Me And My Homies Hangin' In Our Crib

Rigel left last night for his much-anticipated Mammoth ski trip. Anticipated only by him, as the rest of us were in a state of collective dread all day; the girls because they were going to miss their daddy, and me because, well I was gonna miss their daddy, too, and REALLY miss waking up to the smell of bacon frying on Sunday morning, my lazy ass hunkered down under the covers trying to squeeze in those last few precious minutes of sleep. He went with Kurt, his best friend from high school and they are going to be gone a whole two nights, which to the girls of course is an eternity. My job as mother, aside from making sure they get their own cereal in the morning so I can sleep in, is to make that eternity seem a little shorter and to somehow fill the void left by his absence.

And that means only one thing - sleep over! (Not to be confused with Slumber Party - not goin' there again so soon, people) In our house, this is when the girls get to sleep in our bed, with me. The original idea was the four of us enjoying a cozy night together, but Rigel took one look at us three threatening broads settling in, the girls with their masses of stuffed animals and assorted blankets and pillows and me, well me with my usual flailing arms and hogging of the covers and he fled to the other bedroom to the safety of the sofa bed, that coward. So now, shouts for 'sleep over!' are usually a signal for him to gather his things, get the hell out of the way and retreat to the calm and quiet of his man-cave.

Last night, with Rigel gone I threw caution to the wind and added 'Movie!' into the mix, so we agreed we would watch a few minutes of The Incredibles in bed before lights out. After pajamas were donned and teeth brushed I gave them five minutes to set up house and this is what they came up with:

It's a good thing Rigel isn't here to witness this frightening invasion of our sacred sleeping quarters by hulking stuffed bunnies and other menacing plush toys. I've heard that the mere sight of a large, fluffy Pikachu in a man's bed is enough to make him impotent.

I couldn't convince Kiyomi to banish any of her 'friends' back to her bed or even to the floor next to her, as she insisted they would "get lonely." As you can see there is hardly any room left for me - I was smushed in between the two of them in that eight inch wide swath down the middle, my night spent pushing the stray stuffed animal out of my face and defending myself against the whirling and powerful elbows of Kira and the possessed donkey feet of Kiyomi that seemed to keep making hard contact with my ribs. See that innocent looking creature in the middle with the flying pink ears? I woke up with that smashed into the side of my head and now I have the permanent imprint of his mug carved into my cheek.

As I was laying there between them last night before falling asleep I was listening to their quiet breathing and the occasional sniffle and it reminded me of when they were babies and having them in our bed was a regular occurrence, either because I was breastfeeding or, when they were a little older because they had found their way to our bed in the middle of night after a bad dream. I remembered how much I loved those times and I fell asleep happy, snuggled between them with their small, warm feet pressed up against mine.

Archive File: Family | Offspring | This Life

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