soaking up the afternoon sun.

and also, the plant. the only thing on our baby-friendly main floor that she isn’t allowed. and the only thing she wants.

we used to think we had it easy: bed sharing with a baby that didn’t move and could latch on to nurse in her sleep. this arrangement woke up virtually none of us so even though ramona wasn’t sleeping through the night (and still isn’t) we all slept like she had.

but now she’s big. and moves in her sleep. and babbles in her sleep. and so we’ve started putting her in a crib (it’s actually a pack n play) at the foot of our bed in our one tiny bedroom. and she sleeps better with no other bodies around to distract her (recently she’s started rooting on jp’s cheeks after she’s had enough from me). and we’ve started sleeping better without a flailing baby taking up room and knocking us in the face.

and now, even with overall better sleep,  i’m complaining bc i have to actually get my tired butt out of bed to get her out of the crib to nurse her for her nightly feedings (every 3-4 hours after she goes to bed between 6:00 and 7:00). i always pull her back into bed with us but am usually awoken no-one-knows-when-bc-i’m-too-delirious-to-look-at-the-clock later by a flailing, grunting baby. so i have to get up–again–and put her back in the crib on her belly where she falls fast and quietly asleep.

all this to say, well, nothing really, except that while i’ll always be a proponent and advocate of bed sharing, i have no idea how people do it for so long and with larger, more active children or with multiple children. that is not judgment. that is actual disbelief and respect. bc i love love love sleeping with ramona. but jp and i always agreed that if our sleep was negatively affected we’d have to reevaluate and, sadly, i think that time has come.