Sleeping Arrangements

For the past one and a half years, the whole family’s been sleeping on the floor. It’s the only way I can sleep with a measure of soundness without the fear of hearing the sickening sound of a small body hitting the floor. Every night, we put together two mattresses so the four of us can fit. I told Jun he can continue to sleep on the bed but he insists on sleeping on with us.

We started doing this after Faith fell from the bed when she was around six months old. She’d been sleeping in a crib but after an exhausting night where she kept waking up, I finally transferred her to the bed at 6:30am, and wedged the crib right next to the bed as a precaution. Joshua was still asleep and Jun had moved to the couch when I got up. I had planned to stay awake but I dozed off so to make a long story short, Faith woke up, crawled all around the bed and I was slammed awake by a big thud. We were lucky there was no (lasting) harm done except for her crying bloody murder (thank goodness for wood floors!).

It’s actually more convenient since I never have to worry about anyone falling off if they wake up before I do (which is usually the case). However, they never seem to want to just walk over to where the toys are and play quietly until I wake up. Oh no, they just like to drive me crazy. When Joshua wakes up, he’ll either want to engage in conversation in a loud voice or tell me he needs to make poopoo (still in a loud voice). Faith used to poke me in the face (and shove her finger up my nose). Sometimes, they’d plop down on your tummy and take a horsey ride or, ask for milk at which point I either give up and get up or, tell them to ask their Daddy (teehee!).

Lately, Faith’s been keeping me awake again. For the past five days, she’s been waking up between 2-4 am, coughing up a storm. It’s the dry kind of cough, making me suspect an allergy. Poor dear, she’d keep shifting her position – trying to get back to sleep only to be beset by another round of coughing. She also tries to sleep with half her body draped over the couch only she keeps sliding back to the mattress (it’s actually funny to watch whenever she does this – I’m so rotten to find something funny in all this!). I know there’s nothing much I can do, except to rub her back and chest and pray for it to stop. Time to bother the pediatrician.

I figure this is what I get for sleeping till noon when I was single and BK (before kids). I warned Jun when we got married that he would have to fend for himself in the morning because there is no way I am getting up before 11am on a weekend. Good thing he used to just take oatmeal for breakfast.

So most days, I go around with half my brain fried from lack of sleep. Who knew a human being could still function – coming up with coherent things to say at work, running errands, driving – with less than four hours of sleep? Think about it.

In the meantime, I think I’m going to ….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz