Space Wars

[judecorp]

I woke up far too early because somehow some water/vapor got into the fan blades of our air conditioner and it froze, making this awful, awful rattling sound that was ridiculously loud (yet Jen slept through it, of course; her capacity for sleep amazes me). This was somewhere around 5am and I shut off the A/C yet could not get back to sleep. I was hungry, and then my head was spinning in too many different directions about where to put this baby when he arrives.

Easiest option (one that would cause the least upset to the set-up of my house) is to put both kids together - to somehow cram the crib and a second dresser into Punk's room and call it a day, thereby preserving the guest room. Punk's room is the darkest room in the house by location, and also has room darkening curtains and is therefore "the cave," which makes for good kid-sleeping. The guest room, in contrast, is on the other side of the house, gets tons of sun, and I don't think even the curtains would make that kind of difference.

Problem with this option is that in order to try to cram crib/dresser into Punk's room, a lot of other things need to come out, like her bookshelf, and her toy box, and some of her big toys (tool bench, dollhouse). Since we have a bit of a space issue, the only place these toys/things could go would be the guest room - to make it a sort of combination guest room/play room.

That sounds great in theory, except to do THAT, all of the guest room furniture needs to come out (right now there are a few random pieces of mismatched storage furniture in there) and go into the basement, which does not have standing water but can get damp - and i don't want the furniture damaged. (Some is my father's.) And also, the guest bed - which is a queen - would obviously need to come out and be replaced with either a day bed with pop-up trundle or a sleeper sofa. Both of these options would cost a significant amount of money.

And then there's my fear about the kids sharing a room and waking each other up. Punk was never a good sleeper, is still not a GREAT sleeper at age 3, and as a baby she woke up. A lot. Like, a lot. And I worry about putting a baby in there with her while she is chattering herself to sleep, and I worry about a baby waking up in the night to eat and waking HER up. I know that most kids eventually learn to sleep through the noise but there is no guarantee that my crap-sleep kids will be "most kids." I am tired just thinking about it.

And of course I have this desire to set up a space for this baby so he's not some sort of afterthought. To give him his own space with his own stuff, to have his own furniture and his own toys and his own place to play. To be able to imagine and identify and create a space especially for him like we did with Punk, rather than to stuff him in an already existing room/scheme. But then we won't have a guest room. Which means we won't have any guests.

Our sectional is technically the size of two twin beds but I somehow doubt that anyone would want to sleep in them. We have a queen-sized air bed thingie but nowhere to set it up if we don't have an extra room. And we have no local family, so everyone comes from out of town and I doubt anyone wants to pay to shack up in a hotel to hang out with us.

It's all so complicated, and now I can't sleep. Phooey.

Comments

[cappucinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Does your couch pull out into a sofa? I mean, one guest alone just needs a couch, not a room. If you have a pull out couch, that's all two guests need.

Anyway, what if Baby takes the guest room and when you have a guest, Baby doubles up with you or with Punk?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Is the guest going to sleep in the crib? :)

Our couch does not pull out. It's an L-shaped sectional. And we only got it like a year ago, so I don't want to toss it.

[cappucinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Crib goes into other room (yours or Punk's), air mattress goes up!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Can't move the crib out of the room without taking it apart! (aka PITA) It's wider than the door/hall.

Bummer.

[kaleidoscopeeye.livejournal.com]

I would be torn. Will the baby sleep in the room with you two for the first few months? You could always gauge what you think would work best based on the baby's temperament once he comes.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yes, the baby will probably be in our room for a while, although I imagine we might want to try some naps in the crib to get him used to that. Who knows, we could have a kid that will only sleep in the swing or something. You never know.

I really just want the whole thing figured out (even if it's not finished) before I go into labor, because a) I'm anxious and b) I know things will be crazy after.

[kaleidoscopeeye.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I am really type A and like to be all planned out and prepared ahead of time. I like the idea of going with the flow in practice, but in reality I have a hard time doing it. Works for a lot of folks, though :)

I think I would be tempted to lose the guest room, honestly. But that is definitely your call.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I don't need a whole guest room but I definitely need a guest space. My brother (and SIL) visit up to 4 times a year and if they stopped staying with us I would be super duper sad!!!

[kaleidoscopeeye.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get that. We kept a guest room in our old house that was smaller. Our kids were together, but the logistics of that were different. I am sure you can make it work putting the kids together, but I am not sure how hard the transition will be. I guess time will tell?

[tea-soaked.livejournal.com]

Part of the reason Esmee is sleeping in our room is because I don't want her waking Carys by sleeping in the bedroom next to her. Because Carys is a light sleeper. Esmee, so far, knock on wood and I know these are still the early days, can sleep through anything - and in fact sleeps during the day the best when Carys is the background noise (I think, being head up for the entire pregnancy, she could hear her and got used to her). Anyway, no advice for you - I just know this is one of those tricky issues with 2 kids.

And I hope you sleep tonight.

[afullmoon.livejournal.com]

We still have the 5 month old in our room as not sure where to put him. Lexi has moved back in with us as well as she is a crappy sleeper wakes still twice a night, had her tonsils out two weeks ago, and she felt a bit left out that the baby slept in our room. She still wakes up the baby is great and sleeps through everything and only wakes once but me I am about to move into the guest room as I can't sleep and going crazy.
Could you put both kids sleeping together and their toys in one room, then both dressers in the guest room?

[yip95.livejournal.com]

Why do you feel like putting their beds and toys together makes him seem like an "afterthought"? He's a second child - he doesn't need or require the same treatment as the first. when you have more than 1 kid, they are going to be playing together most of the time. he won't want his own space until he's a lot older - he'll want to follow Punk around all the time! If you're thinking that Punk will want to get away from him sometimes and have a space to play where she can use choking hazards and whatnot without him grabbing everything and knocking her shit down, that's reasonable, but maybe you could just set up some of her older kid toys in the guest room for her and you wouldn't have to get rid of the guest bed?

I'd probably start out assuming they're sharing a room, but put the crib in with you and assume that's staying there for a while. you know I understand about the sleep...I would assume the baby will wake Punk up, at least sometimes, and I'd be paranoid enough about that to want to keep the baby in with me for a good long time. of course, our 3.5 year old is still in our room with us, so ymmv. ;)

and what about the idea of putting the baby's dresser/changing table elsewhere? like in your room, or the guest room, or somewhere else, but still assuming the crib/bed will be in with Punk? Then you don't have to worry about waking Punk even more by rustling around the room for new clothes when the baby's peed/puked all over something in the middle of the night, etc. I don't know your house set-up, so it's hard to suggest something more helpful.

Really, you will have the chance to put together a space just for him when he's old enough to have some say it in. At this point, whatever you did for him would be less about him and more about your dream of who he is/will be. What you're giving him is a great big sister and a house all set up with toys for him to grow into. :)

[vorpalbla.livejournal.com]

I would visit your around T-giving, even without a guest bed. Deluxe lodging is available in Amherst at no charge.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

YAY!

We will be around. Hopefully with two kids.