little feet

in the days before children, i invested in a good bed. since i spend a lot of the time meant for sleep shepherding new little souls into the world, having a cozy bed is important to me. in the old days some mornings i would come home from work exhausted, close all the curtains and sink into lovely garnet hill sheets, and drift off to sleep for hours and hours. wake up , have a nice cup of coffee and take chester for a walk before returning to laze on the couch and read, knit or watch a movie. baby those days are long gone.

i never pictured myself as the family bed type. i like sharing my bed, and have done so with some lovely carhart wearing men over the years. sharing my bed with a toddler was never in my plans. ah, but never say never.

ruby slept in my bed rarely, when she was teething or sick. it was short lived and she returned to her bed without fuss. to this day she remains an excellent sleeper .

hazel is another type of creature all together. aside from the first 2 nights in china, she has never been a great sleeper. and aside from the first two nights in china, she has always slept in my bed. i never planned that, but it was a matter of survival. the first seven months were literal hell. with my work, i thought i knew what sleep deprivation was like. nope. she woke anywhere from 2 to 10 times a night. i usually stopped counting after the third wake up. most weeks i got more sleep at work.

so i have grown used to the little grunts and snorts that she makes, gotten used to the piles of blankies and “guys” -stuffed animals of all ilk. she kicks and hogs the bed . her feet reach out to make sure that i am there on numerous occasions in the night. we’ve been talking about how one day she’ll have her own bed. i’m sure i’ll look back on these times with fondness. but i look forward to the return of my solo nighttime space- with time and space for for invited guests . but until then i am glad that these days she sleeps all night in my cozy bede on my garnet hill sheets.