The Daily Hailey

This morning, Brady and I decided to choose one of our bigger tasks, and complete it. We had two specific ones we were to choose from.

1. Assembling the new loft bed we picked up for an unreal price yesterday.

2. Cutting down our Christmas tree from the backyard and decorating it.

Straight up, choice number two sounded waaay easier. We made the plan to let it dry off a bit outside, and then bring it in when the kids were napping. We’d decorate it after supper. So while the kids napped, we went outside to check it out and knock the snow off of it, to give it a chance to dry. Its definitely not a very full tree, but it’ll work.

Afterwards, we decided to draw out the kids room and see how we could fit everything in. Turns out, that is a LOT of furniture in a not so spacious room. However, drawing it all out and planning it down to thin inch made us really, really excited about putting it together. So we nixed the Christmas tree for today and decided to tackle the kids room. They weren’t napping well anyway, so we knew they’d be up and out of their room sooner than usual, giving us more time.

Before:
(Ok, we thought of the “before” picture a little late, so some things are already moved around and extra messy. No judging.)

So we did! We got the kids up and immediately started pulling a few things out. Yes, we actually had to remove things in order to build the new bed frame. Out came the dresser and the change table, as well as the bookshelf that will be permanently relocated. In came a hand broom, a swiffer, a cloth, and the first few pieces of the stairs. Yup, I said stairs. We moved pretty much everything left in the room to one wall and cleaned as we went. Turns out a lot of nastiness happens behind cribs.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t do any of the work 🙁 It was all pretty much enormously heavy and huge. So I entertained the kids, but they actually were really good at entertaining themselves! They went from their room to the living room and in between. I periodically checked on them when they were in the living room but for the most part, I was the designated giver of instruction and moral support. It was fun. And when the kids would visit, I would make they mostly stayed out of the way. But sometimes them being up close and personal was super adorable.

Once the stairs were assembled, Dekker asked for supper. Our table wasn’t exactly anyone-friendly so Brady quickly cleared it while I made some quick decisions about supper.

Ham and cheese, baby. I have to say, we never have sandwiches for supper, except for the occasional grilled cheese and soup. But this was possibly our most appreciated supper to date! Dekker had 1.5 sandwiches, and Laela ate a good chunk of one too. Then everyone had some extra cheese, because who doesn’t love that? Then the kids split an orange and drank lots of milk. Afterwards, Dekker asked for a treat. We’re working down on his Halloween candy really slowly, and if he finished his food, he gets a treat. Sometimes, however, if he’s suuuper whiny over supper, he doesn’t get a treat, which he finds particularly devastating. But today, he EARNED that treat! So he got his first gummy candies and demolished them. True love. He enjoyed them well, and then very eagerly thanked me and asked to be excused before racing from the table to check on the progress.

We worked the rest of the evening away. And fit in everything. As in the new bed, TWO cribs, plus a dresser, change table, wardrobe, plus things like the diaper genie, laundry hamper, etc. Why two cribs, you ask? Because we figure it’ll take Dekker a little bit of time before he wants to sleep so high up, and also because eventually, we’ll have to rock three kids in that room! So we may as well set it up properly!

So we had to take pictures from different angles since, as you can see, this doesn’t leave a ton of wiggle room. Having the crib underneath the bed is the lifesaver we’ve been looking for!! We think it looks completely awesome! And luckily, so did Dekker. It took a little bit of prompting to get him up there, but he didn’t seem fearful or anything. Just a bit cautious, like he is about life in general. Once he got up there, he was thrilled. He wouldn’t stop going up and down the stairs, and couldn’t wait to sleep up there. We were completely happy to oblige, and helped him up and, tucked him in, and got him all comfy.

We expected that he would have a hard time getting to sleep for his first night, but we didn’t even expect that he would be comfortable to sleep there right away. Both were true, as Brady went in to tuck him back in at one point, and when he assured Dekker that he could sleep in either bed, Dekker chose his familiar bed. I don’t expect it will take too much time for him to be comfortable in the new bed at all though, as from his old bed, he is currently jabbering like crazy about the new one. He loves it! But his whole room is new. Even Laela took longer than normal to fall asleep. I’m sure he’ll settle in very, very soon.

Now that its all over, Brady and I are tired and hungry. He’s being so gracious and getting us some supper while I blog from our bed. We have earned this delicious food and our soak tonight, thats for sure!

Christmas tree tomorrow!!