We want OUR bed back. OUR means me and my husband. Not me, my husband and any offspring we may bring into the world. I had no idea that once you had children, you lose exclusive rights to your place of slumber. Sure, I figured the kids would be in there a lot as babies, and the occasional stormy night as children. But our kids have taken over. And we know it is our fault.

Somewhere between the hours of Midnight and 5:00 am, our bed gets invaded by a pesky little 5-year-old with herky jerky feet. Feet in my face, feet in my gut, feet on my feet. This kidā?Ts feet donā?Tt discriminate. But if that isnā?Tt enough to give me and my husband crooks in our necks, then the sneaky appearance of our other waskily wabbit sure is. And our bed is only queen sized. So what do we do besides get an extra large king sized bed?

We get the occasional good night where we make it until morning with no intrusions. But those nights are few and far between. I thought about putting a tape recorder under our bed that makes monster sounds. Or have a fake monsterā?Ts clawed hand hang out of our closet. But those two ideas will just end up scaring me and sending me into their bedroom. And I donā?Tt really want to damage their mental health anymore than the average childhood already does. We also thought that maybe we should find a way to make their bedroom more appealing to them. But Iā?Tm afraid of the wasted expense if the novelty ends up wearing off too soon. Of course there is the old ā?ocry it outā? standby. But they arenā?Tt babies anymore. They can walk, climb, open doors and pick locks. Okay maybe they canā?Tt pick a lock. But my point is, we should have nipped this in the bud a long, long time ago.

Man, if we ever add to our brood, we are either getting a bigger bed or a monster. Either way, I think weā?Tll be in trouble! Anyway, I’m off to search for answers, suggestions, solutions, or just plain sympathy. If you would like to join me, I’ll be in the parenting section of JustBreatheMom.com.