A Surprisingly Sane Blog

Look for slippery things on the staircase before venturing down.

I took a tumble down them thanks to the fact that my child left a sheet full of stickers towards the bottom of the stairs.  Who knew a thing containing stickers could be so freaking slippery?  My foot flew out from under me and bump bump bump bump, I landed on my ass with a painful thump, catching myself between the front door and the bottom of the stairwell with my right foot and my right hand.

And now there’s a weird lump on the tendon in my wrist and I can’t flex my foot without screaming bloody hell.

You know what the stupidest part was?  I was just talking to someone last night about how I fell down some stairs and landed in the emergency room in Germany several years ago.  It had been a freaking miracle that I hadn’t broken my foot in that fall, a fact which the doctor attributed to my extreme but freaky amount of natural flexibility.

I guess I’m subconsciously trying to make up for that or something.

Owwww… pain.

Current Mood: Surprised

For one of those natural, hippie sort of moms like me, anyway.

I’ve definitely always parented off of what feels natural rather than going with a particular parenting style, but the majority of my choices have definitely been a bit more on the alternative side.  Like homebirth.  And breastfeeding.  And cloth-diapering, organic cooking, baby food making… need I go on?  Heck, I even avoided a sonogram during my last pregnancy because my philosophy was that it wasn’t a necessary procedure unless something seemed off or weird.

So the looks on the other “natural moms’” faces when I tell them I’ve never co-slept is usually one mixed with a bit of shock and horror.  Sure, I’ve tried, but it always ended with the kids back in their crib.

World, I have never slept in the same room as one of my babies after the first night of their birth unless it was in a hotel.

I’ve received a surprising amount of criticism as a result of this fact from other women who follow a similar path but co-slept with their kids.  Why this is, I’m unsure, but I think it’s like one of those circumcision topics… if you’re hard-core into believing one way or the other, the other side of the story is inconceivable.

A lot of moms who choose homebirth really are that hardcore.  Not all.  But a lot.

I’m not one of them.  I do what I feel is the best balance between what’s right for my kids and right for me.  Sleeping in the same bed as my baby or (heaven forbid) a toddler is completely out of my realm of comfort.  I’m a horrible sleeper, and when my babies are near me, I can’t fall asleep at all.  Plus, I sleep next to a salivating, rabid bear who doesn’t wake up even when I leave toe-shaped bruises on his shins in the middle of the night.  Co-sleeping just wouldn’t work in my family.

But you know what I’ve realized?  It seems to be more beneficial in the sleep department for everyone.  Apparently, co-sleeping is supposed to equal more sleep for everyone.  I’ve seen this bumper sticker that reads, “Co-sleep if you WANT to sleep,” and it pisses me off because that’s just bullshit in my quirky little family.  Both my girls were sleeping through the night before most of my co-sleeping friends’ babies were, anyway.

So yes… um… the point behind this particular blog?  None whatsoever.  But this morning when my girls woke up all cute just after 8:00 in the neighboring bedroom, I was wishing to God Almighty that I could just pull them into bed with me and we could all sleep peacefully together on my big comfy mattress until noon.

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

Current Mood: Cool