Sleeping Cuties

I've got to put it out there.  A month spent sleeping in the same room as our children has not done me, or my baby daddy, any favours.  Over it.  It's true I had snow as my consolation....but snow doesn't snuggle up well at night.   The little buggers sure make enough night time noise that's for sure.  All that whimpering and tossing about.  One talks in her sleep a lot too (just in case she didn't quite say enough crap during the day).  Just this second, she called out "Did I break it, BREAK IT?"  I can't believe she has dreams about breaking shit, as well as actually doing it in waking life as well.  And while I was just in the bath, she rolled out, and was snoozing on the floor.  How could you not wake up from that?  I'm not complaining, just incredulous.   At least it's a glorious straight through slumber these days.  How is it when they start doing that consistently after a year of broken sleep?  Hallelujah.

We started travelling with the girls just before they turned three months old.  In those days we needed a lot more baby gear than we do now.  We also used to carry along two of those travel cots, as getting our hands on two cots in some hotels or apartments was often a bit tricky.  Those travel ones are the goods - easy to set up and dismantle.  Get ones with wheels, then you can rock the little screamers to sleep.  And what new, zombie-like mother doesn't love that fun night time activity?  It's up there with an all-nighter assignment-writing frenzy of desperation.  Those travel cots are reasonably cheap though,  if you leave them behind (or throw them off the balcony - with or without child inside, it's up to you), and have to buy new ones.  Sometimes apartment landlords will charge you to set up a cot or two - but it's not usually too much.  Always ask them to sort it out for you too, if you plan on  travelling without your own.  Many people use baby hire services for cots, strollers, car seats etc when they get to a new city.  However, I've never tried it.  Mainly because it's cheaper to carry your own, you know it works, it hasn't got other brats ground in body secretions on it, and you don't have to organise it in advance - get delivery/pick it up etc.

It's great when they graduate to beds though.  Another 2 things less to carry.  Our twins did, just before two years old.  Now we can get a hotel room with one roll away bed, and they sleep top to tail.  As in right this very minute.  Many hotels - especially in Japan, charge for an extra bed (which is why we go the shared option), but some won't, so just check before booking.   We've done the bed sharing thing with them before, but somehow it always ends in disaster.  Perhaps a resilient case of jet lag drags you, by close proximity, into their still conscious living hell.  Or perhaps far worse.  Once, when faced with the only option of all sleeping in one small bed in a business hotel (this is extremely inadvisable, and was only done because we were fleeing Japan after the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear slam), we tried to spend time out of our tiny room by milling about and getting some dinner.  There was no food in the entire town except packaged crap.  We fed it to our children.  Predictably, and in the middle of the night, Cordi released a technicoloured yawn across all of us.  Then, just after I cleaned it all up, rinsed my fringe, and laid towels down, she did it again.  That smell just lingers on and on doesn't it?  No wonder my ex-boyfriend's flatmate hated my guts forever more, after I heaved down his hallway one Saturday night following too many B52s at The Mayfair Tavern.
You can also make up 'beds' on the floor with pillows or cushions - or whatever you find.  At least you know they won't roll out.  This was another good thing about the futons we've slept on for the last month.  No sickening midnight thuds.

Because we've travelled since the girls were young, I always had a pretty strict bedtime routine, so that even if they were somewhere new, they knew it was bedtime, and what was coming next.  This is  because it was, and still is, the same way every night. They have always had dinner, a bath, pajamas on, lullaby music (not anymore for that though- I can't take anymore "Pretty Little Horses"- please don't make me.....), teeth done (and/or a bottle until 20 months),  and finally a story in that order.  Even when they were babies, we used to read to them.  However, it was the same story every night for nearly a year, and I burnt it long ago screaming "Die 'Sleepy Bunny' Die".  But,  in retrospect, it was a great way to further get the point across, that this and this happens when it's time to go to sleep.....whatever, sick of it, glad it's ash.  I also try to follow the routine as much as I can on overnight flights...apart from the shower...unless you're travelling Learjet style, as I often am....in my imagination.....while trying to watch The Iron Lady with an elbow up my nostril.  At least they know it's meant to be night time, even if they ignore the hints.

Jet lag can be a real pain in the arse.  Some people advise just to slot them straight away into whatever time zone you end up in in.  That doesn't seem to work for me.  I usually work them into the new time by a couple of hours every night (it can take almost a week sometimes to get them completely back to normal).  I also wake them during the day if naps go on too long.  Some people never like to wake a sleeping baby, but I look at it as more like revenge.....I also find that returning to Australia throws them out something chronic.  You think it would be going back in time - but it's actually going forward that sucks the most.

Sleep is such a big thing for parents of young children.  The first thing people tend to ask you is "Are you getting any sleep?"  Bad question..... "Do I look like I'm getting sleep bitch???"  Avoid asking this - they will hate you for asking if they're not; and you will hate them for getting sleep, when you didn't, if they are.  Anyway,  sometimes the thought of messing up your kid's routine can seriously put you off the very thought of travel.  But don't forget, that you can cope with pretty much any situation, and they can cope better than you.  And lets face it.  They'll pretty much sleep anywhere anyway.....