Monday, January 11, 2010

You Learn As You Go.

Last week I began the daunting task of packing up our guest bedroom. Ever since Cub's birth, it has become our catch-all room, housing everything from graduation gowns to camping gear to college textbooks to random gaming systems to chess sets. And, in a few months, that room, which is bigger than the nursery, will become Cub's room.

Today someone asked me why we didn't plan on having the baby and Cub share a room. There are a couple of reasons, some having to do with letting the baby cry it out and being afraid of that keeping Cub awake, and also the fact that Bean might be a girl. But, there is a bigger reason. Allow me to explain.

See, when Cub was five months old, I wrote a post on my old blog about an ottoman I found to hold his toys. I was so proud. It matched our living room! So important! At that point in my life, I was, apparently, afraid of Cub's toys showing in the living room. Hence, the ottoman:


I would have loved to hear the snickers from the moms out there who read that post. Good grief. "Great idea, Katie!" "Sure, Katie, you just keep that toy ottoman!"

(Um, and when I told some of these same moms last week that I was writing this post, they then allowed themselves to full-on laugh out loud.)

Why the snickers, you ask? Well, let's take a look at that toy ottoman now.


Can you see it? Can you find it in there? Do you see the Toy Ottoman of Awesomeness, wedged between two carts and smashed behind the Chuck Truck slide and Little People Amusement park? Oh, and do you notice the larger two baskets on the left side of the picture? Those Baskets of Awesomeness that I purchased after the Toy Ottoman of Awesomeness got too small? Granted, it was a good idea at the time and it served its purpose. However.


SIGH.

This is why people progress from Toy Ottomans of Awesomeness to Toy Boxes of Awesomeness to PLAYROOMS.

So. Anyway. Where was I? Oh yes. The main reason as to why we're moving Cub. Well, that's kind of it right there. The nursery isn't big enough to hold two beds (or a crib and a bed or a crib and a pack-n-play), so the Cubster is movin' on up ... and so are his toys! I'm all about toys in the living room, but, as you can see, it's getting a tad ridiculous. It will be nice to be able to neatly store them in his room. Until, of course, he gets even bigger toys, like say, a car.


But we won't think about cars quite yet. :)

Cub was very happy to "help" me as I began packing things up. I will soon show you the before and after pics, but there is a lot of work to be done in between before that can happen. Until then, a question for you: Did you ever share a room with your sibling? I didn't, but I had a brother. If you did, did you like it?

Have a lovely day!

(Oh, and here is my 17 week picture. Please note that I did not pick up my bathroom for the picture. Please don't be offended by the pile of laundry ON the hamper, not IN the hamper, and the wayward earring on the countertop. I was tired, folks.)


10 comments:

  1. You look awesome! ;) And I shared a bedroom with my three younger sisters. To this day we are the best of friends.

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  2. I shared a bedroom with my siblings and we were happy.. and my kids share rooms, but we have a playroom. :P I also have a loft bed in my sons room (so he can still have PLENTY of room to store ALL his toys in his room) and bunk beds in the girls room (same reason). I am a NO toys in the living room/kitchen person, but I have three kids who had never learned to clean up.. (we're working on that BIG time right now) so I found out quickly that if I allowed toys in the kitchen/living room area, that they were NEVER cleaned up, and then not only did their rooms/playroom look like a tornado hit it, but so did my "public ones." As long as you teach him to clean, no matter where you allow toys, it will be good, because if he gets them out, he will clean them up, unlike my kids. (at least to some degree!)

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  3. Precisely why play rooms exist! I hate toys all over, so I still have a cute basket with most of Sophia's 24/7 toys. The bigger things that don't fit are in the play room and the small things from when she was little are put away in storage.

    I shared a room with my parents when I was younger (only girl) and my brothers shared a room. They liked it. I hated it. Everyone asks us why our girls don't share either....I can't even imagine dealing with a crying newborn waking up a toddler. Seems like an unnecessary evil if you have the option of separate bedrooms.

    You look great by the way!

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  4. It is so funny how such a little person can have so much STUFF! That's how we felt after we finished registering, like, how is it possible that someone so teeny tiny will need all of this!?!? Alas, I guess they do. Can't wait to see the new room all done up! Cute dress!

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  5. Oh, I LOVE Little People! They were always my favorite toys that the girls had! Seeing your little Cub's took me back to those sweet days.

    Ok, about sharing rooms. I never shared a room because my brother and sister were 11 & 10 years older than me. Awkward for a six year old to share with a 16 year old. My girls, however, always shared a room until we moved here three years ago. They loved their new found freedom and loved kicking the other out of their room. BUT, this past summer they all of the sudden HAD to be in the same room. We thought it was a phase, but after waking up night after night and finding one had snuck into bed with the other, we caved. That was in August and they have LOVED being back together.So, that's our experience. Good luck with the rearranging. Oh, and you look great, by the way!

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  6. Being the only girl, I always had my own room! My 3 brothers were in 1 room for a time though...so it can be done. I think it's nice to have a newborn in his/her own room though, Cub will sleep better. You can always put them together later!

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  7. My brother and I shared a room until I was in the 4th grade. I guess I didn't think it was weird to share with a brother, but from these posts, I guess it's abnormal. I didn't think any thing of it, but it was nice when I got my own room. I did share a room with my lil sister when I was 16-18 and she was 1-3. It was interesting and many sleepless nights. We didn't have a lot of money growing up so we did what we had to do I suppose. If we have another one, we won't room share if we don't have. But it's not the end of the world either way.

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  8. Oh, I LOVE the ottoman toy trick!! My F-I-L made Levi a toy box for Christmas, and it will house all all of his room toys, but then there are those day to day toys that the ottomans are perfect for. I had to go buy another longer, bigger, ottoman since his toys are growing and we love it. A perfect way to hide the mess!

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  9. Looking great. And i laughed out loud when I saw the ottoman buried between toys. We were the same way. Had a hope chest in our living room with Livy's toys when she was just learning to play with them. Now, our living room looks like a toy room!:)

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  10. I'm putting the new baby and me in the room across the house...I don't think I could handle having Alex and the new one screaming at me during the night, hehe. I caved and bought a huge toy chest, the BIG toys still won't fit, but it makes the living room look much nicer.

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