A Change of Scenery

Randy and I recently decided that with G entering kindergarten soon, it was about time we put her and her brother into separate bedrooms. It was a nice, simple idea in theory, but what this meant is that we were going to have to pack up the office and move everything into our master bedroom, turn the office into a room for the boys, and make the room G and S were sharing into G's own space.

In preparation for this grand move I rented a storage locker below our building and began hauling office materials downstairs. G "helped" with the moving by holding open doors for me and chattering incessantly about how "great" and "exciting" this whole thing was. She'd also periodically exclaim "Mama, we have a lot of work to do, don't we?!" while merrily skipping ahead of me as I lugged a heavy box behind her. She was psyched.

After the office was mostly packed away, I tore down the crib in our bedroom and relocated it to the office. This was followed by moving our bed (king-sized!) and dresser around in the master bedroom to make enough room for the office desk. Then we moved S's bed and dresser into the office. Moving furniture is always challenging, but when you throw in two rambunctious kids darting around the apartment and a toddler that makes it his mission to walk in front of you whenever you are holding heavy furniture, it becomes quite the adventure!

For G we were able to find a loft bed on Craigslist at a great bargain. Like all great bargains, it did not come with an instruction manual. It took Randy a good three days (and a run to the hardware store) to get it all together. G did her part though and gladly helped her Daddy whenever she was given the chance:

She's handier with a wrench than Bob the Builder!

When G wasn't helping to build the loft, she was photographing the experience.

S was busy helping too. While Randy and G were in the bedroom building a bed, he was in the dining room helping me snap green beans we purchased at the Farmer's Market:

He loves to help in the kitchen. :)

Then we all took a break to watch the severe thunderstorm roar through the area:

It was a very windy storm with, as S would say, plenty of "Bunder!"

I am quite happy with the finished product of all our effort. G has her own special place that she adores:

View from the door

View of her reading "nook" under her loft.

And the boys have a room all to themselves:

Don't worry, we moved all the stuff on the top of the dresser out of Baby C's reach

And Randy and I now have a ginormous desk in our bedroom. It's proximity to the bed is awfully tempting. I may need to switch from half-caf to fully caffeinated coffee during working hours.

It's been a few days, and we're getting used to the changes around here. The best change of all: S is no longer fighting bedtime! I put him down after the baby goes to sleep and I do not hear a peep afterwards. Baby C has woken him up a few times during the night, but overall S is getting more sleep than he has in a few months. And Mama has her sanity back from the hours of 6:30 til 8:00. The slightly strained back I got from moving all the furniture was definitely worth it.