Making Progress...

We've been making major progress on Sam and Anna's big kid bedrooms, but are just a few wall decorations away from being completely done.  I have to scrap my original plans for wall art  beyond their wooden names (more on why later), and so that part is still not completed.

We separated Sam and Anna into their own bedrooms in late September when we made the transition to big kid beds.  It has gone mostly well.  The dressers we had used with the cribs went into Anna's room while Sam's room was dresser-less and a little sparse.  We were waiting on wood bed frames that were built by Grandpa Dan to proceed further with the room setup.  Then around mid-November we were able to bring the wooden bed frames home and begin the next step in the room transformation.

This weekend we were hard at work painting furniture (okay, Daddy was hard at work painting and assembling- I was hard at work watching toddlers and reorganizing rooms)- the two bed frames graciously made for Sam and Anna by their grandpa as well as two dressers for Sam's room we picked up at IKEA on thanksgiving weekend.  I wanted unfinished dressers for him so we could paint them to match his wood bed frame.  Sam and Anna have the same design for their bed, but Anna's was painted white to go with the dressers they've had since birth, and Sam's was painted a dark brown as well as the dressers. 

I got the plans for the beds from Ana White's  website, the same place I got the plans for the awesome learning tower we got last year, also built by Sam and Anna's grandpa.  In the rooms, they are more sturdy, substantial and well, nice than I thought they would be.  These beds are going to last Sam and Anna until they don't live with us anymore and buy their own furniture!  They definitely exceeded my expectations!

 

The new beds have created quite the excitement around here!

Big Bed Business

This big bed business times two is not for the faint hearted.  I had a feeling it wouldn't be easy, but I had hoped that within a few days it would adjust to being better than the crib fiasco we had started having at bedtime before the big beds arrived: the goofing off, climbing in to each other's cribs, pulling on the curtains crap.

One week in, and nighttime isn't any easier.  Anna likes to pull back her curtain and watch the world go by when she's supposed to be sleeping.  That's minor though.  We unfortunately had someone ring our doorbell during the first time we attempted sleep in the new beds, and Sam instantly got up to see who was here.  Now we can't keep him in his bed.  He always gets up.  Putting his crib back up isn't an option though, because he can scale the sides with his sleep sack on now.  Our nights consist of hours of putting him back to bed, and sometimes eventually laying with him or holding him so he will fall asleep.

That means that my so called "free-time" (if you want to refer to my child-less time to get stuff done, like laundry, clean, blog, work, etc. as that) is non-existent.  Last night, for example, I laid with Sam and got up at 10 pm (I had fallen asleep while in his room).  I'm really feeling stretched to my limit in that I don't have time to get anything done now- because I'm either at work or taking care of my awake children or asleep myself every hour of the day. 

The good thing is (since it helps to find something good about crappy situations) that Sam still doesn't get out of bed during nap time at daycare so our bed woes seem limited to home.

Dear universe: How on earth can we get our troublesome twosome to fall asleep in their beds easily without getting up or needing parental intervention???

***Editted to add: 
We did reverse the lock Sam's bedroom door, so we can lock him in (because he can open childproof door locks and unlock the regular lock on the door himself).  A baby gate won't work as he has scaled that thing since he was an itty bitty baby.  This kid was climbing out of pack and plays since 9 months old- the ONLY thing that helped us keep him from doing the same with his crib was wearing a sleep sack so his legs couldn't get separated enough to climb over  and that bought us enough time to make to to 2 1/2 years old.

Also, every night it is something new.  We've tried leaving the door open a bit so he doesn't feel so alone in the dark (as I'm guessing is a big issue for him, because, remember:  up until a week ago he had never slept alone.  I think it is understandable for him to have a little bit of difficulty in this transition to being alone in his bedroom with the door closed at night.  We give him 3 chances to stay in bed  with the door open a crack before locking the door closed, but after locking it, he becomes hysterical, and I can't do "cry-it-out" with a 2 1/2 year old crying at his bedroom door for his mama- I just can't when I can empathize how scary it must feel for him to be alone in the dark with Anna now in her own room.  I give it awhile, then go back in and give him another chance to stay in bed, which usually does it, but he's still so wound up that he moves all over his bed and cannot go to sleep on his own.  I'm sure he would eventually, but we're talking probably 10 pm and he needs to get woken up at 7 am on weekdays.  That just isn't enough sleep.

There was one night of the past week where it was near text book- he went to sleep with minimal fuss.  Tonight he only needed us to go in once.  BUT he's still falling asleep much later than I'd like.  Back to the every time is something new:  one night he said he'd pooped, one night he needed to go potty, one time he decided to poop and then got poop on his comforter (ew).  Or his pillow drops on the floor and he cries for us to pick it up, or he wants to get re-tucked back in, or  ..., or ...., or.....

But one more good thing!: I can say that once asleep, we have no issues with either child- so that's something!  They both sleep through the night just as they did B.B.- Before Beds. :)

Maybe I just need to be more patient and realize that it has only been one week.  I just miss the days when my babes fell asleep quickly at bedtime with no fuss, and took almost 4 hour long naps in the afternoons.  Those were the days....