A Bedroom Built for Two

Over the weekend, we decided to make the big switch. Up until now, the girls have had their own bedrooms. We've been toying with the idea of them sharing a room for quite some time. For several reasons... One, we think its great for them to share to build even more closeness, at least while they are still young. I'm not opposed to them separating again later in life, but while they're little, I think its a good idea. Also, it frees up an extra room that becomes a playroom/guest room. We didn't really get rid of anything and their rooms were both pretty full to begin with. So what we did is we make their bedroom...just that - a bedroom. It has their beds, dressers, and very few toys (and even those are only there because the shelf/boxes match the room). Then all the toys, books, etc went into the playroom. It also enabled us to obtain a GREAT chair (that'll seat two comfortably!) from Brad's mom (that she's no longer using) that doubles as a sleeper - it folds out to a twin size bed! Cool huh? We moved the bookcases from the living room back into the playroom so it frees up some more space in the living area too (that we hope to do more work in after Christmas)! Win-Win!

Ok, so anyway, here's the pictures of the "new" rooms! I'm so pleased with how they turned out! :-)

So, here's the kid's room. After Brenna's out of her crib/toddler bed completely, we might do bunk beds?
And the new playroom/guest room...the first side of the room you'll see is the 'guest room' part...with the sleeper chair, night stand/side table/record player table, and bookcases.And this is the 'playroom' side, with kid's bookcases, TV/VCR with kid's computer hooked up, play kitchen, dollhouse, etc...

And as far as the transition to sleeping in the same room....??? Well, it was ok. The first night, Brenna cried a bit (not too bad though). You could tell it was just a get-her-bearings kinda cry. Then she went to sleep and slept the rest of the night fine. The second night went even better. No crying, only a bit of giggling..on Brenna's part only. And now, night three is better yet. Straight to sleep tonight! Naptimes, however, are a different story. Both girls still nap..and for the most part they nap at the same time. Brenna goes to talking and gabbing LOUD! Poor Brooke is so quiet, trying so hard to be good...and Brenna's over there trying to get her in trouble. Instigating her to laugh or play with her. The first napday I quickly pulled Brooke out and let her nap in our bedroom. Brenna gave up after a few minutes of her being gone and they both slept (seperately). Day 2, I let her stay in longer, thinking Brenna would give up at some point. But an hour in and she was still LOUD!!! So, again, pulled Brooke out and then quickly they both went to sleep. I don't know...we'll see what day 3 brings. Hopefully Brenna will get this down. That its sleep time! If not, maybe we'll try putting Brenna to bed first, then after she's asleep letting Brooke go in and nap. We'll see.... but I'm not worried.

And a final note to share... one may think that the girls, maybe Brooke especially, wouldn't particularly want to share a room? But that could not be farther from the truth. Brooke was soooo super excited! And obviously, Brenna thinks its grand! Then after the playroom was done as well, they were even more thrilled. So, at the end of the night, after we had finished working on everything and most was done and in place, we were resting in the new playroom. Brooke came in, gave me a BIG hug and said, "I love you Mommy. Thank you so much for working so hard on these two rooms. I really like it." Totally unprompted. Then, she says, "I need to go tell Daddy thank you too." Aww....makes it all totally worth it. :-)