Sending out an S.O.S.

Before having babies, I was the best mom. My imaginary children always behaved properly. They were never dirty. They always had the best clothes. They cleaned their plates and ate their vegetables. They put others first and cared for their friends. They never fought, whined or complained.

I imagined that I would always have ample time to myself while the children played together. In my dreams of motherhood, I was always calm and patient. My hair and makeup were always applied. Dinner was always prepared for my family and we sat down at every imaginary meal together. We talked and played games well into the evening. Then they would snuggle in their own beds freshly bathed with teeth scrubbed. And fall asleep instantly without the demands for drinks or bedtime snacks.

Never once in my idyllic motherhood bliss, did our precious babies end up sleeping in our bed. They slept peacefully through the night and woke up refreshed and ready to obey the next morning.

I had all the answers (and then some) BEFORE having children.

Reality is, I am at a complete loss trying to raise the two kids that we have been blessed with. It is a whole lot harder than I ever imagined. Sometimes we need to ask for help from our friends that have travelled the road before us. So, to all the trailblazers out there reading this, please hear my S.O.S. before we completely lose our minds.

We are heavily entrenched in the battle of the bed with Loulabelle. Somewhere in the middle of the night (probably when we are too tired to put up a good fight) she will crawl in between us. Often times she replaces Skip and he goes to sleep in her empty bed. This new behavior started recently, but is now becoming a nightly problem. I don't know what triggered her to start coming to our room. As sweet as she is, I don't want her in our bed. I love snuggle time, but not at the expense of having Skip move to another bedroom. Or, at the expense of tears and loss of sleep. I know we need to be tougher and more consistent with this. But I don't even know where to start.

My pre-motherhood self would have known how to handle this. Please take this S.O.S. and handle it with care. I would love to know how some of you solved this problem with your children.

Because our only option at this point is to charge her rent. I am not joking. We have thought of that.

HELP.