Sleeping Arrangements

Could they get any cuter? Bailey is such a cuddler!

The first night we had her, I let her sleep in the bed with me. I figured it was her first night away from her litter mates and she had a pretty traumatic day with her first car ride and wearing a collar for the first time and all (at least you would think it was traumatic by the way she responded to them.) I know this was a bad idea but my husband was working that night and I miss cuddling in bed with Gizmo so much... so for both our sakes I went against my better judgement and we shared the bed. We got up 3 times to go out and although I had my alarm set, she woke me each time trying to play so having her in the bed worked out.

The following night, I made her sleep at the foot of the bed (she had been right up next to me the first night.) But the first time we got up to go out, she was sleeping on my husband's pillow. So after we went potty and played a bit, I fixed her blanket in a spot on the floor right by my side of the bed. She didn't like that so much. But after a few minutes, she got tired of me telling her "no" and pushing her off the side of the bed and onto the blanket. She laid there and whined for a few minutes but she was asleep within 10 minutes. As it turned out, she woke me a few hours later trying to play (so I let her out), and it still worked out. It took less and less time to convince her that the blanket was her bed each time.

The 3rd and 4th nights, my husband was home but since he had been on the night shift, he was up most of the night to let her out and play when she woke up. But both mornings I found them asleep on the couch together. She was on the blanket so it wasn't too bad but it wasn't good either... he told me he was afraid he wouldn't wake up to let her out if she wasn't on the couch so he could feel her move.

The 5th night, he was back at work and she was on the floor again. It took a while to to remind her what the blanket was for, but it worked out for the first and second "sleep-shift". Then after I took her out at 3am, she would not go back to sleep. She kept trying to play and when I ignored her, she went to explore my husband's shoe shelf... you can guess what that meant. So I put her in her kennel. After 15-20 minutes of whining and crying, she was asleep.

So I am getting the first taste of the sleep deprivation new parents experience. It hasn't been too bad. I am sure it doesn't come close to what new parents actually go through but I figure I will have a small head start...