A few weeks ago, I mentioned the transformation our house and furnishings have seen in the months since the kids were born. And I have some more here.
The photo below is of the play area, pre-babies. Doesn’t it look all nice and orderly and welcoming like birds might be chirping and soft music playing in the background?
Yeah, well, then the kids come and you haven’t quite found the right place to keep the kids’ laundry basket. And the lion is there for walking practice. And the drawers are open because you were in the middle of restocking diapers and putting away pajamas. And that blue frame behind the tray table is there because you’re not quite sure where to put the pop-up Last Supper picture that once hung over the kitchenette at your late grandmother’s house.
What about the bookshelves? Tipping hazards. They’re now in the garage. And in its place we have a dresser that used to be in the nursery that we removed to make space for the extra chair that was extracted from the living room that has already been transformed. The topper is from Land Of Nod and securely attached.
We spent a good bit of time planning out the nursery, wanting it to be all neutral tones with the nice recliner/rocker and complimentary simplicity with Mateo on the right and Harper on the left. And it totally started out that way. And let me digress a moment here and say that this is one of the areas where veteran parents amazingly hold their tongues. It’s like they KNOW that the rooms prepared for baby will NEVER look like the pre-baby photos once the kid(s) come. But they let us be all happy and planny and picture perfecty, just to get it out of our systems.
Ultimately, the one rocker just wasn’t going to work what with, you know, twins. So we plucked a chair from the living room and put it in the nursery. Doesn’t match. Didn’t care. That’s what happens when the reality of the infant period gives your brain a wedgy and “coordinating colors”, “soft tones”, and “simple” are thrown out of your vocabulary. Particularly when you have months of projectile vomit from two babies and you’re having to cover and protect all those precious coordinating surfaces. I can tell you there were days where we’d feed the kids their night bottles, knowing they’d puke, and peel off one sheet from the floor and put it directly into the washing machine. The remaining sheet/blanket would be there for the night feeding pukies, at which time we’d put that sheet into the wash and the ones from the wash into the dryer. And so on and so forth.
There’s Mateo peeking over his crib – the one on the LEFT – because he was more prone to wake if the door over on the right was opened during the night. The awesome, custom adjust from the top or the bottom light-eliminating blinds? Yeah, those stay closed. Kids want the gorgeous morning light and birds chirping? We change them on the dresser/topper in the play area and hit the “rainforest” button on the sound machine. Natch.
By the way, the photos above were taken a couple weeks ago and the spaces have since changed. Again. Primarily as a result of birthday loot and nowhere to put stuff.
So this past weekend, I got a storage facility. We’re going to move 4 of our 8 dining chairs into it., along with a queen bed from the guest room, the barstools, the desk and some other furniture. Put the queen bed in the guest room into it. The guest room will become Mateo’s room and in it will be the dresser/topper (from the play area), a chair from the nursery, a mattress on the floor, a bookshelf secured to the wall with 1-2 books and 1-2 quiet toys, and a couple child-eye level prints on the wall.
The nursery will become Harper’s room with a bookshelf secured to the wall (one currently in the garage but previously in the play area), a mattress on the floor, the rocker/recliner, a couple toys and books, and a few child-eye level prints on the wall.
The play area will house the playkitchen that we just acquired, and we’ll probably move the little tikes activity table down there, too. We’re going to try to make the living room look a little less colorful, if you know what I mean.
I’ll keep everyone posted (with pictures!) as to how all that works out, and when. First things first, though, gotta get all the borrowed kids furniture and toys from the birthday party back to the rightful owner!
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May 4, 2009 at 10:58 am
Mommy, Esq.
Very interesting. Did the Lion work well for you? I’m about to reorder our playroom. I have an elliptical machine we spent gobs of money on that Husband won’t let me move into the relatively empty dining room so I have to work around that. You’ve inspired me to take before and after photos. I’m also impressed you don’t have a TV in their playroom. We have one but Husband uses it for Wii games. We also use the stero part for music. Once I stopped BFing we stopped using the chair in the nursery – we just sit on the floor with the kids – how do you use yours? I’m considering taking it out of the nursery for more space.
May 4, 2009 at 11:17 am
LauraC
I find it funny that you can read a big blog post and one thing will jump out at you. You’re transitioning the kids out of cribs! Good luck with that!
