Slumber Party - Kalb Style

Last night I awoke to Ronan’s first nightmare.  It was so sad – he was whimpering and rolling all over.  I grabbed him and held him and shushed him until he calmed back down.  Sader and Lola woke up to see what was wrong with Ronan (which I love how much they care and love him and worry when he is upset).  Once they realized he was ok they decided to snuggle in bed with us. 

That’s when I admitted to myself that we were a co-sleeping family.  Now I never thought I/we would be one of those families (although I should have known since we have always let our dogs sleep with us).  We originally bought our King size bed since both of our dogs at the time slept with us in our Queen.  Now only Lola does regularly, but occasionally Sader joins the party.  If you know us that’s a lot of people in 1 bed.

I came across this funny image on Facebook I thought I would share. 

 

As my Mom stated – “Just add 2 dogs” 

 

And not the smallest of dogs (Lola is 110 pounds and Sader is 85)

It wasn’t an intentional decision to be a co-sleeping family.  It truly came out of convenience.  As a nursing and working mama it was easier to let him sleep with us for all his nighttime feedings.  I needed my sleep too.  Honestly, though I love it.  I love waking up, rolling over and seeing his sweet face sleeping.  He is a funny sleeper.  He once sat up and started clapping, he laughed for about 15 seconds the other night and I was able to calm his fears last night when he was scared.  I might have missed those moments if he wasn’t there with us.  He is the happiest baby in the morning too – he awake every morning, sits up and says “Hi.”  Then he rolls over to Ryan and I to snuggle.  It’s so special and magical a time before all the morning madness happens.

I know the words co-sleeping invokes all kinds of crazy images to some (we must be hippies) or we hear a lot (“just let them cry, they only do it for a night or two”) and while that might work for some it just didn’t for us. Every family and parenting style is different.   For us this works. 

Ronan won’t sleep with us forever so I cherish every night while I can.