The Daily Dilemma
It seems that pretty much every day of my life contains some sort of situation or decision that is worthy of the label "dilemma" to me. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a little bit of a stresser-outer when it comes to basically every aspect of life...from what to cook for dinner to the best college savings plan for our children. (Ha! As if we'll ever save enough money to send four kids to college. The good news is Maddie has at least enough money to cover her books for that first semester. What a relief!)
So, the huge, insermountable, life-altering dilemma in front of me this week is (drum roll, please): Where in the world is this new baby of ours going to sleep? Compared to the majority of the world, we live in a mansion. Somehow, though, to this spoiled American girl, it doesn't seem quite as spacious as I imagine a mansion would be. Factor in three boys in one room, two of whom rarely sleep through the night (that would be one who has never slept through the night and one who does only when the other one gets up four times) and who both also like to make quite a bit of racket before they submit to sleep, and the house seems even smaller.
Seeing as sleep feels like an impossible dream to me right now (you know, like finding 7 million dollars on your front doorstep), I'm doing whatever I can to ensure that it is interrupted as little as possible. Or maybe I'm not, since I'm typing this paragraph at 11:53pm. Okay, maybe I could make a few better choices, but the point of all this is that Sam needs a new sleeping arrangement. The poor child is about to bust out of the bassinet he's in, but his crib is just so far away for this sleepy mama to walk to in the middle of the night when he decides he cannot go on without his snack. Not only that, but the last thing I want to add to a hungry infant at 3am is a grumpy toddler who wakes up and refuses to go back to sleep in his bed. Just for fun, let's add in a five-year-old whose disposition is more dependent on adequate sleep than anyone I've ever known, and you have the potential for a nighttime disaster.
One of our options is to use the pack n' play in our room for Sam. But, honestly, I don't want to look at an ugly pack n' play everyday and the "mattress" is just ridiculously thin and it's hard to gently transfer a sleeping baby down into it without falling in head first yourself.
The next option would be to throw caution to the wind and risk our (uh, that would be MY) precious sleep by throwing Sam in the room with Grumpy and Grumpier and seeing how it all plays out for a few days. That just scares the dickens out of me.
The only other thing we can think of is to do fruit basket turnover with the furniture in our house in an attempt to put the crib in our room. I'll be honest. That just goes against so many of my principles as a parent and a person who likes to be able to say I've spent at least a couple hours a day alone with my husband without sweet monkeys climbing all over us, even if we are sleeping the whole time. I do NOT, repeat do NOT want to have a kid sleeping in our room with us for the next five years. I'm just afraid that somehow we'd never make the transition to Sam joining the Boy Bungalow.
I think the one takeaway from this whole situation would be: I need to try to tone down my over-thinking-everything level just a tad. But, seeing as how that's not likely to happen anytime in this milennium, how about you all (and by you all, I mean all three of you who have taken the time to click on my blog and then been bored enough with your life to read to this point) put your two cents in and help this poor mama make a decision. New options are also welcome, as long as they don't involve buying a bigger house - unless you're willing to make a sizeable contribution to the Bonds Need a Bigger House for All These Kids Fund.)
Help me! Before this funny guy's bassinett collapses underneath him from all his yummy chubbiness.
Am I the only one who thinks he looks like a deranged elf in this picture? Of course, I mean that in the nicest way.
Awww, look how happy your mom looks. So sweet.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any words of advice. I currently have three boys in one room (age 12, 11, and 4) and somehow it all works out. Babies usually have a way of sleeping through whatever is going on, but I know all babies are different.
No, but he DOES look like my first Cabbage Patch Kid - Xavier! Cute, cute, cute! My advice since you very much don't want to put the crib in your room is to - gulp - put him in with Jack and Luke and see how it goes. No, I'm not a "see how it goes" person either, especially since Daniel's day is also determined by a good night's sleep. But as you said, you guys aren't planning on moving anytime soon and it sounds like these three amigos are going to be together for a while. Might as well take the plunge and hope for the best!
ReplyDeleteLove to you all...
Ok, he does NOT look like a deranged elf, but I do kind of agree with her cabbage patch kid comparison! Of course, he is much cuter than any CPK! I think your best bet is to move one of the boys in with Maddie-I am sure she would not agree-but it would be just for sleeping purposes, and you say she can sleep through anything. Other options are to enclose your deck and put a kid out there or make a room in the basement-you could do a bedroom and a playroom?
ReplyDeleteWell, definitely take my advice because you know how good advice is from a WOMAN WITH NO KIDS! You may have a rough first couple of night but I think all 3 of your boys will get used to the routine and Grumpy and Grumpier will sleep right through feeding times. It's amazing how adaptable kids can be.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you - you and Chris need to have time alone (even if it is sleeping). But you know.... time alone seems to be how you got in this "dilemma" in the first place ;)
Amy...you have MORE than three readers. HA HA! I wish I had the sleeping thing down and had some GREAT advice for you. I really don't though! My boys share a room and THANKFULLY, Josiah sleeps through all of Joseph's sleepless nights. If baby #3 is a boy, he'll end up in there too and we'll just see how it goes. I'd say TRY it...maybe this weekend because most likely school will be out Monday due to snow. If it doesn't work out, leave him in the pack and play in your room for a little while??? I have a good friend with 4 kids and her youngest slept in a pack in play in the middle of the living room each night until he was ready to be moved into the room with his brother. Every night she'd just pull the pack in play into the living room and every morning she would put it away again. It worked great for them. :) Pray, pray, pray. God WILL give you some direction. :) Love ya!
ReplyDeleteSo, I have a friend (who is pregnant with her 5th...eek!) that always keeps the youngest in a pack n play in their closet. Now, this only works if your closet is the size of a small bedroom, as theirs is. My closet barely holds my clothes, so putting a pack n play in there would not only be cruel, but virtually impossible. And as the oldest of 4 (3 girls, 1 boy), my mom did put Kim in with Cliff while she was still in the crib. So, putting Sam in Maddie's room wouldn't kill her. Or Sam. For the time being anyway.
ReplyDeleteThree boys in one room here too! So far, it's been fine. Colin was being a total pill the other night, and we left him to cry it out, which ended up being more like "scream it out in complete and utter fury". And you know, the other two boys snoozed undisturbed through the entire thing. It might take some adjustment, and the adjusting might make you crazy, but I bet everything would eventually settle down.
ReplyDeleteConfessions of a mom - Sara spent her first year and half of life in a pack n play at the end of our dining table in the middle of our small apartment in WI.
ReplyDeleteConfession #2- when we go on vacation to the beach, KK sleeps in a closet and Sara sleeps in a bathroom.
So, in light of these confessions, I vote for considering using your dining room or laundry room(I can't remember how big that space is) as a sleep area for awhile, or having someone move in with Maddie, or creating some type of space downstairs for a bigger kid. All that being said, if you don't want to consider the "alternative" sleep areas, then I'd throw em all together for a week and see how they do! Good luck!