It may come as no surprise to you that I'm not a very good sleeper. In fact, since A's utter refusal to sleep entirely through the night once she hit 5 1/2 months old, I seriously wonder sometimes if she inherited that from me. Let's hope not.
Food is downright forbidden from our room, because if by chance even the tiniest crumb ends up in our bed, I will seriously toss and turn all night, perturbed by its presence and yet unable to pin down its location and remove it. I'm a very temperamental sleeper as well, requiring the environment to be just right in order to fall asleep. I HAVE to be on my stomach, as you'll remember from my long and miserable nights of pregnancy, I need it to be less than 70 degrees in our house, I don't like anything to be touching me (including my own legs to be touching), and so on. Basically, I'm a nutjob.
A is starting to show some of these tendencies. Whether it's due to her observing me in my sleep or just one of the kooky little inherited tendencies, she prefers to sleep on her belly. She also likes to spread out to where he legs aren't touching, and she throws the covers off all night, despite the 68 degree thermostat. The one place, though, that she differs from me, is that she wants to be touching you at all times.
Co-sleeping has been awesome for us. Yes, sometimes we're smushed and yes, she may wake more often due to the close proximity to her all-night buffet and my fitful sleeping habits, but I love her being close to us, and I love that she feels safe and secure and that she's not left to cry alone. That being said, homegirl is IN. MY. SPACE. While I'll take cuddling to crying any day, I frequently get woken up by a swift hair tug, or, more often lately, a baby that's standing victorious on top of Mommy Mountain, AKA has pulled up on me and is shrieking like she's the queen of the world. Other times, though, I am woken by the soft touch of her hands on my face. How can you not love that? We've started calling her our little koala, since she falls asleep and/or navigates over to you in her sleep and likes to put her arms around your neck and snuggle close. I may be losing sleep, but it's time well spent, don't you think?
Fellow co-sleeping mamas: What little things does your child do in their sleep that you love? Hate?
I definitely know the "I'm Queen of Mommy Mountain - Look Ma, I'm on top of the world!" moment. I've woken up to that several times and while part of me wants to scream in frustration cause I NEED MY SLEEP, I also half to laugh cause she's so proud of herself when she does it. LOL.
ReplyDeleteWe have Mt Mommy moments too... it is one of my favorite ways to wake up just because she's so happy with herself and comes and gives me kisses once she realizes I'm awake. I love those sweet bed time moments and am kind of glad that she's not sleeping so well in her own bed, just so she can come snuggle with me! I love to cuddle,and it's nice to have her beside me in the mornings once Nic has left to get ready for work. I could do without her habit of trying to pick my nose as she falls asleep though!.
ReplyDeleteI used to co-sleep w monkey. I just loved holding him or having him sleep on me. It was great to wake up to smelling him. It was a nice feeling. I miss the cuddling now that he hates to be held for too long. :o)
ReplyDeleteI love love love my lil cuddle bug :) but I HATE being woken up in the morning with a quick bite to the nipple. AH! NOT a good way to start the day, haha.
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