Big Boy Bed/Sleeping Update

A couple of weeks ago on Feb. 11th, Patrick started sleeping in his big boy bed (i.e. twin bed). We hadn't planned to move him until he finished teething, but he insisted upon sleeping in his big boy bed that night. His bedding has cars and trucks all over it, so he must have decided it was more fun than the crib!  He did much better than I expected. The first night he slept until around 4am when I heard a scared little voice yelling "momma momma." I ran in there thinking he must have fallen out of the bed, since he moves a lot when he sleeps! It was pretty dark in there and I couldn't find him and started freaking out a little. It turns out the little munckin was hiding underneath his pillows across the head of the bed. I couldn't see him until he poked his head out to look at me. Sweet little guy was scared when he woke up and was in a new place!

The next night he was having teething pains and barely slept at all. Michael and I both knew it was coming since he was grabbing onto his mouth and his cheeks were bright red! The next few nights he slept great! He woke up a few times yelling for me, but put himself back to bed pretty quickly.

For the most part, he has been doing much better than I expected! He is sleeping about the same amount in his big boy bed as he slept in his crib (maybe even a little better!). We still have a few nights a week where he doesn't sleep at all (i.e. talks to Michael or I from 1-4am in the morning), but he was doing that when he slept in his crib too, so no difference. We never know when he is going to sleep through the night or want to stay up and talk to mom and dad!

A bunch of people have asked how we are going to deal with Patrick's sleeping issues when the new baby comes and the answer is that we probably won't deal with it too differently. The bottom line is that Patrick just does not require a lot of sleep (the doctor has confirmed this). He sleeps through the night by himself when he is tired and the other nights he just wants company and to talk. The day after he is up all night he takes a normal nap (1 1/2 to 2 hours) and is not fussy. So I won't have a baby and a fussy toddler to deal with during the day. Plus, Patrick can always go to Margaret's during the week when I need to take a nap.

On the nights Patrick isn't sleeping, I plan to hang out with Patrick in the guest bed while I feed the baby (b/c i'll be up anyway!). Michael also gets 3 nonconsecutive weeks of paternity leave, so I know I will have help when I need it! For reference, he only got a couple days off with Patrick so this will be a really nice change.

After two years of not sleeping very much, Michael and I have become pretty accustomed to it. So hopefully this won't be a change for us at all! We will see though, life always has a way of surprising you :)

 Patrick sure does look cute when he decides to sleep!