Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Sharing a Room...a last-ditch effort to save my sanity!

We did it...we made the switch...and now Johnathan and Eli share a room...and now Aaron and I have salvaged what we can of our sanity! Let me explain...

...When Johnathan was a baby we shared a room with him until he was about a year old. We just liked being close to him throughout the night, me especially since he nursed a year and beyond, and it was comforting to have him near to us. As far as he was concerned if we were out of sight we were out of mind, and it didn't bother him one bit to have us in there with him. Eli is a whole different story...

...We have been sharing our room with Eli since he was born, and really up until the last month or so it hasn't been that bad. Sure, we've had to tiptoe around a bit and haven't been able to turn on the lights to read in bed or whatever after he's asleep, but it hasn't been too bad. He slept fairly good once he was down and all of us were pretty content with our sleeping arrangement. However, now that our littlest dude is mobile and can crawl and pull up to sit and pulls up on his bed the whole room sharing with mommy and daddy had become a nightmare. Eli started waking up at night, for no apparent reason and would cry and cry because he knew we were in the room with him and were not getting him up. Where with Johnathan it was "out of sight, out of mind" with Eli it was out of sight, losing my mind and screaming my head off because I know Mom and Dad are in here but I can't see where! We tried "hiding" from him, but if he ever so much as heard us in the room he would throw a major tantrum...and boy, that kid can cry...he has a VERY good set of lungs.

Sunday morning after another night of very little sleep Aaron and I had had it. We went through all the possible places that we could move Eli's crib...the dining room...no, then we couldn't get to the kitchen after he was in bed at night...the sunroom...no, too sunny for naptime...the garage (not really, but we did mention it, haha!) no, too many other creatures might be sharing the same room...and then, the logical conclusion we came to (after we ruled out putting him in a tent in the backyard)...totally kidding, by the way...was to put him in Johnathan's room and then just hope that the arrangement worked out for both boys.

Oh, my. It has been great! Johnathan was so excited about having Eli stay in his room and thank goodness is able to sleep through the little tantrums that Eli throws every now and then. So far they have done wonderful in the same room...they even take naps together! We switched up our night time routine to accommodate our new sleeping situation and it has worked out really well. I am so excited! I have my room back...and my sanity is now at least stable, ha! ;)

In making the switch I took everything out of Johnathan's room that could be a potential hazard to Eli's safety...Johnathan loves to "share", but some things are a little dangerous coming up over the edge of the crib and falling inside. So I put all of his books and hard toys out in the living room, and only the softer toys and balls are in there now. And it's a good thing I did that too...yesterday while Eli was having a little trouble falling asleep during the boys' afternoon nap I found Johnathan throwing everything he could into the crib...but, since it was just nerf balls and a whole heap of diapers Eli didn't get hurt! ;)

All in all we are extremely happy with the switch. I am having fun putting our room back together and making it more just for me and Aaron and taking out the baby paraphernalia that had started to overtake it. Don't get me wrong...I love having a house that says we have two sweet boys living in it...but it's nice to have a space that is more grown up too! ;)

Here are some pics of my two precious boys...they really are getting to be good little buddies!


Because I just can't ever get enough of Johnathan's eyelashes...
Bright eyes!
And he has some pretty lashes too...just not as dramatic as Monkey's.
Enjoying his Fun Dip from his teacher at school for Valentine's Day.
He enjoyed eating his "sugars!"
And again, with the lashes...*melt*!
My sweet boy!
Precious face.
Someone told me recently that Aaron and I make the best looking kids...and seriously, as humble as I'd like to be about it, look at this face...I have to agree! ;)
Sweet little snacker!
My precious baby.
Eli is so expressive with his eye-brows..it cracks me up!
I can't get over this face...adorable!
Happy boy!
I would kill to have a complexion like Johnathan's...he has the most beautiful skin!
See his two little teeth?!

Happy Tuesday!

*Grace*

2 comments:

Mom said...

Yea!!! The roommate solution worked!!!! I'm so happy for you all. That is definitely a victory!!

Hope you all are feeling better, too.

Love,

Momma

Gail said...

Yay! Thats nice you have your room (and sanity) back! Enjoy it! Also, I can't get over Johnathan's eyelashes either....so gorgeous...and Eli has the prettiest, big brown eyes. I agree...you all can sure produce some beautiful kids!

Love you MUCH!

Gail