So, it seems like my kids are really trying to prepare me for sleepless nights when baby girl arrives by waking up every night and forcing me to take them back to bed. Isn't that so nice of them? I'm not exactly sure what is causing it, but I haven't had an interrupted night in weeks (and that's not including the times I have to get up to use the bathroom).
The worst was Friday night. I had gone to bed at around 10:30 and so when I heard Allie crying at 11:30 I was really disoriented, trying to figure out what was going on and why Jeff wasn't putting her back in bed (he was up watching tv). He came in and told me that she was scared and wouldn't get back in bed so I got up and took her back to her room. She started freaking out, saying there was a spider in her bed, and I could tell she was honestly terrified. I thought she must have had a bad dream and held her for a few minutes, trying to tell her that there was no spider. Damon left to sleep in the other room, not happy about having been woken up. After a few minutes, I got her back in her bed and went back to my bed. She came out crying and Jeff held her for a while, but when he tried to put her back in bed, she freaked out again. I couldn't sleep, so I got back up and went and laid by her in Damon's bed, which was anything but comfortable (how do kids sleep on such firm mattresses anyway?) . She started drifting off to sleep and, although when I got up she asked me to stay, I told her I needed to go to my own bed and she could sleep in Damon's. She seemed to be okay with that and she slept the rest of the night there. It was very similar to the night we spent in St. George over Christmas where she was afraid that the shadows on the walls were snakes, only this terror didn't last nearly as long.
Since Friday, though, she has wanted little to do with her own bed. Saturday night she actually fell asleep in her bed, but woke up sometime in the middle of the night complaining of spiders. I got her to sleep the rest of the night on the floor, which is where she ends up napping most of the time anyway. Yesterday, she didn't get a nap and fell asleep in the stroller a little before 7:00 so I just put her in bed. She slept until 12:00, but then woke up, again, scared of spiders. Between 12 and 1 she wouldn't stay in her room, but finally at around 1:00, she decided she would sleep in Damon's bed and Damon slept in hers. Crazy, but at least she's not demanding to be in bed with us.
Well, today, Allie comes wandering out of the guest room/new baby's room and tells me there is a spider web in there. I had heard enough about spiders, if you ask me, but I went in to have her show me (mostly so I could tell her there are no spiders). This time, though, there was a HUGE spider on my recliner (brown, with long legs, probably a little smaller than my palm) and my heart really started racing. I grabbed one of Jeff's shoes and went in to smack it (I also had a plastic bag so I could save it and show Jeff). But dang me for buying such a soft recliner--even though I hit it hard, the chair is so soft that I didn't kill it and it ran off to a crack in the chair.
Now, at this point I really started freaking out. I started wondering if Allie really saw this (or, heaven forbid, another) spider Friday night, or if it was a nightmare like I thought. And since I could no longer find the spider, I couldn't kill it, and I started wondering if it has laid eggs in my recliner. Keep in mind, this is going to be my baby's room in a few short weeks, and the thought of huge spiders running around in there really gave me the willies. When I told Jeff about it, he said it's probably a banana spider, which are harmless, and that everyone has spiders in their house. I'm sure they do, but you don't usually see them and your little girl who is already freaked out about them shouldn't have to find them. I locked that door and it will remain locked until Jeff gets home tonight, although he isn't too optimistic about finding it. I'm also going to call someone to come and spray because, honestly, I really can't live like this. And not just for Allie's sake anymore.
Okay, enough about the spider. I don't even want to think about it anymore. I wanted to post this picture from the other morning. I mentioned that Friday night was a rough one for us, and Jeff got up with the kids Saturday morning so I could sleep longer (I LOVE when he does that). When I got up around 9:00, this is what I found on the couch:
Of course I smiled and ran to get the camera, but my next thought after that was, "I wonder if Jeff ever thought his life would turn out like this?"
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