Design Sleep

A little over a year ago, I wrote about the, ahem, issues that Andy and I were having with our mattress. (And after re-reading that post, I’ve determined that Jenny is right – I am not very nice when I am sleep deprived!) Well, time went on and we tried to make do with the mattress we hated – we had paid an astronomical price for it and that fact in and of itself made us feel like we had to keep sleeping on it, even though I was terribly uncomfortable and Andy’s back was killing him.

A couple months ago, we decided enough was enough – we needed to chalk that mattress up as a loss and replace it. Sounds simple, right? Well, you know me – I have to make everything as complicated as humanly possible. I wanted to make sure that we got the right mattress this time, so I started researching.

Let me tell you, buying a mattress is COMPLICATED. (When you’re me, at least.) I had lists and charts and graphs detailing the benefits of foam and latex and coils, and of which brands were good and which ones aren’t – it was really kind of absurd. (I threw them away, but now I wish I’d kept them so you could see the level of my neuroses.) Eventually I came across The Mattress Underground – a blog and forum dedicated to solving the eternal question – “which mattress is right for me?”

And I thought I took things too seriously. Lord have mercy, this site took it to an entirely new level. And left me more confused than ever.

Except – the mattress expert on that site recommended finding a specialty sleep shop, rather than going to the nearest department store (or to the sketchy looking barn on my way to work where they evidently sell mattresses on the cheap. I am not even making this up.) – and they had a handy search function that found stores in my area.

That is a very long-winded way of saying that one Saturday morning, Andy and I walked into Design Sleep in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and our lives were forever changed.

Photo from Design Sleep
Photo from Design Sleep

Okay, that’s a little dramatic – but getting good sleep is serious business!

As soon as we walked in the store, my anxiety about buying a mattress vanished. I was sure these people knew their stuff, and that they’d help us make the right decision. Our salesperson, Stacy, was fantastic – he spent two hours with us, talking about our sleep habits and trying out mattresses and pillows. The only thing that made the choice difficult is that they were all so comfortable!

We placed an order for a mattress and also a EuroSlat foundation, which replaces a box spring. This video explains it better than I can, but here’s what it looks like:

European_Sleep_System

While we were in the store, they figured out how to configure the slats for both Andy and me, and when they delivered the mattress, they set it up to those exact specifications. Stacy told us to give it a few nights and to call him if we had any discomfort. I was sleeping so soundly from the very first night, but Andy was experiencing some hip and neck pain. He called Stacy, who told him how to adjust the slats, and that was all it took. The back pain he’d been experiencing for months was gone, and we were both finally getting good sleep.

The personal attention at Design Sleep sets it apart. The fact that Stacy focused on us exclusively for two hours and that he’s available to help us adjust the bed as necessary from here on out is really impressive to me. It took something that had seemed so complicated to me, and made it simple and stress free. I love, love, love our new bed, and I would recommend Design Sleep to anyone!

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Got Quads? You need the gift of sleep!

Pampers Baby Board

Remember how I told you a few months ago that I am a member of the Pampers Baby Board? Well, as they say, “membership has its privileges.” And one of the privileges of being a PBB member is that I get to do some cool stuff, like go to Pampers headquarters, help pick the package design for their new wipes coming out soon…and give away $500 to a deserving family. Let me explain!

The week before I joined the Pampers Baby Board last fall, I had read on my church message  boards about a couple in our church who had a toddler and was expecting QUADS! Wow! The request was that we gather together as a church to provide them with diapers. Since I am a super-coupon lady, I picked up several packs of diapers and dropped them at church. We have a big church and I didn’t know the couple, but of course I wanted to help out. The very next week I was invited to join the Pampers Baby Board, and the week after that, Pampers told me they had $500 to give me to give a family the “Gift of Sleep”. Of course I knew right away that I wanted the expectant quad family to get the Gift of Sleep – God is cool like that. One week I’ve never heard of these people, the next week, I’ve got $500 to give them!

Through the old church message boards, I got in touch with the friend of the family and she put me in touch with Crystal, the mama-to-be – who ended up having the babies the VERY NEXT DAY!!! – a few weeks early. She gave birth to 3 girls and a boy – Norah, Jane, Everett, and Ellie. They joined big sister Kate and dad Matt, as well. The babies were tiny but good fighters, and as of a couple of weeks ago they are ALL home together!

quadswithsis

Aren’t they just beautiful!!? What a sweet family! Pampers was kind enough to let Matt and Crystal choose what the “Gift of Sleep” would mean to them – with 4 new babies, they had a lot of needs! And they decided that they’d sleep better at night knowing they had somewhere to put the massive amount of clothes and toys that come with four new babies. Sooo…thanks to Pampers, Matt and Crystal had me order them up some awesome storage from IKEA with the $500. And it worked out beautifully. See?

quads dressers
A dresser for each babe
And toy/gear storage too!
And toy/gear storage too!
quadstoybins2
You need a lot of storage when you have five kiddos!

Of course, another thing that helps Crystal and Matt sleep is using Pampers Swaddlers to keep their babies dry LONGER – I have it on good authority that Swaddlers are the babies’ fave!

Life has been super crazy for Crystal and Matt since they welcomed their four newest bundles of joy in October, and I am so blessed that Pampers allowed me to be a part of helping them out with getting all their baby STUFF organized.

quadsfamily
Words cannot express how much I love these parents’ faces!

Thanks Crystal and Matt, for sharing your family with us! And thanks Pampers, for gifting this beautiFULL house with some much-needed storage for their “Gift of Sleep”!

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Making the Cut

Jonah in bed
Umm, my three-year-old became a GIANT overnight and started sleeping in a big-boy bed. HOW did this happen?

These past few weeks have been a little crazy in the Rapson house. Since January 9, Jonah’s started preschool, we’ve had like 18 polar vortexes, I’ve had two outpatient surgeries (one oral and one ladypartsish), and we’ve taken Jonah to a dairy-free diet in addition to gluten-free. Because he was having ALL sorts of trouble with his poops, poor kid. But I won’t go into that because Emily would totally remove my admin privileges from this blog. AND, to top it off, we’ve moved him to a big boy bed this week.

So anyway, what I am saying is – there’s been a lot of change/deviation from routine for our family, especially for a three-year-old.

And as I wrote earlier, he’s been adjusting to all this change by being pretty crabby at home. And he’s three. You know, the age at which the Terrible Two’s take some crack cocaine and the kind of steroids that induce rage and have a party for a year. So I should probably cut the kid some slack.

But that cut. It’s one I have a terribly hard time making.

The truth is, I have the equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder from Sophie’s developmental delays. I attributed some of her delays and behaviors to her being crazy, stubborn, and strong-willed, only to realize rather late that whoops! – she actually did have some social/behavioral delays mixed in there. So from them on, every irregularity was cause for worry. And the truth is, some of it was just her personality. Sophie being Sophie. And some of it wasn’t. And I couldn’t really tell the difference.

Now Jonah is three, and going through some behavioral stuff, which is really not that bad, and probably very understandable, and his overall delays are not even close to what Sophie’s were.

But I can’t relax about it. I worry about every little fuss, every fit, every refusal to communicate what he wants.

I can’t cut him any slack, and I can’t cut myself any slack. I choose to worry. I don’t want to choose it but I do. I don’ t know how not to.

If he has a great day, I have a great day, and if he doesn’t, I don’t.

But overall he is doing so well. 

And I am SO proud of him. And I am thankful for that.

I just wish I could rest in it.

 

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