Musical Beds

I feel like we play this game every few months! We have tried to put certain kids in a room together and give other kids their own room, and in the end they somehow make their way back to the room they want to be in. It all started back in December when we decided to have the girls share a room, instead of Emma and Matthew sharing. Matthew was keeping Emma up late and she was exhausted every day when she went to school. So, we made the switch. And it only lasted a few weeks. Matthew thought it was pure torture to have his own room (he and Emma have shared since he was a day old) and Emma didn't like that she had nobody to talk to. When I pointed out that Ellie can talk, she responded with, "yeah, but I can never understand her". So, she was allowed to sleep in Matthew's room on weekends. And that slowly turned into "just one more night", which eventually turned into Emma moving right back into his room. Sigh...

So, fast forward a few months. Surprise! We've found out we're expecting another baby. I really didn't want to have Ellie sharing a room with the baby, but there was no convincing Emma that it would be fun to share with the baby. And Matthew wasn't going anywhere either. So, we toyed with the idea of having the 3 of them share...but every time we put Ellie in with them, it turned into play time that stretched into all hours of the night. Fun for them...not for us. We spent the entire summer battling this sleeping situation. Ellie REALLY wanted to sleep in the kids room. Sleeping in her own room became a form of punishment. So, we kept letting her try. Sometimes she was able to stay and sleep with them. Other times she would end up back in her room. And now, with one month left before baby arrives, we're pretty much still where we started, but with a few more sleeping variations thrown in for fun.

Matthew usually ends up in the toddler bed that we bought for Ellie...he says he sleeps better there than on his bunk bed...

And Ellie insists on sleeping on Emma's bed (see her there in the red and white?). They often end up in awkward looking positions with Ellie slung over some part of Emma, or Emma's feet resting somewhere on Ellie, but it works...except for the nights that we see Ellie wander out of the room after the kids fall asleep. She slowly carries her pillow, blankets, and other miscellaneous items to her room and puts herself to bed there. Sometimes it's in the twin bed, and recently she has started climbing up into the crib to sleep....agghh! No! I'm beyond the point of worrying or caring anymore because it'll probably all change again before the baby comes. :)

And that my friends is the story of our musical beds.