The Kids' Room Lately...

Well as kids are want to do they went and grew and grew and now they have big kid beds. No more crib!

The bed Alice had went to Wally and we had intended to buy an identical one for Alice but as Ikea is want to do me like this, this color seems to be unavailable/discontinued. I tried to find it through craigslist and other places 2nd hand but came up short and so a decision had to be made.

We decided to get this one which looks close enough to Wally's. 

The other thing I decided to do while we were changing things up was start shifting from reading in the glider chair to reading on Alice's bed. We installed another lamp near her bed and put one over Wally's for matching sake. Someday they'll be reading in bed!

I moved the coffee table that used to hold these baskets back to my office and moved the coffee table that was in their room to the backyard. There were also baskets on the bottom shelf of that coffee table that held blocks and those ended up under Wally's bed. Which you can see in the photo above.

The most emotionally gut punching change for me was that after 6 faithful years the glider went to the home of our dear friends who are expecting their first baby. Wally's crib went there too. I think, first of all, that is so amazing that our babies will all have slept in the same crib and will be fed and rocked in this chair but also... I was so sad to part with that glider. It took me about a month from asking my friend if she wanted it to finally parting with it. 

I can't quite explain why it was so emotional to me. Probably because it's such a symbol of baby life. Probably because it held us at our worst and best. Probably all the memories of feeding and rocking and even sleeping in it. Probably it's such a symbol of love and quality time. Probably a lot of things. It was a good good chair. And it lives on.

The reason I even decided to part with it to begin with was just as simple as we should start reading books on Alice's bed now BUT then I got an idea after seeing a friend's setup and thought, hmm... we could make room for a desk. Since Alice will be attending school 100% remotely this fall (at least) it would be smart to have an area just for her. While the spring semester was the full on crazy FFHS setup I had done in the play room since we were trying to play school, now we want her to focus and take school seriously so we thought a dedicated area for her to work would be a good idea. It would give utility to their room (they only sleep in there) and as a bonus separate her from Wally while school is in session. Then the playroom can remain the playroom and serve as Wally's mini pre-school while his sister learns. We had already bought her a dedicated computer just for school as insurance when Matt mentioned that it would be good for her to have her own and not use our $3,000 laptops. He's smart my spouse. So here is the little area that will become Alice's learning corner. 

As you know, or as I have learned about myself, I am a visual processor. I need to do things physically to trick myself into switching gears. Getting ready for Alice to have her own little learning area and making it as cute as can be so she can enjoy it and take ownership of it really helps distract me from the sadness of losing the glider chair that symbolizes my child growing up and the fact that she can't attend school in person with the cuteness of her own little desk area and the dreams that someday that will be her little desk to sit at to call her BFFs, plan her social calendar, do her nails, color in a coloring book, and write in her journal. Maybe when she's older, frame this little number and obviously add some BSC books to the shelf.

The one thing I can't wait to be rid of is this being a changing pad. I look forward to this having books instead. Or really anything but the symbol of pee and poop in my face.

Babies growing up... 

We are blowing this popscicle stand and heading to the beach for a few nights. Pray for Wally to not get car sick, pray that we get a free upgrade, pray we don't get the Rona, and pray that Matt will let me extend the trip by a day.