Our Sleeping Habits And Rituals

I was tagged by Nigel at DIY Daddy for the sleeping habits and rituals tag, you can read Nigel's post here. Now sleep is a bit of a sore subject in our house due to my eldest not really liking it! Now at 4 years old he is slowly sleeping through the night but we have had our battles and many a sleepless night with being called in once or twice an hour for a cuddle!

• Bath time at 7pm. This is a given in our house unless we are home late from something which isn't very often. It used to be 6.30pm but we found that by moving it by half an hour the boys were sleeping so much better. I believe in routine.

• Story time. Once bath time is finished and the boys are dressed in their pj's, Finley jumps into bed and Noah sits on my knee. I sit in a childs IKEA chair where Noah has his milk and I read them a story or two.

• Ovaltine before bed. Now this is me, I love a nice hot mug of Ovaltine before bed. I'm not sure if it helps me sleep better but I like to think it does.

• Podcasts. My husband can not go to sleep in silence. Every night he will get into bed and put a podcast on low. Sometimes it is really annoying as he is asleep within minutes and I have to listen to some rubbish he has decided to play that evening. But some nights I don't mind it as he puts a decent one on.

• Sleeping arrangement. If you stand at the foot of the bed, I sleep on the right and my husband on the left. This has to be the way it is wherever we go.

• Saying I love you. This is something I do with both boys and my husband. I say 'I love you' and they say it back, it is  a lovely way to end the day.

• Gro Clocks. Both the boys have a Gro Clock which is set for the sun to come up at 6.45am but we are lucky that at the minute they don't come into us until 7.10am, very specific time I know. They both know to stay in bed until the sun comes up in the morning. This does mean they don't actually get out of the bed at night, they just shout for us.

• I have to wear pj's. Not sure why but I can't go to bed naked or just in my underwear, even in the summer

• Morning cuddles. We always let the boys come into bed with us first thing in the morning. This sometimes makes us late but morning cuddles have got to be the best.

Sleeping for me used to be a big thing before I had the boys, but since becoming a parent it's just one of those things that changes. And even though I miss sleep I wouldn't change anything for the world.