Big Kids

After several nights in a row of Sam climbing into Anna's crib (while wearing a sleep sack) and tackling her every 2 minutes at bedtime, and several days in a row of reports of good naps in beds at daycare in separate rooms, we decided that it was time to make the switch to beds at home as well.   Oh well- the sleep sack trick to keep them from climbing out bought us over a year longer of crib use and for that I'm thankful. Sam and Anna have been napping at daycare in beds since they turned 2 and when we made the change in daycares in August, they continued napping in beds there as well.    For about 6 months it has worked just fine to nap in beds at daycare in separate rooms, but sleep in cribs in the same room at home.  But not so much anymore.  I was getting weary from the bedtime antics that seemed to be amping up- not decreasing.

All we did this weekend was basically make the transition from one room with two cribs to two rooms with two beds, and boy was it a lot of work.  First, we had to clear out our old guest room.  Then we went shopping for two beds.  We lucked out and bought mattresses and box springs at a local furniture warehouse sale this weekend.  My FIL is making bed frames for Sam and Anna and we should be able to get them in November so for now, they just have simple metal frames underneath.  While Sam and Anna napped Saturday, Daddy painted Anna's new room a not-babyish shade of pink.  Before nap, we had Sam and Anna pick their favorite pink paint chip from the collection of about 50 shades I brought home from the store.  After putting them down for nap, we picked our own favorites, and actually ended up picking the shade Sam selected first.  The rest of Saturday ended up finding new homes for the old guest room stuff once we realized there was no way we'd have enough time to disassemble two cribs and assemble two beds before bedtime.

Sunday we worked on moving around furniture between the two rooms and the cribs got removed before beds were made.  For now, Anna is keeping the white dressers and Sam will eventually get new darker work furniture.  I'm waiting until we have his bed, so that we can select a furniture color that goes with his wood bed frame.  Anna's bed frame will be painted white.

Naps in the new beds in separate rooms on Sunday went.... less than great.  For the first time sleeping in beds at home, we barely got them to fall asleep.  I consider it a minor miracle that both finally did sleep for a little bit.  I am surprised that after napping for so long at daycare without even thinking about getting out of the bed, the very first time we attempted a nap in a bed at home, Sam's feet hit the floor and he decided that it would be a good idea to open the door; repeatedly.  I thought for sure we'd have a while before reaching that point. 

The first night sleeping in their own rooms in beds went better, but only because I laid with Sam until he fell asleep.  I was a little sentimental that it was the first time ever since before they were a speck of dividing cells that they spent the night sleeping alone, apart from each other.  Once they fell asleep, they both slept through the night without waking until they had to get up for daycare the next morning.  Whew!  I was worried that would have gone horribly wrong and I'd be up for hours in the middle of the night.  Thank goodness that wasn't the case!

We still have a lot to do- bed frames probably painted and put together one we get them, new furniture/dressers for Sam, wall hangings/decorations for both rooms, and remove the rest of the storage stuff in the old guest room closet.  For now though, our big boy and girl are sleeping in their own rooms in big kid beds-  the last bit of baby in them: their cribs, are gone.  And this mama is feeling just a wee bit sad that I'm never going to have a little one in a crib ever again.

Sam's bed

 

Anna's bed

 

Anna's room

 

First time sleeping in her big girl bed

 

First time sleeping in his big boy bed

Baby Laundry

7 baby laundry loads later this weekend... all the washable stuff we have is washed and put away!

(The plan was to do this over winter break, but then our dryer broke. It wasn't fixable. Since our microwave and dishwasher have also broken in the month or so, we got a new vehicle and bought the dressers, a new dryer wasn't an option, really. We really lucked out and got a dryer on Craigslist for $50- that actually matches our washer. After getting some baby stuff on there too- I'm really beginning to love Craigslist!)

I've been finding out that it is a little bit of an organizational nightmare to make sure we have enough clothing in each particular size and about an equal amount of each type with one boy and girl on the way. It would be sooo much easier if they could both wear every single article of clothing we have, but someone I'm guessing my husband won't let me put our son in a pink and flowery outfit. So I've made a list of what we have and what we need to be covered (according to twin books I've read) trying to balance out the number of onesies/sleepers/outfits/hats/bibs/socks/etc. by gender. I think we have newborn to 3 months pretty much covered now. Yay! We could use a few more boy outfits to make things more equal, because my coworker gave me a slew of girly outfits so that's a little off balance, but outfits aren't really necessary and we do have a few boy outfits. I'm okay with not having enough 3-6 month clothes or beyond, because I'm not really sure how big they'll be for the warmer summer months and I plan on going to garage sales this summer to help with that.

My husband also put together the two dressers last week, so it was very exciting to hang AND put stuff away in drawers. It's really beginning to feel like things are coming together. I'm itching now to buy a new window covering, since that's really the last thing the room needs. I do want a small bookshelf for books and a lamp, but those things aren't as important. I kept my husband busy this weekend: he also painted letters to hang above the cribs with the names we picked- we hung them to get the nails in place and then took them down to keep our secret until the twins' birth day!

A shot of the closet- these are only newborn and 0-3 month sized clothes that can be hung (excluding outfits and onesies):

Here are the finished quilts, as well:

Notice the fabric that is carried through both quilts. Brown and sage green are the colors of other things in the room like the changing pad cover, wall color, and hopefully the window treatment. I know I said it before, but it should be said again: I am so blessed to have such a talented friend to make our babies the quilts for us! They really help tie in the coordinating colors for both babies in the room.

Bedding

Once we found out we were having a boy and a girl, bedding has been a little bit of a difficult decision for us (me). I didn't spend much time before finding out the genders thinking about what to do, because there were three different possibilities (boy/boy, girl/girl, or boy/girl) and I didn't want to waste time thinking about something that only had a 33% chance of happening. Having two of the same gender would have been so easy to decide, but one of each has proven to be difficult. Knowing that we will not use the bumpers (not safe) and not really use the quilt in a set in the crib, I was having a hard time justifying plopping down the hundreds of dollars for two crib bedding sets that we would only really use the sheet and skirt from. So I started looking more at bedding separates- skirts and sheets.

It seemed like to go gender neutral, we were pretty much stuck with jungle or farm themes. I just couldn't find a jungle theme that I liked that wasn't too boyish and would go with our white furniture. I wasn't sure I even wanted a "theme." Then I saw these:I like how they go together, but aren't exactly the same. I like how they have white in them to go with our furniture and brown in them to go with our carpet. So I bought them! Our girl's bedding is predominately pink with brown, white, and sage green; while our boy's bedding is predominately sage green with brown, white, and blue.

My amazingly talented friend, Sara, had also told me she wanted to make quilts for our babies (another reason why the bedding sets seemed like a waste of money for us). I am so blessed to have such a kind and caring friend! Last Sunday we went to pick out fabric. She got started on them right away- here is a sneak peek of two of the blocks she has put together so far (notice the fabrics that will be in both quilts):

They will go perfectly with the bedding we've already purchased. Sara is also thinking about making coordinating wall hangings using the same fabric, maybe a valance, etc.- she's so crafty, I am so excited to see how it all ties together! I cannot wait until the quilts are done!

Now to decide on a wall color...