Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I Don't Own a Baby Monitor



What?!?! No baby monitor!

Some of you may know this about us and for some this may come as a surprise, but we do NOT own a baby monitor. We never bought one because dude-y was going to sleep in our room at first. My husband and I disagreed on whether that would be in the bed or in a bassinet, but we agreed on the fact that he would sleep in our room. I agreed to bassinet in the room until it became clear that dude-y would have NO part of sleeping somewhere other than on top of mommy or right next to her attached to the boob.

Once he was in the bed, he stayed. We fought this arrangement a few times until it became clear that it was too much stress on all of us. We took the bed off the frame and eventually turned the converted crib into a side car for our bed.

Here he is actually sleeping in his crib, but you can see its right next to our bed. Don't worry, those plugs are covered!

So now here we are almost 19 months after his birth and still no monitor. We don't plan on buying one and are so glad we saved our money. We didn't lay up all night listening to a monitor to make sure he was breathing, we could feel him breathing next to us. We all slept better that way. My husband even complains sometimes when I'm in the middle instead of dude-y. We let him wonder off and play (I make sure doors are shut to rooms I don't want him in) and check in from time to time or when he gets too quiet. 

I am so grateful that thanks to researching natural and attachment parenting combined with my cheapness and practicality, we opted out of this piece of modern parenting and technology. It means a family all snuggled up in the same room enjoying the comfort and closeness of each other. It means waking up to a tiny hand on my face or a fuzzy head on my shoulder. It also means kicks in the head or being suffocated by a toddler who still wants to sleep on my chest attached to the boob, but we wouldn't change it since it also seems to mean we have an amazingly independent (at times), capable, and loving toddler. He knows we are there for him day and night. He is turning into a very loving child who relishes in getting kisses from the dogs, kissing his loved ones and any inanimate object with a face, hugging his little buddies, and rubbing babies very sweetly and gently on the head. 

Now I don't want to get out of bed and leave my cuddle bug behind, but I must go to work!

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