Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Four Years and the Family Bed

Frankie slept from 11:30 PM until almost 5 AM last night! That's the most successive sleep I've had in at least two months. Fantastic!


This morning I was lying in bed with my baby on one side of me and my dog pressed up against the other side of me. My husband was up, getting ready for work. I never intended on having a 'family bed', but somehow we wound up with one. I'm glad we decided to buy the king size bed a few years ago when we bought our bed. Bridget started sleeping in the bed because of Juston's many work trips to exotic places like Aruba and Hawaii. He's gone for about ten days at a time, so I started bringing Bridget to sleep with me as a safety precaution. She only barks when there are animals on TV (I just had to change the channel because the world's smallest horse was on and she was going nuts) or because she hears someone outside of the house. She is my early warning system on top of the alarm system. Frankie refuses to sleep anywhere but right next to someone. He won't sleep in his bassinet or his playpen. (His crib is still undergoing refurbishing - we bought it at a garage sale and the former occupant decided to bite chunks out of it, so we are sanding it down and re-staining it.) If I want Frankie to stay asleep, I have to be with him. Perhaps it stems from his first few days of life spent in intermediate care in a plastic tub hooked to wires - he's making up for it. Or maybe I just spoil him. Even though I mentally fought against the idea of the family bed, in practice I secretly like it. I imagine what it must be like to be a newborn and wake up alone in a dark room versus waking up next to the ones who give you care and comfort. Even though there are dog hairs in the bed, there is security in having a 'night watchman' next to you in bed. She's also satisfying for a snuggle because of her size and her warmth. We're all in this together and we meet each other's needs through being together.


Today is my and Juston's fourth anniversary. It's amazing to look back and see how far we've come in such a short period of time. We've decided that we can't split up because we can't decide who would get the dog; it's easier just to stay together.