Dog For Sale....

I am so bloody tired I could cry.  Why you ask?  Well, my mother in law came yesterday to spend Christmas with us.  She gets my oldest daughter's room.  My oldest daughter moves in with my middle daughter, and her roomate, the dog, moves in with us.  The dog has always snored, but last night, that was beyond snoring.  The noise coming out of that creatures face was unbelievable.  Never, ever, in my 26 years of having dogs in the house have I ever heard a dog THAT loud. 

The corker in the whole thing is that he is a Puggle.  He is half Pug and half Beagle.  He is about 25 pounds.  That little guy made a noise that sounded like he was 225 pounds.  When I sat up and tapped on his crate to wake him up so that he would stop, he sighed, like I was bothering him.  I wanted to take an air horn and blow it in his face...but I do not keep any laying around the house so I just laid back down and attempted to go back to sleep. 

So then what does he do, starts crying to come out because apparently he thought I was waking him up to get up for the day.  No, son, learn to tell time.  It is 2:00 AM, lay back down, go to sleep, and shut up.  So this post is an ode to my dog, Tai.  It's short for Taino, which were the natives in Puerto Rico....my hubby is Puerto Rican, so there is a reason for the name.

I give you for your viewing pleasure, Tai.....thank goodness there is no sound attachment otherwise you may need earplugs.

Yes, he has a pacifier in his mouth.  The baby never took one, and he found it under the pack-n-play.  He came out from underneath with it in his mouth just like that.  So I HAD to take a picture.  He's a punk, but we love him.

Co-sleeping....

What we do with our 15 month old is what I call modified co-sleeping.  She naps every day in her own bed.  At night she sleeps mostly in our bed.  Last night she slept the whole night in our bed.  After the happenings of yesterday I needed the extra snuggle of my littlest angel.  I just had to listen to her breathing, see her chest moving up and down while she slept, just know that she was okay lying there next to me. 

Typically, she wakes up frequently.  She wakes up every 1-2 hours.  I start her off in her bed, and then at some point I move her to our bed so that she can continue to nurse and I can get some sleep.  I love her snuggly little self, but I also love having my spot back in the bed.  It's a tug of war every night.  At first I was being given greatly divided advice on co-sleeping.  I turned to Dr. Sears for information.   Upon reading the information I was so happy that I am NOT in fact screwing my child up forever.  I am NOT going to smother her, thank God.  She will actually be perfectly happy and healthy. 

That being said, I am working on getting her out of my bed.  Why?  Well, as I mentioned before I am not getting as good sleep as I was before her.  I have about half the space in the bed, which leads to me being awakened mroe frequently.  I have sleep issues to begin with so this is just adding to my sleep deprivation. 

I stay at home, and thus, am with my little one all day.  So being all day, and all night, I am having a little trouble with not having any time that is alone time.  Not that I would be alone, my hubby is in the bed too.  But I need to feel like I am not constantly in Mommy mode, even if I am.  It's psychological really.  But it is my reason and therefor valid enough. 

So there are benefits to co-sleeping.  Better sleep for parent and baby (I am the odd mommy out in this one apparently), better physiology for baby, decrease in SIDS, and better emotional health.  No one says co-sleeping is necessary for a well developed child.  But co-sleeping is certainly not detrimental to a baby's health and well being.

Co-sleeping is a personal, parenting choice.  I choose to do modified co-sleeping, and that works for our family.