I’m so excited for my kids this week!  So many transitions including: my son starting preschool 4 days a week, my daughter continuing to rock the potty (as long as she is naked on the bottom), and my daughter also moving on from the binky.  She has slept 2 nights without the binky, though they are kept close by Mom in case of emergency.

With my kids moving out of their baby stages, I have been thinking a lot about friends and family who will soon be welcoming more kids into their lives.  In the middle of the night last night, I was thinking about a cousin who is expecting her first baby this fall.  She is in the part of her pregnancy where sleeping becomes an issue.  It is interesting to think about sleep before pregancy and after.  Before sleep, we soooo take a normal night’s sleep for granted… brush teeth, wash face, sleep.  The end.  Once you’re pregnant and have young children, you never know what the night will bring.  Our current issue (once we get the little buggers to bed) is that they are joining us at some point in the night, in our bed.  Our always-shrinking queen-sized bed.

To combat the party in our bed, I’m attempting to get my hubs or myself out of bed and return the munchkin to their respective room.  (This is my strategy, however, the other morning out of frustration at everyone taking my spot on the bed… including the cat, I grabbed my pillow and went and slept in my son’s room!).  Last night, I ended up sleeping on the floor next to my daughter just to keep her out of my room.

The parents of newborns get all of the empathy when it comes to sleep deprivation, as they should, however, do people realize or remember that young children equate to disruptive sleep in many other forms?

Moral of the story: Parenting is just one transition after another. Just like the other transitions we are currently experiencing, I know someday we’ll get our bed back and catch some good zzzzz’s.