Reclaiming my bed!

Earlier today I visited Non-Domestic Mama and read her post on co-sleeping. I could so relate! I go through a similar crises like hers every night. First, let me give you a little background info. There are 5 of us and we live in a two bedroom apartment. Our oldest daughter, Jordyn, is 7, our son Hunter, is 3, and our youngest daughter, Holly, is 14 months old. Jordyn and Hunter both have their own rooms, Holly's crib is in the living room and my hubby and I sleep on a futon in the living room. Is it just me or are we sounding more redneck by the minute? Anyways, the futon isn't very comfy so usually we pull the mattress off and put it on the floor when we're ready for bed. Or I should say, I pull the mattress off, cause at this point hubby is usually napping in the recliner.

Ok, lets back up a little to about 8pm. This is when the kids are tucked into their beds. They get 1 hour of TV time then it's lights out at 9pm. Maybe two minutes after tucking Hunter in, here he comes walking back into the living room. "I need another hug." We give him another hug and kiss and send him back to bed. Five minutes later, repeat of needing more hugs. We go through this countless times. In between the excuses, he climbs on his dad's lap and starts watching tv with him or looking at things on the computer. By now I've been with these kids all day long and don't really want to see any of them again until morning. I tell Hunter to go back to bed, to which my dear hubby replies that they are spending time together. Eventually I convince hubby to send the boy back to bed before I inflict harm on him (hubby not the boy). Ten minutes later, here comes Hunter again. Sweet precious hubby tells Hunter he better go to bed before Mommy gets mad. He makes me be the bad guy when I already tucked him in an hour ago. Seriously!

So finally, after twenty hugs and kisses, plus many threats from Mommy, to both hubby and son, the boy falls asleep in his own bed. I settle down in my bed to read or watch tv while hubby snores in the recliner. Did I say snore? He sounds more like a grizzly bear who hasn't eaten all winter! Eventually I fall asleep. Now fast forward a few hours, say to about 2am. Hunter swears he's scared, watches tv and has snacks with daddy, and about 4am ends up in bed with me.

Now I can handle a child in my bed as long as I still have plenty of room. What I hate is that during this little bonding process my men have, they don't even try to be quiet or sneaky about it. Which means I get even less sleep than I normally would. See Holly also gets up constantly wanting her bottle. I do however finally have her trained to only take water at night. So it won't harm her, just annoy me. The funny part of this though is that since Hunter is in hubby's spot in bed, he ends up sleeping on the floor. That is his punishment. Plus the fact that he can't get lucky since our little man is in our bed. You'd think that hubby would catch on to the fact that he's being cock blocked by his own son and make him sleep in his own bed. But I guess hubby just hasn't caught on yet.