Is she your baby?

The other day when X took Anjali to the Indian store with him, he was asked the very question that made for such a great post title today. That was almost as good as that one time when a gal in Target asked me "Did you make them?" while gesturing towards the hard-earned fruit of my womb. Almost. Anyway, it is not as if X has asked for cheek swabs.

At least not yet.

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Innernets, I have swayed to the Dark Side of Parenting and have spent the last of our iTunes gift certs on some Laurie Berkner, Jack's Big Music Show, and Nuttin' But Stringz downloads. X did not believe me when I said it was for the children. The nerve! Certainly, I did not learn the lyrics to the Monster Boogie and the Googleheads for my own entertainment. That would be disturbing.

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In my last post, Alimomof3 (formerly known as Alimomof2) asked the following questions about co-sleeping:

I'm curious about your experiences with co-sleeping. We did not with our first, although he slept in our room for a long time. We kinda did with our second because I would nurse in bed and we would fall asleep. Our third is now one month old and he has been in our bed from the beginning. I am a little worried about suffocation issues, but I am taking all the nec. precautions. Anyway, as the babies get older and more movey-aroundy, how does it work for you? Do you put the kids to bed in your bed at night? Do you go to bed at the same time as them or sneak in later? Do they both sleep with you? Do they nap there? I am wondering what the future holds for us! But it is true - our newest little guy sleeps big chunks at night. When I try to put him in his bassinet he grunts and groans and moves around, but next to me he is quiet and peaceful.

My Answer:
First - congratulations on your new little one!! This explains where you have been, eh?

Generally, I put Arun to sleep in the spare bedroom and X puts Anjali to sleep in our bed. Although, sometimes we switch. Sometimes, we leave them there until we go to bed. Other times, we go to bed with them. X tends to sleep with Arun and I sleep with Anjali. However, sometimes we switch if one of them is sick. However, if X is out of town, Arun and Anjali both sleep with me. Um, yeah - we are all about routines here. In short, if the kids are not sick or teething, they will sleep in the bed alone quite well.

Arun is all Movey-Aroundy, but he does not roll out of our spare bed which is your typical "mattress with box springs" setup. Our master bed is a Scandinavian platform-style bed which is very low to the ground and less than 19 inches. Recently, Anjali has rolled out of bed maybe twice, but that was once when we were playing around (not sleeping) and another time when I got up to go to the bathroom and did not put a pillow beside her. Yes, you read that correctly - pillows. When Anjali was a newborn, I was very careful about the pillow thingie, but now that she can easily navigate her way around, I do put a small square pillow on either side of her to keep her from rolling off. With Arun, once he started crawling around, he figured out quickly that crawling off of the bed was not fun. When he would wake up, he would start crying or calling for us and would wait for us to come get him. I am predicting that Anju will do the same - basically, when a kid starts crawling, they seem to get that "awareness" that they should not be crawling off of beds. Natural selection, perhaps?

Naps? Oh sister, I am not sure I can help here. My kids hate naps. I have never figured out if it was the co-sleeping or not, but even when Arun went through a brief 6 month period of sleeping through the night in his crib, he still fought naps. We are now in a blissful period where we can get the kids to sleep in the beds for their naps, but I am shaking with terror that I may have just jinxed myself by typing those very words, brazen hussy that I am.

Suffocation? Try not to stress over that one. Seriously - just lay off on the drugs, quit doing body shots with your husband right before bedtime and try not to get obese in the next few months. You will be fine. My husband is from a land of co-sleepers and has never, ever heard of a kid suffocating or getting rolled on.

Sex? You did not ask about this one, but this is the question that everyone wonders about, but is afraid to ask. I am not going to offer up details, but will say that we had no problems getting pregnant with Anjali even though we were co-sleeping with Arun. After all, it is called co-SLEEPING. Ahem. Besides, there is something to be said for spicing things up by sneaking around your own house so that Mama can get her sugar. Is all I'm sayin'.

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And now, it is time to exploit my children in the name of Blog Fodder.

9 Months

Leaning, Not Standing

Not Your Grandma's Shampoo 'n Set

Sitting Pretty

She was very proud that she could sit next to her brother there (who had just vacated his spot seconds prior)

She's Got Wide, Staring Eyes

Thankfully, no strong urge to fly

The Feeling is Mutual

This photo makes my heart go all squishy. Damn kids.