Since my husband and I have been together, we have been sleeping on my double bed that I have had since Jesus was a little boy. It is old and lumpy and has been peed on by all three of my kids more times than I care to wager a guess at. So when my brother offered up his 4 month old KING SIZE water bed mattress that his pregnant fiancee refused to sleep on anymore, I was thrilled. My husband has this habit of sleeping thisclose to me. He says he’s cuddling. I say he’s annoying. Add to that, we co- sleep with our 4 month old baby, as we have for all of our three kids until they reached one. My husband sleeps fine. He isn’t the one worrying about the baby falling off the bed or being crushed by his large frame every night. That’s my job. So when an offer of a larger bed was presented to me, I was over the moon. All we had to do was find a frame for it. So I began the search on craigslist- the first place I go when we are looking for just about anything reusable. Lucky for us, we found a beautiful frame for $150. Sold! When hubby returned from picking it up, he informed me that the frame came with the mattress et al. We decided to use the bought mattress on the off chance my sister in law would change her mind and want her bed back. An hour or so later, the bed is set up and water has filled our new mattress. I lay down. “What?” says hubby suspiciously. “Nothing.” I lie.
Hubby- “You don’t like it?”
Me- “No, it’s fine. really.” Sigh
Hubby, dropping his head- “You want your brothers mattress…”
Me- “It’s just that this one is too wavey….don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”
Hubby- “No. No, it’s not. I wish it was, but it’s not. ” sighs as he grabs the hose to start draining the bed.
Me- “Thank you, baby.” Twirls hair around finger. “I love you.”
Hubby- grunt
So begins the emptying of the water bed. Not as quick a process as the filling I might add.We are now into the evening. Bucket after bucket, water slopped all over the floor. Towels everywhere. Of course this would be thenight the kids are just miserable. Baby wants to be held. So I have him in one arm as I truck buckets of water back and forth to the tub. On one trip, I slip on the water drenched floor. ( luckily, baby was asleep on his sisters bed) i go down, the bucket goes crashing into the wall, breaking into fifty pieces.
Hubby- ” Did you just break the bucket?”
Me-”No, really. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
Many buckets, and now garbage pails later, we both stand there looking at the not yet empty mattress.
Me- “We can lift it.”
Hubby, one eyebrow raised. “We, white girl?”
Me- ” We can do it! We’ll just drag it to the bathroom and empty the rest into the bath tub.No problem!”
Hubby- ” I dunno….”
Ten minutes later, he is standing with one leg in the tub and one out. I am heaving on this monstrocity with arms that rival Olive Oyle. He has cut a slit in the top of the plastic and is bailing more water out with a bucket. By now, he has his mad face on. After what seems like an eternity of him scooping water, I insist we try again.
Hubby- “Just make sure the slit stays up. I’ll lift it. Just make sure the slit stays up.”
Me- “Slit stays up. Got it.”
Hubby lifts, slit goes down, tidal wave ensues. I start laughing. Hubby looks like he is going to kill me. I try to stifle by giggles, but the madder he gets, the harder it is. I back away and search for more towels. Hubby starts bailing again. He won’t let me help anymore. I decide I should get the kids to bed. Actually, I think hubby decided that for me. In the end, he got it empty, set up the new mattress and filled it up with warm water in time for us to sleep in it that night. I leaned over and kissed him before we went to sleep.
Me- “Thanks baby.”
Hubby- grunts
Now if I could just figure out a way to tell him the closet door doesn’t open with the bed there….
