Musical Beds

Picture the scene: It is 7.13pm. All three kids are in bed, asleep. The kitchen is clean and the debris of the day has been put back where it belongs.

What do you do on a Friday night at 7.13pm when all the above has been achieved? Well, I don't know what other people do but I know that Lynden and I (being the parents of three small children, the workers of one demanding job and one home business and the owners of a house that required never ending attention) go to bed to read and sleep!

After being asleep for a few minutes (at about 7.30) Benjamin starts to cry. He has a bad cold and is unwell. Lynden gets up to settle him while I snuggle deeper under the covers.

Over the next hour I get up a couple of times to settle him and finally after the fourth time getting up, I realise I am going to have to put Benjamin in bed with us just so we can get some sleep.

There was a problem though. I CANNOT sleep with my kids in the bed. I am one of those people who HATE it! But I came up with an ingenious plan…I decided to slide the spare bed in Ben’s room up against the cot so I could just reach my hand out and pat him every time he woke.

Later in the night, Jess came to visit our room and when she realised mummy wasn’t in it, she decided to take my place.

At 2.30 (when I was up getting more medicine for Ben and refilling the humidifier), Lynden put Jess back in her bed.

In the early hours of the morning, Em came to visit our room for something and when she realised mummy wasn’t in the bed, she hopped in.

By the time morning came all the girls in the house had slept in another bed at some time during the night. I can tell you that while the others slept, I didn’t!!! So tired…