Moving Out

So, two nights ago I took a big step. I moved back into my own bedroom, on the opposite side of the house from Kyla. And after forcing Jeff out of the middle of the bed, I got to sleep in memory foam heaven. For those of you who don't know (or didn't realize), I have been sleeping in Kyla's room since she came home from the hospital, while Jeff has been enjoying his own room with the big soft bed he can't stand. How very 1950's sitcom of us, you might be saying to yourself. Yes, and it was for the good of our marriage that we did it, although that might seem contradictory, so let me explain.

When Damon was born, we lived in Jeff's parents house, in a room affectionately known as "the train room." It is, in a sense, a very large studio apartment (minus the kitchen) with wood floors that actually were at one time part of a train track (or so I've been told). Jeff was working for his brothers at the time and somehow we came to the agreement that he would get up with Damon at 3:00 am (or whenever it was he woke up) and feed him a bottle (hurray for the Medela Pump in Style!) so I could get a little more sleep. It only lasted until we moved to Ohio two months later, but you would've thought he had done it every night for a year to hear him talk about how much he disliked doing it. He was always tired and any sound Damon made during the night really bothered him. He would roll over and make the most annoyed sounds, like he just couldn't sleep through all the commotion (granted, all sounds were amplified by the abundance of "train wood," but it wasn't like Damon was crying in his ear or anything). It made me crazy, but I was insistent on having a good stretch of sleep, so I encouraged him to keep it up until we moved.

Then Allie came along and I decided that she wouldn't ever sleep in our room. It was just so much easier if I took care of her and let Jeff get a good night's sleep. At least that way I wouldn't feel like he resented his child and he would be more willing to help out in other ways. And so I slept downstairs, either on the couch or in my recliner, for a couple of months until she was sleeping well enough to move her into Damon's room.

It worked out great for us. And so here in Florida, when we decided to keep the extra queen bed we inherited with this house in Kyla's room, I knew it was the perfect setup for the two of us. I could be close to her, so that I could hear her (and be sure she was breathing) without Jeff ever having to share his sleeping space with his new infant daughter. And so that's where I have been for the past 7+ weeks, and it has definitely been a good thing for our marriage, despite what you may be thinking. But Kyla has been sleeping really well lately and I decided it was time to move back into this decade and actually sleep in the same bed as my husband. The first night was perfect--Kyla slept from 10:30-5:00 and as soon as I heard her stirring via the monitor, I hopped up and quickly fed her. Last night she only slept until 3:00, but I had fed her earlier, at 9:00 pm, so it wasn't too terrible. But it's been nice to be back in my own room, even though it's much hotter sleeping in a bed with another person. We have been trying to conserve energy and it hasn't been too bad, but the last couple of nights have been a little warmer than I would like.

Anyway, this was a long way of documenting that, for the most part, Kyla is now sleeping six or seven hours at a time at night and I couldn't be happier. Most often, she will go from 10:00-5:00, and she always does better when she is swaddled (I love the Swaddle Me blanket, although I just had to buy a large and she managed to wiggle her arms out last night). So, while I don't have a sweet little newborn anymore, and that makes me infinitely sad, I do have a sweet 8 week old who is letting me get a lot more sleep, which isn't a half bad trade-off. At least I'm not saying, "My baby's all grown up and saving China" yet (what movie is that from?), although sometimes it seems like it won't be long now.