The Great Migration





When Joshua was one month old, I had had enough. I booted him from our room.

His little snuffling noises kept me awake all night long, and I was feeling myself slowly lose sanity, and I had visions of circling the bedroom on my hands and knees, wearing off the paint on the walls, in a total "Yellow Wallpaper" fashion (if you have not read it, do, but then make sure that you have someone nearby to tell you that you are, in fact, normal and sane, because you will seriously doubt it when you are through).

He seemed to be okay. Of course, nothing really douses the fire that is raging within my first born.

Then comes along Eva, and I couldn't bear the thought of her leaving our room (and that could be for several reasons, like the fact that she was our only "planned" child, or the fact that she was so cute looking up over the side of the pack 'n play, or the fact that she would have to bunk with Josh in our tiny two bedroom apartment...). I finally broke down and threw her and Josh into the same room, and let the pieces fall where they would.

It was okay.

Then, we had Lily, and things were getting tight in our little two bedroom apartment, and I considered throwing her into Josh and Eva's room, since they had a bunk bed, but I really wondered if they would all survive the sheer amount of childhoodness (or would it be childrogen, or perhaps, childesterone?) that would errupt explosively if she joined them. Luckily we moved, and Lily moved into her own bedroom, as did Eva and Josh.

It's been freaking AWESOME.

Then, something happened where I got pregnant and had another baby (I can't seem to stop that from happening...), and Eden's been our roommate for eight months.

I like Eden in our room. She's so cute, and happy. And she sleeps through the chatter that Jeremy and I produce at the end of the day. Most of the time...

I decided that I needed to do two things: Wean Eden, and move Lily into Eva's room, so I could put Eden in Lily's old room (I guess I've put off putting Lily into a big bed, even though she is two. I mean, she's so freaking small...It's like I had twins, since Eden and Lily are almost the same size).

I thought, "Gee, wouldn't it be perfect to do it while Jeremy is on Christmas break???" and then I remembered what weaning a baby is like, and what moving a child into another child's room is like, and put it off for another day.

The day after Christmas, despite the fact that I knew it would be dreadful, I decided that it was a good day to move Lily into Eva's room. We cleaned the whole house, moved out Lily's bedding from the crib, and Eden in, with Lily moaning piteously the whole time as her world was shattered, and she was removed from her own space, and down the hallway from her parents, and though she couldn't say it, was probably wondering what she did wrong (Eva was probably wondering the same thing).

Christina and Mike came over that night (along with their own little squish) and bets were made as to who would survive the Eva-Lily combo. I handsdown bet everything on Lily. You don't mess with The Lily.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Lily only climbed up on the top bunk twice, and fell off twice, but her body is pretty springing, so no permanent damage was done (just imagine an angora rabbit falling from the top bunk, and you've got the right image). And kudos to Eva who slept through Lily climbing all over her. She even slept through Lily pulling her hair really hard when we tried to remove Lily from the top bunk. She only cried out and said a slurred, "Shespullingmyhairaaagggghhh......" and then promptly fell asleep after we untangled Lily from her blond tresses.

It's now day three...and I'm glad we did it.

But I know it's going to be like three years before all the kinks are worked out, and by then we'll have moved into my dream-nine-bedroom home. That has sound-proof walls.

And trampoline floors.

And a built in cow that makes its own ice cream.

It's gonna be awesome.

Comments

Tina said…
Oh wow! 8 months huh? I'm glad things were working out so well with that arrangement. It's always hard for me those first couple of days after sending a baby to their own room. I feel like I need the monitor up super loud and I'm all nervous and then like you, on day three or so I'm so glad I did it and it seems right. I hope it continues to go well... I guess now you need another baby!!!!.... :) :)
Les said…
Mark survived 1 month in our room because he kept on waking Brett up and James lasted about the same because he kept on waking me up. The have been in their own room until 3 months ago and now we have a room for sleeping and a toy room it is wonderful!!!

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