For a few months now we've shuffled our kids around to different bedrooms trying to find the right fit as each one is clearly growing up and their sleeping quarters were getting a little squishy. We wanted to give my oldest daughter a little more space as she was needing to study for her upcoming piano exams and there was no peace with 3 girls crammed into a little bedroom that fit only 2 single beds.
We had finished a space a couple years ago that used to be our garage and turned it into a living space/piano room/mudroom with a loft above it for eventual sleeping space for a couple of kids, but we were stuck on how to get kids up and down to the loft safely. It was a very small space and regular things like ladders or a staircase just wouldn't work, so it went on pause for a long time while we figured out what to do.
Meanwhile, we couldn't wait anymore. My daughters weren't getting good sleeps as two girls, no matter how small, were kicking each other all night in their tiny single bed or pushing one another off the bed, not to mention talking in their sleep, which kept the other ones awake. What to do?
One day I mentioned this to a friend and she said, "I have an extra bed frame we're not using, you can have it!" Thank you so much!!!!! We didn't have the exact right mattress, but oh well, by this point my daughter was willing to sleep on nails. Anything was better than what was currently going on. The only problem was, there were two little boys in the room she wanted. So she evicted them with no warning which I am sure was against all landlord/tenant acts.
Out on the streets of our little town, I had pity on them and took them in, little crib mattresses and all. One of them had been sleeping in a toddler bed (though he was 5!) and the other was still in a crib (though he was nearly 4!), but they loved their little beds. Oh well, down they went. Disassembled in minutes and off to the storage room. So much for reminiscing about last babies.....
My room was the only place they could go, so for the last few months, the two homeless boys have slept on the floor on their little mattresses, one on RM's side and one on mine. We've actually loved our mini roommates so much. We love hearing them snore. We love hearing them yell at each other in the middle of the night IN THEIR SLEEP! The other night one of them warned the other one about a pig in his dream, very funny. "PIG!" He yelled out. I smiled. I know when they turn over. I know when they have to go pee. I know when they need a drink. It's going to be a sweet memory for me actually.
However, they will need to move out eventually! We needed another push to get that loft room done.
Recently, my other son who sleeps across the hall with his older brothers also came in complaining about how bad a sleep he was getting, too. The big brother across the room snores big time. This was the push we needed. We want our children to have good sleeps! But we couldn't just evict another sibling to the streets without a place for them to go, so RM stepped up his research and found the perfect thing to finish the loft - a spiral staircase that was adjustable to any size of room for a reasonable price.
We picked it up last week and he installed it right away. Perfect. Now we just needed a rail that would run along the open space above our piano so no one would roll off while they were sleeping. I thought maybe he would custom make something from wood lying around the farm, but we decided to go all "farmy". He went off to the local Tractor Supply store and came home with this awesome gate meant for farm animals!!! It was so cheap (because he didn't get it in a decorator's supply store!) and it fits perfectly! He'll finish installing that today and then.....a whole new room for our older boys. It has to be the cheapest addition I've ever heard of and fast.
The big boys will move into the loft room as soon as tonight and the little boys will then "move out", I'm assuming as well, but thankfully it is just across the hall, so I'll still see them! They'll officially have bunk beds and enough space to make sure they all get the good sleeps they need. After that, no more moving around. Everyone will have a bed, a space they can call their own, and I will get my bedroom back, though I will miss my roommates. One of these days I'll have to take more pictures to show what it looks like - sorry, a pretty boring blog without pictures......
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