Keep me warm

I love to sleep. So much so that Joe's entire family used to make fun of me for how much of a road trip to Indiana I would sleep through. Joe's mom will probably tell you I used to fall asleep around Cedar Rapids and wake up in Indianapolis, just in time to pop in a Chicago CD for that last hour to Muncie. (For those of you that don't know, Joe and I were dating while I was a senior in high school and he was a freshman in college - me in Iowa and him in Indiana. His mother was kind enough to take me along on any trip out to see him, and often made trips she may not have otherwise just because we wanted to see each other. Isn't that a great mother-in-law to have?!)

But anyway - back to my love of sleep. I once told someone (about 3 years into being married) that I wasn't going to have kids yet because I liked to sleep too much. And that truly was one reason I was not on board the baby train yet. Obviously, I got over it, but I still try to squeeze in every moment I can get.

When Sam was about a year old, he suddenly went from waking up around 7:30 to rising before 6am. Not okay. Not okay at all. For the life of me, I could not get the kid to go back to sleep in his crib. After a few mornings of this I was getting desperate, so I tried bringing him into bed with me......and it worked! Joe was already up and getting ready for work, so there was plenty of room, and the lovely child would sleep until 8 or 9 o'clock. I was in heaven!

Little did I know we were forming a habit. Not that I mind Sam in bed with me in the morning, but then he started wanting to come to my bed in the middle of the night. He and I still have a nightly conversation about 2am about the fact that he sleeps in his bed and I sleep in my bed until Daddy goes to work. He's tried all the angles - he's scared or lonely or just thinks my bed is softer - but I still tell him no.

Now, I have plenty of friends who share their bed with their kids - and I am not opposed to it in theory - but in practice it just doesn't work for me. There are 2 adults in my queen-sized bed and there just isn't space for my helicopter-style-sleeping son. So he has to wait until morning. And this morning when I let him in and his comment melted my heart.

"Mommy, there was nobody in my bed to keep me warm. I need you."

Oh, my sweet, sweet boy. Just please tell me we won't be doing this when you are in middle school.