Sleep

I have a queen sized bed. There Is just enough room for two adults to sleep comfortably. There's even sort of enough room for an occasional child, say, under the age of 5. There is not room for two adults, two children and assorted cats. Unfortunately, sometimes, that is our reality.

There are problems with this arrangement. Our children used to be smaller. They are now 6 and 9 which = too big. They have long, pointy limbs which = too much.

So, my husband is away for work this week which means my children think they should be able to sleep in his spot. Being the level headed and diplomatic parent I sometimes pretend to be I am, I told them that they could each have a turn. The first night went pretty well. The youngest slept with me with very minimal kicking and poking. The second night the oldest joined me and things were ok until 3:46 am. He's a flailer and, while I was dealing with this ok, it was not ideal. But, I digress, 3:46 arrived and the youngest wakes up to find that he is alone in their room. I am awakened to the sound of his pitiful crying downstairs. Too tired to be in possession of common sense or reason, I shout down "Kieran, just come upstairs!".

So now I have two children and one adult in my bed. Perversely, my cats see this as some sort of happy fun time and decide to invite themselves to the party. This = 5 mammals in one queen sized bed. But the smallest boy won't stop fidgeting and the cats won't stop squeezing into that spot between my thigh and leg that completely limits any ability to move, so at 4:47 I kick the extra human and both cats OUT. The boy goes back to his bed, but the cats come back. Oh, how I wish that I had a bedroom door. I don't have one. I know I've mentioned this before. I have baby gates, but they just laugh at those.

Partial illustration of typical wake up positions on weekends. Note there is a foot by my shoulder: