I thought some more about the constant evolution of the family bed in our house after posting the article in this post. I really appreciate the comments - it's so interesting to me how something so natural as sleep patterns manifest themselves in different families, and how complicated modern life has made a lot of simple things.

I've coslept with all my kids at different times and for different periods of times. I try to just go with what they need at the time.

My oldest started out in a cradle at the end of my bed, but that lasted less than a week. I got up to put him back in his cradle after a feeding one night, and fell asleep sitting on the side of the bed with him in my arms. It felt a lot safer to just keep in bed with me, and I’d read an article on SIDS that babies respiratory patterns were better regulated by hearing their mothers breathing next to them. It makes no sense to me now that crib companies and the American Academy of Pediatrics promote the idea that SIDS risk is increased by cosleeping.

For my older daughter, she started getting super squirmy when she was 3 months old and I noticed she slept better in her crib for naps. I moved her into her crib and it broke my heart, but that's what she needed.

My younger daughter moved to a crib when she was fourteen months old, because she could no longer get to sleep with me there - another really hard decision, because she initially cried when I left her and she stopped breastfeeding shortly after that. There was a difference though, between her being out of control and unable to get to sleep because she had an audience and learning to get to sleep on her own at a truly appropriate age. I wasn’t sure she was ready for that, but I had to be flexible enough to try. None of us were getting enough sleep! She’s moved back into bed with us a few times since, when she needed more cuddles or security.

My youngest sleeps wherever works. Sometimes he sleeps in his toddler bed in his room, other times in our bed or the baby mattress on the floor in our room. Sometimes, he falls asleep on the couch watching cartoons.

No matter the differences, they all sleep really well and I wouldn’t trade those nighttime cuddles for anything!

Did your kids all follow the same basic "sleep script", or did you find that they needed different things based on their personalities?

Best article I've read all month:

http://www.slate.com/id/2020/

New month, new motivation. I gained five pounds in the last two months. It's a new all-time high. I have plenty of sources for motivation:

My mom weighs even more than I do, and I watched her weight creep up and up and up over the last thirty years. Now she has high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and is in pain all the time. There is always something more important in her life than her health. She will be fifty-five in October, and I am worried about her.

My neck and back and legs hurt a lot of the time too. I want to have more energy.

I want to do fun stuff with my kids that doesn't involve a computer or tv or food. I want my kids to be proud of me.

I want to wear pretty clothes. I want to feel attractive again.

I want to live a long, productive life. I have thought about this. Some people don't have this goal, I know. I've talked to people who can't see any pleasure in the idea of getting old. But I want to play with my grandkids and great-grandkids. I want to be the funny old lady, but I don't want to be funny because I've lost my mind or peed myself.

So with all of the motivation, I have trouble identifying the roadblocks to my success. #1 would be stress - easy cheesy cliche here. I eat when I'm stressed out. #2 is poor planning. Another cliche - Failing to plan is planning to fail. Duh. #3 is just poor daily motivation. Like my mom, there's always something more immediatley pressing than my personal health goals. It's true that I have a lot on my plate. How do I keep my personal goals in mind while I deal with everything else? It's hard.

The easiest of these problems is the planning part, so I will start there. I do much, much better when I budget my WW points and meals for the day and stick to the plan. I am less likely to binge when I'm mindful of what I've eaten already and know when and what my next meal will be.

#4 is self-loathing. I hate that I struggle with this, hate that I don't recognize my own body anymore, hate that I'm a big glob of goo. I don't know what to do about this one other than focus on the positive and manage some success here.

I am not using my Curves membership. I should, or I should quit and do something else. If I'm going to like myself enough to spend money on my betterment, then the least I can do is utilize the service. Man, I am weird sometimes.