The grand plan was to put our girls together in the same room. Visions of sisterly bonding, late night giggles, learning to share, blahblahblah filled my head for as long as I can remember. When we "met" MeiMei in March and realized the girls were 21 months apart I KNEW it was the perfect arrangement. I called it Operation Jie Mei Hwa (beautiful sisters)... ahhh... insert dreamy sigh here...
Fast forward to Thursday, September 24 (the night we returned from China)... WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING? Those visions of sisterly shenanigans have been replaced with family sleep deprivation. WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE--ANYONE--TELL ME THAT WAS THE DUMBEST IDEA I'VE EVER HAD???? One of the many things no one told me before we brought MeiMei home was that sleeping issues for adopted children can be BRUTAL. It's different than teaching my other babies to sleep. Everything has changed in MeiMei's world and apparently sleeping is extremely stressful. Trying to get an 18 month old to sleep in a brand new world feels impossible at times. Add to that a 3 year old light sleeper in the same room and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster. Bless LMs heart, she's been displaced from her nice comfy bed to the old futon in the bonus room ever since. Each attempt to get them to sleep together in the same room goes something like this...
MOMMY, Why is MeiMei screaming/yelling/laughing/kicking/looking at me? MeiMei, be quiet/still/stop staring and GO TO SLEEP! Mommy, help me! Mommy, make her ____________. Mommy, she's hurting my ears!
If I attempt to take a screaming/yelling/laughing/kicking/staring MeiMei out of the room, Little Miss thinks it's time to get up as well. "Why does SHE get to get up and I don't?" "Why do I have to take a nap and she doesn't?" "Is it time for breakfast yet?" Ugh... see what I mean?
After much thought I came up with a great solution (and believe me I've spent many 2 a.m.'s thinking about how to fix this problem over the past two months) . The Chief doubted my architectural design skills but I do believe I've hit this one out of the park. Oh ye husband of little faith. Meet the playroom...
I can't believe I'm sharing this photo for all the world to see. Technically it's the bonus room--the GINORMOUS bonus room. It's always a mess because it's huge and they never notice until it looks like a tornado went through. Initially this room was to be the "little girl suite" but the Chief hated the idea after we built the house and wanted the girls to share a bedroom. 
Moving is not an option. Teaching our 20 month old daughter how to sleep through the night without waking the other girls in the house is apparently not an option. Leaving Little Miss on the futon is not an option. Using the wasted space playroom more efficiently--now THAT is a GREAT idea! We have the space. Why not use it?
Today is Day 1 of Operation Little Miss. Can I tell you I've never been so excited about a wall in my life? That's right. A WALL. Over the next 10-13 business days, our playroom is going to become 40% playroom...
and 60% Little Miss' bedroom... 
Bring on the sawdust and the drywall and the paint fumes and the brick mason and the... Well, you get the idea. I may lose my mind between now and Christmas but when it's over we're all going to reap the rewards. Stay tuned...
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Let the Renovation BEGIN...
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6 comments:
What a fabulous room! I can't wait to see it in two!
Good luck with the renovation. Can't wait to see how it turns out!
Love the plan! Love it. Hopefully this will help MM sleep.
We have had the same nightly struggles with Li Li and Koen sharing a room - having to either rush Koen or Li Li out of the room when she starts crying..... We now put Koen down in our bed and move him into their room once she's asleep. He kind of likes it. I wish we had the option to use another room, but for now we are in a small 2 bedroom condo. We've already been looking at houses though! I look forward to hearing how the playroom/bedroom works out.
i know you are excited about your renovations:) however what we did when lil' rocker was born was keep him in his own room until he had sleep issues under control.
then we moved shasha in with the ringleader. she was 3 and he was 5. in our case it worked out awesome....those 2 have an incredible bond and love sharing giggles. they get dressed seperately but still share a room.
we are lucky that sparkles has no sleep issues. so she lives with lil' rocker. our plan is to move the girls to a room and a boys to a room maybe this summer.
i have an extra bedroom but i will NOT give up my playroom...i can't imagine:)
so you could always consider that....THIS is NOT forever...it's only temporary....so in another 6 months or a year you could have a girls room you always dreamed of.
i'm a HUGE advocate for kids sharing rooms...even though i had my own:)
Great idea!! I have my Hope and Caroline--21 months apart also sharing a room--and dear Lord I wish I had another option!! It makes for looooong nights sometimes! I too imagined the sisterly love----maybe in time!! LOL
good luck-can't wait to see how it turns out--decorating is my favorite thing!!!
Amy xoxoox
www.lotsokidz.blogspot.com
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