My Bed Has Been Taken Over by Aliens

Maybe I should have never let them in to begin with, but it’s too late now

Seriously. How did this happen?

Ok. So the aliens are actually animals. My animals, at that. My precious fur babies. 

I didn’t even want a dog. I’ve always had cats. But then my husband insisted I would grow to love dogs if we got one. I hate to admit that he was right. 

The first big mistake I made with dog parenting was several years ago when we went on vacation with our once crate-trained lab mix. She whined for hours, safely tucked in her crate in the room beside us. 

My heart melted. I couldn’t let her cry in that crate by herself! I convinced my husband that, just for vacation, we should let her sleep in the bed with us. 

Ellie was very happy with this arrangement. So happy, in fact, that on our first night home after the trip, she dutifully followed us back to our bedroom and jumped on our bed. I couldn’t say no. 

And that was the end of crate training. 

But Ellie, being a 75 lb. dog, was like having an extra person in the bed! This didn’t exactly fit into our queen-sized arrangement. 

Naturally, we upgraded to a king-sized mattress. Did this help? Well, maybe it helped my husband. The dog, forever my baby, wants more than anything just to be as close to me as possible. All. Night. Long. 

She is supposed to be my husband’s dog. I suppose people really can’t choose their pets to some extent. 

Most mornings, I find that I’ve been pushed to the very edge of the bed. Sometimes, in an effort to get a bit more room, I’ll try to nudge her over. But that is usually a futile effort greeted with much sighing and protesting from the dog. My next strategy is to try to wrap one of my legs around the dog, truly as a means to not fall out of the bed entirely.

My husband is typically blissfully unaware of the shenanigans and virtual gymnastics I go through during the night, simply trying to occupy my own space on my side of the bed!

But wait. It gets worse!

Last summer, a cat adopted us. My girls named him Nugget. As in a chicken nugget. I’ve never had an orange tabby before. 

He simply showed up one day and made it very clear that he wanted to be a part of our family. Naming him was the first step. That slid into feeding him, allowing him time in the house, and then providing him a litter box. 

He’s very sweet, already neutered, and has adapted quite readily to life as a mostly indoor cat. Much to my husband’s reluctance, Nugget is now officially part of the family. 

And, as you may have guessed, Nugget has also chosen me as his person. And he recently discovered that our bed is the comfiest place in the house. 

So now I share my side of the bed not only with a 75 lb bed hog but also with a 10 lb cat. Who also wants to get as close to me as possible. 

Sigh. 

I thought disrupted sleep from roommates ended after my kids became self-sufficient! I’m pleased that my animals love me this much, but mama needs her sleep, too!

Do they make beds larger than king-sized? Asking for a friend.

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Do you share your bed with your pets? If so, do you actually get any sleep? I’d love to hear about it!

As always, I hope you all are safe and healthy.