The End of Co-Sleeping

2014 is turning out to be a milestone year. And this is probably the biggest thing to happen this year, thus far:

Ladies and gentlemen, my kids are FINALLY SLEEPING IN THEIR OWN BEDS!!

So yes, now you know our rather embarrassing little secret, which is that right up to the start of this year, we were still co-sleeping with our kids. Actually, scratch that. I was co-sleeping with the kids while my husband gratefully escaped onto the mattress on the floor that was meant for Noey. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t too fussed about the sleeping arrangements. But after being trapped between wriggly children while putting them to sleep and being squeezed out my lovely king-sized bed once too often, I had had enough. And after listening to my complaints numerous times, the husband also agreed that it was best if we settled the kids into their own room. 

We bit the bullet, cleared out one of our rooms, hauled ourselves down to Ikea during the year-end sale, and forced ourselves to decide on two beds and mattresses for the kids. Then we brought the kids down on a separate occasion to choose their own sheets.

Of course, me being me, the whole process wasn’t without its little hiccups. Like how I had grandly waved off the need to pay $30 for the assembly of the beds, only to open the boxes and find that the first step required me to screw in 22 screws to attach metal tracks to the wood. Yup, that’s 22 screws for one bed. I pressed on anyway because I’m stubborn like that, and wow, was my hand aching after I was done!

I was pretty proud of the fact that I managed to assemble the bed all on my own! But I got the husband to build the second one, which he did… after buying a power drill to help with the screws. Hah.

The kids were very enthusiastic about the whole process, and when we were done, they were very excited about their new bedroom. But of course, the test was whether they’d sleep in their beds. Noey, my older but more clingy child was immediately alarmed about the move but we managed to appease him by assuring him that Mummy would in the same room for a while, though I would not be sleeping with them. On the first night, they managed to settle and while Noey did wake and need me to put him back to sleep, Meips slept well. And they’ve been sleeping in their own beds since. “Wow, this is like staying in a hotel!” sighed Noey, a couple of days after moving in.

It’s not been painless, naturally. The good news is that they have not awakened in the middle of the night and wandered across the corridor to our room as we thought they might have. The bad news is that they yell for me instead. And I have to hurry over or the noise would wake the other child and both would need me to put them back to sleep. So I’ve since resurrected my baby monitor and uninterrupted sleep remains elusive. But thankfully they ease back to sleep quickly and it’s not happened more than once a night. I’m optimistic it’ll get better. It will, right?

In the meantime, I’m finally going to break out the nice mattress pad from my sister and BIL, and lovely sheets that I’ve been hoarding to celebrate!