Pack your bags...your movin'!

Don't panic. Just my way of telling the children that room arrangements were a changin'. Yep, a change was in the air! Don't, I repeat, don't cross a pregnant woman with a plan that involves moving furniture.

(Or, is that just me? I move more furniture, rearrange more furniture/rooms and do more painting when I am pregnant that any other time. It's almost like an obsession. But not. You know, I'm totally okay with this. If I didn't do these things when I was pregnant ~ which has been roughly 133 months of my life so far ~ I would never get them done. I seem to be more productive while pregnant, in spite of the fatigue and nausea, than when I am not pregnant. Course, when I am not pregnant that means I am breastfeeding... I won't inflict on you how many months that has been.)

Because our second oldest is spending more, most, a lot of time in CA, it didn't seem like a wise use of our bedroom space to keep "holding" a bed/bunk and closet space for him. He is gone 3,4,5, even 6 months at a time. This also has had an effect on our third oldest, thinking he "deserves/needs" his own room. Ha. Ha haha ha! Bwhahaha!

Sorry, that got away from me there. **wipes tears from eyes**

Okay, where was I? Oh yes, moving orders. In our house we have 5 bedrooms upstairs. There are 10 children and two parents and one "floater" (the one who bobs back and forth between home and CA) to live in this space. The master bedroom is just for the King and Queen. We use our massive, large, quite handy walk in closet for our nursery and for our hanging clothes. Okay, what is left of my craft items are in there too. Our youngest has been living "in the closet" for 2.5 years now and it was time for her to move on OUT. Where to put her though? How to arrange the rooms to accommodate this change?

Here is a description of "the way things were":

Bedroom 1: Oldest boys, ages 19 and 21 on a bunk, with a small desk, bookshelf, bass and an amp. This is the second smallest bedroom.

Bedroom 2: Youngest boys, ages 8 and 11 on a bunk with a chest of drawers, drawers under their bed, a table and closet full of toys and games. This is the smallest bedroom in the house and has one of those funky angled walls on the door wall that you can't do anything with.

Bedroom 3: Middle boys, ages 13 and 16 on a bunk with a chest of drawers, drawers under their bed, a bookcase and a drum set. This is the second largest bedroom.

Bedroom 4: Girls room, ages 4,6,8 and 10. Two bunkbeds, one is our junior bunkbed, one standard size bunkbed and a dresser. Also in the room are all the girls toys: a wooden table, 3 chairs, play kitchen, play washer and dryer, large box/chest of dress up clothes, various baby dolls, cradles, and two doll highchairs. In the closet are more toys. This is the largest of the children's bedrooms (in another version of this house model this is a second family room, but in our model it is a bedroom with a closet and door into the room).

Bedroom 5: Master bedroom with nursery in the "closet".

PLAN: to move 2 year old out of the closet/nursery and into a bedroom.

SOLUTION: After much thought and possible scenarios, here are the new arrangements:

Bedroom 1: 21 year old's stuff moved out and into boxes in the garage. 19 year old stays. 16 year old moves in with his drum set.

Bedroom 2: In the boldest decision that was made, I have made this into a playroom/guest room. Which means all the play kitchen, doll and sundry other toys from the girls room have been moved into this room. The games, blocks and duplo's stayed in there from the previous occupants. There is enough space to move the toys aside and put a queen size blow up mattress on the floor for #2 son to sleep on when he is home/visiting or for when any other guests come to stay, but the rest of the time, 90% of the year, it is just a playroom. Woo hoo!

Bedroom 3: 8 and 11 year old sons move into this room with 13 year old son (much to his consternation) on a bunk and a single bed. We take out the bookcase and now have drawers under both the bunkbed and the single bed for storage/Lego space. I should note that the bookcase that was in this room was only being used to house completed Lego constructions and dust. Ahem. Sorry, I'm mean. No more "just to look" at Lego's. Build it, play with it, take it apart and MOVE ON.

(side note: I don't really hate Lego's, they are a huge thing in our house and I love the creative play they encourage in ALL ages, including my husband, but my primary concern is real estate people! Room for beds and sleeping comes before having a museum of creations on display.)

Bedroom 4: After moving all the junk play things out of the room, there was now room to move a toddler bed (crib mattress size) and a small chest of drawers into the room so that the two year old could be moved in the Girls Room. **Hallelujah chorus plays in background**

Bedroom 5: King and Queen enjoy a brief respite, until November, of having their room completely to themselves. BLISS!

So far the plan has worked out well. There is still an extra bookcase to be moved downstairs, to the garage, SOMEWHERE. There was actually more things taken out of rooms then put in that was new (like the toddler bed). A lot of empty storage bins/boxes got moved to the garage (sorry honey!).

I do hope to post pictures after I get things totally arranged and #2 goes back to CA at the end of this month. Aw, I might take one of the mess it is with the queen blow up bed and extra bookcase lying on its side just to keep it real. LOL. Two of the bedrooms that had never been painted (this was a new home with white on white on white decor when we moved in 2.5 years ago) have been painted in the last week. Also the kids/hall bathroom was painted (thanks #2!). And, ta da, we have patches of paint color in the master bathroom and upstairs hallway as I decide if I like those colors or not. Painting to be completed soon!

**********************************************************************************
As a "wee" side note, I have the privilege of caring for my 7 week old nephew while my sister works for 4 weeks (well, three more weeks now). This has been an interesting time for the younger children...seems it has been too long since we last had a baby in the house and they have forgotten the little noises, that crying is okay (not a lot of crying mind you, just the waking up and letting us know he is awake type and an occasional "I have a burp" variety) and that a 7 week old doesn't make a good playmate. LOL. It has also been a good refresher course for me. I'll be good and ready for our November blessing!

All that to say that I do hope and intend to post more often, but real life is my priority and having a newborn in the house, with a tired, pregnant, older momma to care for him and the other 10-11 children in the house (not that I am complaining ~ I love this life God has given me!), leaves me wanting a nap more than I want to get a post written up. I know you all understand.

There is joy in the journey ladies!