I want my own bed!

Before I got married, I was talking to a friend on the phone when my cat jumped up in bed with me. My friend asked, "Why do people let their pets sleep in bed with them?" I replied, "So they don't have to be alone." It was nice to have a friendly little warm body to snuggle with on cold lonely nights. But I was honestly just biding my time until I got married and had a husband to snuggle with instead.

Fast forward six years or so and I now have a husband that works nights, two children, and another cat. With my husband gone at night, my kids and I frequently snuggle in my bed until they fall asleep. Since my 6mo old nurses several times throughout the night, the baby often just stays in bed with me. So it's hard to justify making the 2yr old sleep elsewhere too. And by the time they are BOTH asleep (a very rare occurrence indeed!) I often just scoot them over and try to catch an hour or so of sleep myself.

But the quality of sleep I get that way is very poor. It's difficult to get much REM sleep when you can't sleep in your preferred sleeping position. It is also difficult when you wake up every time one of the babies rolls over or whimpers in their sleep. A toddler that kicks and pulls hair doesn't help much either.

And even when it's just my husband and me in bed, my hair is so long that he sleeps on it sometimes, and it yanks my head, and I get a headache. Besides, with him in bed, I can't sleep diagonally, which really is the most comfortable way.

That is why there are times when I want my own bed. Maybe those 60s sitcom couples who slept in separate twin beds had the right idea...

Meanwhile, what happens when my poor husband gets home from a long night at work, and his bed is covered with two kids, a wife, and a cat? Well, even when I do manage to get the kids tucked in their own beds before he gets home, one or both of them will wake when he comes home, so it was a small victory. So we sleep in shifts when we can...

Ahh, parenting... *yawns*