May 4, 2009 at 11:22 am
Erin
Love your blog (have been a lurker since before the twins were born)! Love the honesty, most of all. Makes us feel like we’re not alone in our thoughts and actions! Your analytical nature of making decisions is exactly how we go about things, though as time has gone on, I’ve noticed (on our end) the “research” not happening as often (usually we’re behind!)…it’s been an adventure, that’s for sure!
I was just wondering…not being a mother of twins (but instead just one 15-month boy!)…it sounds like eventually the kids will be in separate rooms? I don’t know any parents who have twins IRL, so I was just wondering how do you make the decision, to either keep them together or to each have their own rooms? I imagine it’s a personal decision, and that there are pros and cons, dependent on personalities, schedules, etc.
Thanks, and peace to your family!
May 4, 2009 at 11:56 am
RaJen
Mommy, Esq. – “interesting” is definitely an understatement
The best thing about the lion is the Off button on the sound. The second best thing is that it is lightweight for when they inevitably hit a wall in our incredibly shrinking house and need to turn it around on their own. Now, though, it is getting a bit too short for them but I imagine he’s got another few months of life at our house. The kids have had a combined maybe 4 total hours of television exposure in their lives. That’s not to say we won’t have one in the future. And good point on the chair. Now that they don’t get a bottle to bed at night, maybe we should remove it. Particularly since we did the CIO method and put them to sleep awake now.
Laura C – RIGHT??? That’s what my sister said: “good luck with that”! I’m all about fostering independence and given that, especially Mateo is growing out of his crib at an alarming rate, I figure now was as good a time as any to subject ourselves to this mayhem. I tend to function in relative parallel with Montessori, and floor beds is one of the tenants of fostering independence. And I am ALL about growing independent kids.
Erin – thanks for reading along, I really appreciate it! As for separate rooms, the main motivation is that they keep each other awake during nap times. Plus, given that we’re going to put them on floor beds, I’m not so sure about them being in the same room. I have a friend that has twin girls that started on a floor bed when they were around 18 mos and they snuggle in on a queen mattress. Watching my kids, however, I imagine we’d be looking at a a lot of hair pulling and eye gouging. We’re still not 100% sure about separating them right NOW, since if we move, it’s possible that we wouldn’t have an option to keep separated due to space. But for certain, they’re going on the floor by the end of the summer.
May 4, 2009 at 1:28 pm
tammom
ummm, just a note about your storage unit plans. Be very careful. We’re in TX, too (over near Medina) and although we have humidity like ya’ll do, we don’t have the “swamp” features that Houston has (you’re SO lucky!). If you can, put a de-humidifier in the storage unit, so all of your stored items aren’t ruined by mold. It’s happened to us – what a waste of money and special items we were saving but didn’t have space for! We also learned to use a LOT of Bounce sheets to store things. They are *the best* to keep bugs away, especially in this part of the world. Not much will keep a wasp / mud-dobber from building a nest, but those Bounce sheets will help keep other bugs from ruining your items. We put them in drawers, in zipped up mattresses, in clothing boxes, etc. LOVE when they come out smelling all nice (and not like moth balls)! Good luck!
May 4, 2009 at 1:29 pm
tammom
oh, and get the REALLY high-scented Bounce sheets – not the “free” ones. That’s perhaps a given, but figured I’d say it so you had no doubts .
May 4, 2009 at 2:46 pm
mamie
i love these posts. they keep it real. i was never a tidy and organizer woman pre twins, now i just ignore the scattering of toys and incessant tracking in of dirt, figuring it will someday get back to the right place.
hope the transition is a smooth one.
May 4, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Amy
I so love the “brain wedgie” and if you don’t mind and going to use it! Your post made my day!!
May 5, 2009 at 12:43 pm
LauraC
Had to come back and comment… wordpress ate half of my comment!
One teeny tiny suggestion: drawer locks on the dressers. While I’m all for independence, if you have a true climber, they can open the dresser drawers to climb up. If they don’t climb, they like to open the drawers and take everything out. Ask me how I know this.
And I do think there is a huge huge difference between transitioning two in one room at a time (which we did at 16 months and would never EVER recommend) and transitioning them in separate rooms. I think you’ll be fine!