And here I thought last week was a doozy.
But, apparently, this one gave it a run for its money. And NOT in the good kind of way.
The highlight (lowlight?) is that our upstairs A/C went out a couple days ago (mind you, we replaced the downstairs unit last year, and the pain of that is still VERY fresh).
Anywho. Aside from the whole financial and logistical angst of that (we’ll circle back around to it)… while we were waiting on the technician to diagnose what we already suspected, the kiddos had to bunk in the master with us, and the situation actually reminded me of something major I haven’t posted:
My gaggle of sleepover-loving babies is now minus one Chica. :) She’s officially a lone tween wolf, sleeping happily in her lovely bedroom.
But for all this to have any context, I need to rewind and give a little background:
So…two years ago, we lived through the burst pipe/house flooding/water disaster and restoration (I can’t even) in the middle of the pandemic, no less. And, of course, all that hoopla meant we had to get really creative with sleeping arrangements.
Because the downstairs was entirely destroyed and unlivable for months, the hubby—who was still working from home, like so many people—had to take over Chica’s bedroom as an office:
Then we had to take over Little Man’s room as the master/living room:
Which left Chicklet’s room as the kiddo bedroom—meaning all three bunked together, all snug as a bug. (Sorry; no picture for that one.)
The long and short is that the kiddos spent several months all together, and though I worried in the beginning that it would be a disaster, it was seamless.
So seamless, in fact, that after the house was restored and their rooms were available to them again, none of them wanted to split up!
That summer, I actually wrote a whole post about it:
Basically, since that time, my kiddos have happily, playfully and willingly WANTED to be together for sleepovers, and we’ve just continued to allow it. Because, a) it’s stinking adorable, b) they won’t want to do this forever, and c) who the heck cares???
Welp.
I’ll actually tell you who the heck cares. A lot of people, actually!
Many times, when people would find out my kiddos “roomed” together for bedtime, there was a decent bit of judgment and/or disbelief, and definitely a sense of: well, how long are you going to let this continue??
I’d often have conversations with the hubby and wonder if we were crazy for not really being concerned about it. But we always held fast in the belief that it wasn’t a big deal, it was pretty darn sweet, and the time for it would eventually pass.
Much like a handful of other parental phases when I willfully ignored dissenting options (hello, holding babies for naps, not caring about pacifier use, staying completely relaxed about potty training, to name a few majors), I’m REALLY glad I decided to go with my gut, follow Elsa’s lead and just LET IT GO.
Because, sure enough, all in its own time, the transition for Chica eventually happened. :)
We’d been talking for a few weeks about her new morning schedule heading into middle school, and the fact that she would have a later wake-up time. And lo and behold, the night or two before the start of the school year, she was like: hey, do you think I should sleep alone in my room? And I was like: go for it; it makes a lot of sense.
We got her settled that night, Chicklet and Little Man didn’t bat an eye over her branching off (but steadfastly demanding to continue bunking in the same room as one another for bedtime), and it was an easy breezy NON issue.
And that was six weeks ago. :)
Of course, Chica spent a decent portion of the past two years sleeping in her room, anyway, because the kiddos would take turns “hosting” the siblings in their bedroom. So it’s not like this was anything unusual.
I’ve always loved Chica’s room. It’s the smallest in the house, and a complicated layout with the giant wall of arched windows, but it’s so cozy and has the best tree out the windows and wonderful light—and shade!—at various times of the day. A happy environment, for sure.
As part of the lead-up to middle school, and during that week when the twins/not-twins were in summer camp together, Chica and I spent some time refreshing her shelves.
My girl is NOT one for change, but she was happy to upgrade her picture frames and start hanging the first two (of four, of course) Hogwarts house LEGO pendants—along with some fun photos of her and her friends. I think the refresh looks very Chica and very tween.
In all, I really can’t emphasize how easy and breezy this sleeping transition was. And it’s provided for a great pocket of time for one-on-one conversations with my eldest just before bedtime; lots of little parental check-ins as she handles alllllllll the newness of middle school.
And just look how happy she is, tehe (in her new orchestra shirt):
Again, my whole point to this rambling post is this: there are a gazillion things to worry about on any given day as a parent, but this sleeping situation definitely wasn’t one of them.
So, yay, for the Mama gut leading the way.
And, HOLY FREAKING, YAY, for Friday!!!
Happy (Little Man’s birthday) Weekend, peeps!
Over and out.
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