ABC has a show called The Middle. Ever heard of it? Well, I happened to be channel surfing the other night, watched 5 minutes of this show and immediately felt "normal."
The mom, played by Patrician Heaton, narrates the show and for this particular one explains the 3am Shuffle. Paraphrased, she says: "The 3am Shuffle. You know, all you parents out there who do it but don't admit it to anyone. It's the time of night when at least one child sleepily makes his way to the side of your bed, begs to get in, and one parent decides to sleep elsewhere." Then it showed their youngest child, a 3rd grader, standing next to the bed and the dad getting up to go lie on the couch.
I immediately felt justified because a fictional TV show family has the same problem. Except our problem is more like the 1am Cramp that soon leads to the 3am Shuffle. Our kids start heading to our room around 1am, and because we have a King-size bed (and I'm insulated by pillows), the first one who makes it there usually stays. By 3am one of us is having to move the first invader back to his/her room to make room for the 2nd invader because our bed is NOT big enough for 4 of us to sleep comfortably.
Now Jim, will tell you that my pillows cross over the mid-point of the bed and cause him to be cramped with whichever child has claimed our bed for their own. WHATEVER, is what I have to say. Thankfully, my pillows do insulate me from the bicyclist (Katherine) and the acrobat (Nathan) causing me to loose any sleep. I first needed the "wall of pillows" around my body when pregnant, now it's a requirement for the Princess and the Pea to sleep. I am still nursing all hours of the night also, so they are also doubling as protection for the baby.
One night after a late night of blogging, I came back to find this...
We can't seem to convince him to use the pillows for his head. He'd rather them cushion his feet. Go figure.
No comments:
Post a Comment