he’s decided that we should once again start living life as a married couple and moved himself back into my bed. 

Or rather, our bed.

4 Responses to “There might be something to this family bed thing”

1. Sole says:

   June 22, 2010 at 7:52 pm

   I got some good advice when I just had Lukas – just do whatever it takes so that the whole family sleeps and is well rested. We had Lukas sleep with us and so did Jonah. The downfall has been that Lukas doesn’t seem to want to leave our bed. He makes his way in to our bed at some point during the night. Jonah, however, stays most of the night in his own bed and comes in around 6:30 – 7 or not at all. Though I am also not in a hurry for them to leave because soon enough they’ll want nothing to do with me
2. michelle says:

   June 24, 2010 at 4:06 pm

   I agree with Sole> Ben still crawls into bed with us at some point on the night, most nights. Once in a while Alex comments on how Ben is getting to old to do this and I promptly tell him to shut up. He is my baby……there will be no more babies so I am enjoying while it lasts. It might not be so well recieved when he is 12 though….
3. wordygirl says:

   June 25, 2010 at 2:55 pm

   Oh you make me laugh. “My bed” indeed. How dare he!
4. Amber says:

   June 27, 2010 at 2:53 pm

   heh. He moved back into Callum’s room… la la la…
   .-= Amber´s last blog ..Local Tourist-Morning Star Farms =-.