7.28.2012

i LOVE having a family bed

Otto goes to bed in his room around 7:30 and then around 1am crawls in with us. i usually lay down with Loretta anywhere between 7:30 and 11:00 and pass out - probably in full makeup without brushing my teeth - while nursing her. throughout the night i change her diaper with supplies kept in her bassinet (<-- handy) so i don't have to get out of bed and we switch sides each time she wakes to nurse. absolutely sometimes i wake up sore because the situation can get cramped and Otto is a ruthless bed hog. and yet, and for reals, i really really really LOVE having a family bed.
see what i get to wake up to every morning? the three people i love more than anything in the world. yes, Rob's in there, see his hand? :)

i don't have deep seated beliefs about co-sleeping. i think everyone should do what's right for their family.our sleeping situation evolved over time. Loretta is *just* about ready to crawl and when she does we are going to have to rethink the co-sleeping for a while. i am a light sleeper but still, i wouldn't want to risk her quietly crawling to the foot of the bed and falling before i noticed.

as of today, we don't have room in our home for a crib, much less a nursery (we have a corner though and it's pretty cute), but we are moving into a much bigger (and prettier! and more light-filled! with a lovely fenced yard! and big kitchen!) space at the end of August and at that time we'll be setting Loretta up with her own room. i look towards this with excitement (decorating rooms IS FUN) and a little sadness because i know i'm going to miss our little family bed that we've settled into this past year.

when we moved Otto out of our bed and into a crib right around this same age (5 months) i slept on his floor for a month. major separation anxiety on my part. him? after a few days of gentle encouragement he rocked the crib like a boss. he didn't know it was weird for mommy to be laying on the floor with her fingers between the slats so she could be touching him. moms do all kinds of weird things. he didn't start crawling into our bed again until after we'd transitioned him to a big boy bed. now it's a 5-6 nights a week guarantee and i love it.

here are some drawings i made of our bed most nights...
it works for us :)

our new house has four bedrooms. we haven't toured but we've peeped in the windows and i believe the 3 main bedrooms are upstairs and then there is a tiny bedroom adjacent to the sitting room on the first floor. my plan is to turn the small downstairs bedroom into a toyroom and then to have the kids' rooms crisp, tidy, pretty, and functional with less fuss and mostly just a bed, bookcase, dresser. here are some rooms i like...

Julian's room from Miss James' Bleubird blog
Any of these Swedish kids rooms from Feather and Nest blog
The bed/chair/suitcase/bookcase area of Isobel's big girl room from Little Big blog

i like the clean, peaceful look of unused space and the delight of fun found objects but all with simplicity and thoughtfulness. each of these rooms has personality, you couldn't just buy them straight-up, they had to be put together over time. also, here is my dream crib from Pottery Barn for Loretta's room i am only hoping i can find it or one like it on Craigslist in the next month!

that was rambling but there is so much going on in my life right now. did or do you co-sleep? did you find it to be a great experience or frustrating? why? do you hate me for co-sleeping? haha! actually if you hate me don't bother telling me. what about these kids rooms? amazing right? i hope i can do something just as cool for my kiddos. i think the toy room will go a long ways towards that by minimizing the clutter in their sleeping rooms.

hope you all have great weekends!

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