Constructive Summer

Matthew is finally done with school and now we can get this summer started. And by "started" I mean let's break out the Sheetrock! Last year we did no summer projects on purpose. This year, not so lucky.  We have a list of what that stretches into infinity and beyond. (I was going to christen this summer "The Summer of Noggin" but I think it might turn out to be "The Summer of Toy Story 2.") The fraction that will actually be accomplished is probably about 0.001%. And that would be a good number. This is when I wish we could just hire a crew, give them some plans, a sack of dough and then fuck off to the Cape for a couple months. .... Sorry, still reveling in that fantasy. Just give me one more second... Okay. I'm back. Dammit.

So anyway, yes, the List. We decided the most important thing on it is to get the kids into the same room. And because this requires a little demolition it's obviously the one Matthew wants to do first. (The man teaches ninth graders. He has some tension to release.) Right now Willa sleeps in a dormer room that is off our bedroom. (Saying it's a room is generous, it's basically a closet with a window.)  This little nook was created by the previous owners who walled off the dormer from another bedroom (Lowell's) and opened up a new door from our bedroom. We plan on tearing down the false wall, boarding up the door and returning the bedrooms to their original state. (Why am I using all these words? What is this, the 19th century? Pictures here if you prefer visuals.) This will make Lowell's bedroom bigger and we'll basically just keep Willa's crib where it is now and voila! They share a room. On the one hand I know getting Willa into another room and out of ours is a good thing. There is just a curtain separating us from her which was lovely when she was a baby (and not in bed with us which wasn't often.) But these days it is starting to feel a little flimsy. We want our room back so we can stop worrying about making noise or keeping the light on (walka-chicka wahh). We both feel like it's a good time to do this since we'll have time to adjust before we do any travel. And yet. And yet. I am having trouble. I don't want to say goodbye to the baby stage and this feels like we're taking a sledgehammer to the five minutes of babyhood she has left. (Okay, a sawzall, it really is a flimsy little wall.) I keep coming up with things to procrastinate the task but Matthew's not buying it. It starts tomorrow unless I chain myself to the wall. Which I won't do. But I will be sorely tempted. Goodbye, little nursery. I will miss you so.

Comments

[Genie]

Since we're expecting our first in October and our plan is to keep him in the back alcove of our master bedroom at first, I totally see where you're coming from. Both my brother and I shared a 10x10 bedroom with my parents until each of us was 3 years old. I amazes me that my parents did that but you do what you have to with limited space.

We're not ready to put a newborn in our other upstairs bedroom which is kinda large and our current guest room. And we're not ready to split that room into two anytime soon. But I see that happening in a year or two (or 3-4 if we end up like my parents). :)

[Kara]

Oh. I am sad too.

[maggie may]

We are going for a garage overhaul. Bleck

[supa]

Ohhh. That is bittersweet.

But it is nice having the menfolk home for the summer. And just think of ... uh, the long conversations you'll be able to have with the lamp on when all is done. And kids sharing a room is killer cute.

Still. Bittersweet.

[E.]

We're about to move Roo into O's room, too. Her crib is in our room, a foot from our bed, and we're ready to have our room back. I was a little nervous about how it would work having them in the same room, but we're at my in-laws for our annual extended visit, and Roo's mini-crib is in the room where O. sleeps, and it's been going really well! She still wakes up at 2 or 3 or 4 AM and comes into bed with us, but at least we have our room to ourselves in the evening hours (even more important when staying with family), and we get a few hours just the two of us every night (cue the slinky funk jam you so onomatopoeically invoked above).

I'll be interested to hear how things go with the sister-brother room sharing thing with you guys as Willa and Lowell get older. I'm sort of hoping we can have O. and Roo sharing a room for at least a few years, because the kids each having their own room will mean either buying a new house or (shudder) building an addition.