Musical Rooms

Emma and Matthew have shared a room for the last 3 years, 4 months, and 12 days....basically since the first night we were home from the hospital after Matthew was born. At first it was out of necessity- we only had 2 bedrooms and I can't sleep with babies in my room. As they got older and we moved to our 3 bedroom home, they wanted to keep sharing a room. We tried to give them each their own room, but they cried and pleaded to let them share. So, we let them. They are best buds, partners in crime, and they sleep better together...until recently.

After Matthew's latest hospital stay he was put on Qvar, which is a steroid inhaler. It makes him have tons of extra energy, a big appetite, and a hard time sleeping. Every night, we put the kids to bed around 7:30. Emma is ready to fall asleep immediately, but Matthew is up, wide awake until after 9. It was really starting to affect her during the day, especially at school. In the meantime Ellie was having a hard time sleeping too, mostly just naps during the day, because her room is connected to the play room. You have to go through her room (or the kitchen) to get to the playroom. But it's a lot more convenient to go through her room...so basically the kids were always running in there to go play and she was getting woken up.

So, we decided to switch Matthew and Ellie's bedrooms. Matthew went into Ellie's much smaller room by himself and Ellie went into the big room with Emma, who was ECSTATIC about getting to share a room with Ellie. Everything was going smoothly with the switch, everybody was sleeping, we had gotten all the furniture switched and rooms rearranged. Emma seriously thought she was the luckiest girl EVER to get to share a room with the baby. Until we got bunk beds for Matthew's room...and now life has gotten fun.  :)

We had been wanting to get Matthew out of his toddler bed and into a twin, and figured this was a good time. We put bunk beds in his room in case we needed to let Ellie cry it out, or for when we have guests, etc. We got the bunk beds after the kids were in bed and got them set up that night. Then we put Matthew in his new bed. When he woke up he was surprised.  :) When Emma saw the bunk beds she immediately claimed the top bunk as her own and moved all of her bedding in. She did NOT want to sleep in a room with Ellie. So, she has slowly moved into Matthew's (MUCH SMALLER) room. And now we're in this weird bedroom limbo. Both kids are in the bunk bed room, but all of Emma's stuff is still in the other bedroom. There is random stuff everywhere, and now we have to figure out how to rearrange everything all over again. We've somehow got to figure out a way to squeeze all of the kid's stuff in their small room, and then figure out how to fill up all the empty space in Ellie's huge room. AND I have to make 2 more curtain panels for her much bigger window. Blah! But on the upside, Ellie has been sleeping 10 hours at night again (from 8-6)....and now I'll go knock on wood!

So, for those who have asked, here are the bunk beds that have caused all the commotion.  :) We got an AWESOME deal on them on Craigslist and are really happy with them.

So, anyone out there who loves rearranging and decorating, please feel free to stop by and put my house back together.  :)