Sharing a Room

Recently I posted about how we are putting Levi and Aria in the same room. He is three and she is almost fourteen months.

Well, there has been a slight hiccup in the plans, but we are hoping it will smooth out soon.

There were several reasons for doing this.

One was the fact that we felt it would be good for their relationship as brother and sister. It would be a bonding of sorts that would say, we are in this together, this would teach them to share space. Aria loved waking up with Levi. Usually in the mornings we would hear a little cry from her. Then it was as though you could tell when she looked around the room and saw Levi because she would just start to squeal. He also likes being the big brother and having a little sister who looks up to him.

Two is the fact that I don't have space to do my artwork. Since we have started eating all of our meals in the dining room and that's my only space to do art, I just haven't done. Period. We feel like it would be a healthy outlet for creativity. Sometimes as a mom it feels like the only thing you do is wipe bottoms and wash ... well, everything.

Three, we also wanted to have a guest room. We were very excited when a friend used it the other night and we just got to minister to them in that way.

In general it also just cleared up space in our house. I now have a place to put my keyboard, guitar, sewing machine and art supplies. They are no longer piled in a corner of our room.

Logistically, we couldn't put the down at the same time because they would spend the whole time laughing and keeping each other up. We stole from Ben's awesome *sister the idea of putting the younger one down first and then letting the older one come in quietly after the younger was asleep. We were really excited about the fact that Levi seemed to stay in his bed better (didn't get up to ask for a drink or go potty or for us to pray for him) than when he had his own room.

Everything went great... for about a week.

For that week we had kept my nursing chair in the room so that if Aria woke in the middle of the night and I had to settle her down I would have a place to sit. Yes, I nurse her in the middle of the night if nothing else works. Yes, she's almost 14 months. No, she doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night. She weighed 23 pounds at her 12 month appointment.

She was sleeping through the night but would occasionally wake. I would go in and nurse her. Levi stayed asleep through her crying. This surprised me that he could sleep that deeply, even with her loud cries in the middle of the night... and she's not a gentle cryer.

I decided I didn't want this big nursing chair in the room any more and so we moved it.

Then she really started waking. After several nights she was waking Levi up. It wasn't like she would wake, cry for a little bit and then roll over and go back to sleep. Oh no, she would dead out scream for 30 minutes, maybe more. One night I was so tired that Ben heard both of them screaming and crying, brought Aria into bed for me to nurse her, I remember being half awake and then later realizing she had been nursing. I'm not sure how long she was in our bed... maybe 20 minutes maybe 2 hours...

The next morning I told Ben that Aria needed to figure out her nights first. We would temporarily put Levi back in his own room and let her cry out her nights until she can figure out that we are not coming to get her. So far it's been about a week and a half. Right now she's just waking up super early 4, 5 and 6 and wanting to nurse. It's ridiculous. I'm trying to give her a sippy cup but it just makes her angrier. This morning at 5 I laid with her in Levi's old bed.

I've decided to try the chiropractor since she's had a few bad falls and has just learned to walk. I'm sure her little body could use some adjusting.

Also, I'm hoping Daylight Savings Time will help with the early waking.

Another thing is that we might be in the process of dropping her morning nap (which would be totally awesome in my opinion).

She also might be teething...

And sometimes has a bad diaper rash....

So all in all, we are still excited about getting them in the same room and figuring out this whole process. It has been two steps forward and one step back, but we are still hopeful.

Lord, thank you for children, thank You for providing this beautiful house. Thank You that we can always be humble and content in You. Please guide us as we parent these two little ones. Help them to be the best of friends, to love each other and help each other. Help us to figure out what's going on with Aria and how we need to handle this. Thank You for your grace and Your mercy. You are good.

*Oh yes, if you want a link to Ben's awesome sister's blog, here it is She has five little ones ages 6 and under. She also has a ton of wisdom. :)