Sleeping Arrangements

I came across this image on Facebook recently and thought I should share how the sleeping arrangements are in our home. This is obviously from a husband's point of view, but it is so far from the truth in our bed that it's quite comical. 

Most of our friends know that we are co-sleepers. What this has meant for us is that while our children our infants, we feel that sleeping with mother is the least disruptive to everyone's sleep, and the most natural and comforting for the baby. However, transferring out of mother's bed when the time is right can be challenging. Joy and Grace are still challenged with sleeping in their shared bed all night long. We've chosen to have them share a queen bed because they have spent so much of their lives cuddling during sleep that it seems like a comforting practice. This is how things would ideally look every night all night long. As I type this at the beginning of the evening, it is in fact how they are sleeping.

 Peaceful nights like this one usually don't last that long. They are in fact all sleeping here, and it's a priceless photo.

 This is how our sleeping is distributed at much later points in the evening or early morning. Gradually throughout the night, Joy or Grace creep their way into our bed. Depending on our points of exhaustion, we might redirect them back to their bed a time or two, but eventually we get worn down and just don't notice that they've come into the bed until you have Joy sleeping on top of the covers and cannot move.

 And eventually, this is how things look by morning. On this particular morning, Andrew had moved into Joy and Grace's bed, leaving me wrenched between three girls. I carefully climbed out of bed to capture this picture. In the center of the bed is Grace. I was laying in between Grace and Sage (on the upper right) and Joy is reversed on the right side below Sage. 

I know that we have chosen this path, so I'm not really complaining. Even as I try to focus on our need to keep redirecting Joy and Grace to their bed in the night, Andrew admits that he likes cuddling with one. One is sweet. But three at a time in a queen bed is a little too much. Maybe we just need a bigger bed.