Remember how I wrote a couple of days ago that Elijah was sleeping through the night? I went on and on about how amazing he is? I think I even called him things like “my champion” and “my hero”?
Well, I should know better. Of course the minute I clicked “publish” he started waking up again multiple times in the middle of the night. And I just can’t stand sharing a room with him anymore! I just can’t!
I thought of just moving him in with the boys since they have a bunkbed, but there are several problems with that.
1. Elijah would wake up Caden and Jacob in the middle of the night and while they would probably fall back to sleep fairly easily, no one likes a grumpy boy the next day.
2. Their room would be hecka crowded. Yeah, I said hecka. What?
3. Caden and Jacob would go to bed after Elijah and would probably wake him up. And they usually wake up in the morning before Elijah, and they would probably wake him up.
So, I need to come up with another solution and I thought I would recruit some of my readers to help me. Maybe someone out there is gifted in interior design? Maybe someone out there knows how to make the best of small spaces? Maybe someone out there is Nate Berkus? Hello? Nate? Are you out there?
So, here’s what I was thinking…
When you walk into my house through the front door this is what you see.
What laundry? I don’t see any laundry over there.
If you turn slightly to the left, you’ll see this.
The room with the computer is our “formal living room.” Oh geez, I was laughing as I was writing that! Does anyone with three children under five really have a formal anything??? Still laughing.
But we hardly use that room for anything except using the computer and Geric and I watch shows on hulu at night. But the boys are rarely in there.
If you walked through the dining room (Again with the laughing! We dine nightly at our dining table with china and crystal.) If you walked through the dining room, you would see the play room to your right. It’s an add on and it’s where we spend the majority of our time. A lot of toys in here, video games, TV, etc.
Are those children standing a little too close to the TV? Someone should tell their mother. That’s really bad for their eyes.
But, my thought is to turn this into our room. “Our” meaning Geric and I. Not Elijah. The problems with this is that we would need to close off the opening to the dining room. If we end up getting a loan mod (again with the laughing!) we could put in french doors, but since we may not stay, maybe just a curtain would do for now. Another problem is the window-type thing into the kitchen. See?
I could cover that with a shorter curtain, but then we would also have that countertop in our room. Kinda weird. Unless we turned it into a bar and Geric learned how to mix drinks and make me a martinis at night. Then it wouldn’t be weird. Not weird at all.
The other problem is that there is no closet. I could clear off a bookshelf and turn that into a closet-like feature. But that still leaves me with no where to hang my clothes. Geric doesn’t have to worry because his closet is in the hallway.
We would move the leather couch into the formal living room and keep the desk in there and perhaps get a flat screen TV for above the fireplace (someday.) I would move one bookcase to the wall right by the door to keep some toys out in the not-so-formal-living-room.
So, if we did that, Elijah would be left in our room and we could make it a baby room/play room. We could bring in the toys and the TV and the books. Here’s a picture of our room now so you can get a visual.
I usually have a duvet covering that white comforter, but I’m washing it because Elijah spit up on it.
So, I don’t know if that made sense to anyone.
Nate, did that make sense to you?
What do you think? Anyone out there have any better ideas? Help!
Queen of the Jungle 
Hi Erin,
We have had all three of our boys in the same room since Lucas was a few months old. Their room is very tiny since we live in a 2 BR apartment. I think putting them together actually helped Lucas to get into the same sleeping routine with the boys much earlier. They are all up and down throughout the night (potty trips, bad dreams, etc) and don’t really bother each other at all. I know this doesn’t help with the interior design question, but just wanted you to know stuffing those guys all together has actually been good for us. When we get a bigger place, I don’t think they will even want to be apart (ha ha ha). Good luck!
I would try putting them all in the same room first, you never know, they could do really well all together. I have three boys in one room, but they are older 🙂
A Pack -N- Play in one of the formal rooms? Perhaps where the laundry rests. Not too permanent. Utilizes space. What’s that? I’m not helping? Hm. NATE!
I echo the last two comments. Just pile them all together. You are not sleeping through the night anyway, so who cares if it is hard for a week or so? Next I would work on aligning bedtimes and just get them all on a similar sleep pattern. See how easy I make it sound? Also Bribe your ‘big’ kids to be silent when leaving the room in the morning. Oh, not bribe, I meant reward! Reward!
I *was* going to post that I think your rearranging plan sounded good, but then I read the other posts about trying all the boys in the same room. So I’ll refine my original reply:
Try all of the littles in the same room for a week or two. If it works, BONUS! If not, go with the rearranging plan. You can still use your old closet or get an armoir-type thing.
P.S. I’m SUPER impressed at how tidy your house looks!
So, I guess I should have written this post yesterday because… TOO LATE! 🙂 Furniture has been rearranged and Geric and I have our very own room with it’s very own countertop made for mixing martinis! Yay! For the record, I did try putting the pack n play in the boys’ room for a few nights and it was awful. Lots of waking (on everyone’s part) and I couldn’t let Elijah cry it out, so I ended up bringing him back in our room. I’ll update our new look on Saturday… since I know you’re all dying to see what it looks like! 😉
P.S. April, it’s ALWAYS that tidy, too. Not just when I take pictures of it to put on my blog. Always. 😉