The End of an Era

It is so exciting to watch the twins grow up and see all of the new things they do. But at the same time it is bittersweet. I am sad that they aren’t going to be my babies anymore; sad that they are trading their cribs for “big-kid beds;” pastels for bold and bright.
Nonetheless, the transition had to be made. We’ve been talking up the new room for weeks as we slowly put it together and Friday night we read Bye-bye, Crib by Alison McGhee and Ross MacDonald and officially moved them in.

It’s a bit cramped with two beds and nightstands in there. But when we were building our house, we weren’t exactly planning on having twins. Our basement bedrooms are larger than our upstairs bedrooms and we thought our oldest kid would be old enough to move downstairs before anyone ever had to share a room upstairs. Silly us! So why didn’t we get bunk beds you ask? Let me count the whys: they are three-fold. First, Brayden sometimes kicks his legs when he is trying to go to sleep. I didn’t think Makenzie would particularly enjoy sleeping underneath that ruckus. Second, if Makenzie was on top, I had visions of Brayden pulling her off by her pigtails because he wanted to sleep up there. And finally, I don’t think they will be sharing a room for more than a few years and I wanted to buy pieces could be separated and would last for years to come.

And so the shopping. . .errr, bargain hunting began. I coveted some beds from Pottery Barn Kids for a while, but just couldn’t justify spending $800 on each bed when I could get both beds and both nightstands for the same amount at a great little store called Bed Haven. I found the comforters on clearance at Target and pulled the color scheme together from there. I wanted the room to be whimsical and fun for toddlers, yet sophisticated enough to grow with them. Since we painted the room a cocoa color, I used the accessories to add other splashes of color.

Makenzie gave the ultimate approval on accessories. After I hung up the bulletin board, she was running down the hall and stopped dead in her tracks. “Mama, wooow!” she exclaimed. I was very excited to hear that. They both love the tree and frequently look at pictures, especially the ones I hung between the bed of the two of them together.

In retrospect, maybe I made the room a little too fun. The first night they played in there for two hours before they finally dozed off. I had to go in there numerous times and tell them to get back in their beds and go to sleep. And unfortunately, when Makenzie tried to do as I asked, Brayden pulled her out of bed by her PJ’s because he wanted a playmate. (Good call on the bunk beds, eh?!)

That wasn’t the only excitement for the night, however. Around 2 am I was awoken by a loud thud and the sound of Makenzie crying. Poor little girl had rolled out of bed. I was afraid that might happen so I put some pillows in between the two beds to cushion the fall. But I’m sure it was still a rude awakening. I ran in there, picked her up and was consoling her when I noticed that Brayden’s bed was empty. That’s when I had a small heart attack! Where was he? I looked around the room and couldn’t see him. Was he roaming the house somewhere? Did Andy put him back in his crib for some reason and I didn’t know? I put Makenzie back in bed and went to the nursery—no Brayden in the crib. I went back in their room and turned on the light to get a better view—still no Brayden. So I got down on my hands and knees and looked under his bed—no sign of him there either. But then I caught a glimpse of a little tuft of his blonde hair in between the pillows and Kenzie's bed. He had climbed out of bed, crawled under her bed and shimmied up against the wall and fell asleep. Apparently his fung shui was off or something and he wanted to sleep East/West like he did in his crib instead of North/South like his bed. I really don’t know what inspired him to do that. But he had the foresight to take his beloved black bear with him. I pulled him out from under there and put him back in bed. Amazingly, he didn’t wake up when I did that.

After that, I couldn’t sleep. The adrenalin was pumping through my body. Not that it mattered anyway, as there were a few more thuds during the night. Last night there was only one thud. Here’s to hoping that tonight is thud-free!