A Rough Night

I can probably count on each hand the number of times my boys have gotten me up during the night. I was blessed by the good Lord with two of the best sleepers in the world and once they started sleeping through the night as infants (somewhere around the 10-12 week mark), I was pretty much home free. Both of them, however, have been battling respiratory infections for several days now. Addison started with it over the weekend and, in kindly brother fashion, passed it onto his little bro.

Last night was the charm. Between the hours of 10pm and 4am, Trey and I were up with them each twice. Davis, in particular, was having a really hard time, waking up crying deliriously. Trey brought him into bed with us around 2am, the only thing that seemed to soothe him. I am not a fan of co-sleeping. We have never done this with our kids before for a couple of reasons not the least of which is because I can't sleep when they're kicking and kneeing me. After lying there restlessly trying to find a way to make it work, we finally decided it wasn't going to and Davis needed to return from whence he came. We did, however, reach a compromise. We let Davis sleep with Addison, which, bless his little heart, did the trick. When we first got the beds a couple of weeks ago, we tried letting them sleep together as a way to transition Davis from crib to bed. It worked fine for the first couple of nights, but Davis ultimately would not stay put and the bed is too high for him to hop back into once he's hopped out of it. We decided to revisit the issue in the summer when he would be a few months older and hopefully could follow instructions a little better.

Last night, however, was different. If he couldn't sleep with Mommy and Daddy, then there was no place he'd rather be, cuddled up next to his best friend. Ironically, Addison woke up a few hours later crying as well. Davis, as is typical since they have always shared a room, slept through the entire episode, and when I went into their room this morning to retrieve them, they were both bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and, thankfully, still in the bed. Having them share a room from when Davis was only 4 months old was one of the best decisions we ever made. I truly believe it is part of the deep bond that exists between them. Whatever and wherever their sleeping arrangements, they do fine as long as they are together, and last night it proved a real mercy to me. What was already an interrupted night could have proved even worse but for that fact.

And before some sage soul reminds me how timely this whole episode was with the upcoming birth of our baby whose long, sleepless nights I should be preparing myself for, sadly, I am trying to pretend they will not come and grab as much sleep now as I possibly can. In some bizarre twist, I have been sleeping amazingly well for this advanced point in pregnancy, a gift I am attributing to the fabulous pillow top mattress upon which I repose.

These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago during the "sleeping together" experiment.