One of the things I was most excited to do when I was pregnant was design and decorate a nursery. I couldn't wait to select a theme, colors, bedding and furniture. Our very first nursery was ready before the first trimester ended and was a vision of preciousness. We couldn't wait to place our newborn in it. She slept in there for about 20 minutes her first year.

We transitioned her to a big girl bed in her second year, so I believe she might've slept in there about 30 or 45 minutes that year. Shortly after that, we added another baby girl to our family and prepared a beautiful nursery for her, as well. We now had two little ones sleeping with us in our bed.

Exasperated and sleep deprived, I decided to put my foot down when our oldest was nearing her third birthday. The girls had darling little bedrooms and they needed to sleep in them! I read an article or two (that's all we had back then - no supportive online communities to turn to) and set out with a plan. After a successful night or two of weaning the girls from our bed, my husband and I were snuggled up together in our bed watching television. We thought we had successfully tucked our children in for the night, when our toddler daughter came marching into our room, in her Little Mermaid nylon nightgown - hands on hips and said,

"How come all the Big Peoples gets to sleep with they friends...and all the Little Peoples has to sleep allllll by they selveses!

That was a hard argument to refute. It did seem a bit odd that the largest among us were curled up together protecting one another, while the youngest, and arguably most vulnerable, were each alone in their nurserys, to fend off the scary darkness. As such, it was the last night she and her sister were banished into their rooms. We more or less had a "family bed" after that. We all slept with our "friends!" And, yet, we still managed to have 5 children...

(Our oldest grew up and became an attorney. She learned how to advocate effectively for "The Little People at a very early age.)