Last night, Danny and Ben went to sleep as usual. Bob and Kathleen (Kevin's parents), and Kevin and I stayed up to watch The Office (yay...it's back on!) and then I went to bed around 10:30.
At around 12:45, Ben woke up crying, so I went to get him, but first I poked Kevin to wake him up from a dead sleep on the couch. It was such a dead sleep that he was holding an opened beer and sitting straight up. Then I got Ben and put him in bed with me (no judgements, parenting advice or sleep training here, please. I know we should not let Ben sleep with us every night, but we have no choice...he absolutely will not sleep alone and I have got to get some rest). 30 minutes later, I woke up to realize that Kevin was still not in the bed and I was worried Ben would roll out so I propped pillows up to keep him safe and went back out to the living room to wake Kevin again. This time when he woke up, he spilled the beer on his underwear. He changed his underwear and got into bed.
The next time I woke up was around 3:00 a.m. when I realized that Ben had inched his way up to the very top of the bed and was curled up and kind of perched on my shoulder like a pirate's parrot. I moved him, got him calmed down again and back to sleep we went.
Around an hour or so later, Ben was sleeping sideways with his feet pushing against my ribs. After a bit of rearranging bodies and blankets, we were back on our way to dreamland.
Finally, at 7:20, Kevin said, loudly, "Jennifer!!!" thinking I was late for work which made me panic and search frantically for my glasses so I could see the clock. But, I didn't have to be at work until 8:00 this morning, so I wasn't late. Ben was sleeping upside down in the crook of my legs like a puppy. All blankets were curled in a ball at the foot of the bed and my pillow was essentially on the nightstand.
Sadly, this was a pretty good sleeping night for me. I actually got some decent stretches in there. Do you think this weird pattern is going to continue even after Ben starts sleeping by himself? Am I going to be stuck in some kind of bizarre sleep cycle where I wake up every hour or two for the rest of my life?
Also, why is Ben such a restless sleeper? Honestly, he's all over the bed. He wakes himself up so many times. I know he's still struggling with the reflux and I just keep hoping it will improve. I can't let him cry alone when I know that he is having tummy trouble. So, we're just stuck in this pattern where he comes into our bed every night. But, I know from having Danny, that as a parent, you have to trust your instincts and that's what I'm doing.
I just hope Danny doesn't start coming into our room too. I cannot sleep with three men...at least, not all at the same time.
3 comments:
Being up every couple hours for months on end is pretty bizarre isn't it? It makes you feel like you're living in a parallel universe or something. I'm sure it will get better once Ben starts sleeping better. Ha! Like I know what I'm talking about!
This is one of your funniest posts EVER. The whole beer in the underwear scene just got me. I do think you are right to keep trusting your parenting instincts, too. Like I always say, I just think Ben is too creative to be bothered with sleeping soundly - there is just too much else to do.
Frantically search for your glasses! LOL! I have so been there! whap! whap! whap! my hand on nightstand, feeling for glasses.
What a terrible way to wake up, with a yell, and a "am I late for work?!"
Hope the sleep patterns even out for you all.
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