Co-Sleeping

It has been more than 8 months since Nadia has slept in bed with me. When she was much smaller, I did let her nurse in bed several times, and sometimes we’d both fall asleep. Usually Paul would then pick her up and carry her to her crib. Well she’s slept on top of me in bed several times the last few days. Normally she goes to bed and sleeps for at least 11 hours without any crying, but over the past 2 weeks that hasn’t been the case. First it was the fever and ear infection, then teething 2 molars, and finally being put to bed in an unfamiliar location. I couldn’t bring myself to let her cry it out when she was sick, and now at the resort it would be rude to let her cry it out as the sound carries to other rooms down the hall. Friday night she went down at 7pm without any crying, but then she woke up several hours later (I forget exactly when but it was between midnight and 2 am). I gave her some Tylenol and put her back to bed. She cried, and we let her cry longer than I would have had I realized how the sound carries so easily. Since then I haven’t let her cry. A couple of times she’s gone down easily without crying for a nap, but most of the time she’s fallen asleep in our bed before I’ve carried her to her crib. During her morning nap today I actually let her take the entire nap in our bed, and I wasn’t sorry I did that in light of the fact she slept 2 hours and 15 minutes. Every night she wakes up once during the night (often around 1-2am), and it usually takes at least 30 minutes to get her back to sleep. I’ll be glad when her nose stops running, she’s done teething these 2 molars, and we’re back in our own home even though I know there will be a bit of a rough transition. I will miss the snuggling although 2am is not my preferred time of day for snuggling.

Friday night Nadia and I got here first. I am very glad I don’t usually travel without Paul. It was a challenge to bring in the luggage and such by myself while pushing Nadia in a stroller. It was also a challenge taking her to the pool as the suite we’re in is about as far away from the pools as possible. I didn’t know I’d have to go up two flights of stairs, or I wouldn’t have taken her in the stroller. Thankfully I can carry her and the umbrella stroller if necessary. We were headed to the indoor pool, but it was closed for maintenance, so we headed out to the outdoor pool instead although the water was a bit chilly especially at 6pm. Nadia had a lot of fun though. She enjoyed the water even more than she did in Antigua in May. Paul arrived a little bit before her bedtime.

Saturday morning we tried again to go to the indoor pool and again ended up in the outdoor pool instead. Paul didn’t get in beyond his ankles as he only gets in warm water. After her second nap, we were able to go in the indoor pool which was very warm so Paul got in with us. Around 6pm the rest of my family arrived, and we ate at a barbecue on an outside patio at the resort near. My nieces and nephews were not too interested in their food as they were looking longingly at the outdoor swimming pool. After dinner Wendy & I took a trip to a grocery store to buy breakfast and lunch food for everyone, and Paul played billiards with my dad, Joe, and Drayton. Unfortunately Nadia didn’t get to sleep until 9:45pm which is why I was very glad her morning nap was longer than usual this morning as she still got up at 6am even though she went to bed almost 3 hours later than usual plus was up for 30 minutes during the middle of the night.

This morning we three went to the indoor pool after her morning nap. My parents came and visited with us for a bit in our suite after she woke up from her afternoon nap. The other three suites are all side by side, but unfortunately ours is not very close to the other three. Later in the afternoon we loaded up 2 vans and 1 car and headed to Wilkes Barre for our photo session at Picture People. I’ll post some of the poses in another post. Let me say it was a challenge with 8 children age 6 and under especially when some were hungry, some were tired (it was their naptime), and Nadia wasn’t feeling well. After that we went to Olive Garden for dinner. The food was very tasty, but it was a challenge to have so many young children at one large table. I think we’ll stick with take-out the rest of the week. Nadia did like the breadsticks this time. J Right now as I type this, Nadia is sleeping, and Paul is out bowling with my dad and brother-in-laws. He’s making the most of his time since he’ll be heading back home tomorrow night. Nadia & I will miss him!

One problem of so many young children is that they all have different nap schedules, and we each need to be in the room with them while they’re napping, so it makes the time that we can all spend together rather limited. So far the only time I’ve spent with my sisters and their kids has been dinner the last two nights plus the photo shoot today. Hopefully we’ll get to spend more time together the next few days. Tomorrow we plan to go to an indoor water park which should be a lot of fun!