Clik here to view.
A real-life moment in the baby's new room—the extra blankets are rolling-over padding.
Recently, we did some room rearranging. Since she was born in May, Linden has slept in with us in our room in her crib. It made sense to have her close by for night time feedings and since our room takes up the entire upstairs of our house (she had her very own baby nook!), it didn’t make sense to have her all the way downstairs.
Until recently.
At around the 3 1/2-4 month mark, L started waking up at a lot at night. And while much of the time she wasn’t hungry or in need of a diaper change, she was pretty noisy, as babies tend to be. We were trying to teach her to self-soothe her way back to sleep, but doing it with us in the room meant that we were all awake. We didn’t stand a chance. And let me tell you, waking up 8 times a night after your baby had been getting up once, if at all, for over a month, is tough. We were all tired.
So we made a plan to rearrange the rooms downstairs so that we could each have the space that we needed. My husband moved his home office to the basement (despite it being unfinished and somewhat chilly in the winter; he’s a good egg) and we moved the guest room and my office into the front bedroom. L now has the back bedroom, which was already painted a baby-friendly robins egg blue.
I found a bright and cheerful rug from the Land of Nod—which, for the record, has the BEST customer service—to anchor the room and to provide a soft play area (L has taken to rolling over with gusto). And I used an assortment of things that I already had in the house for the rest of the decor to keep the budget in check—some of the scalloped streamers from our wedding potluck hang from the light, a patchwork quilt I made right after I found out I was pregnant is draped over the nursing chair, a quilted wall hanging I made a few years ago from vintage quilt blocks is above the crib (which L seems to enjoy looking at), and I hung a few prints (like this one) I’d bought for myself over the years that I thought she’d like.
Combined with two low bookcases from Ikea, we have ourselves a new room suit for our growing little girl. It’s taking some getting used to, this having her in her own room business, because it happened sooner than I originally thought that it would. Not to mention that it’s a long way for me to trek during the night (though I did invest in a super addictive video monitor so I can keep tabs!). And I admit that I’ve had a lot of “my baby is growing up so fast!” cliches running around in my head lately…it’s pretty amazing how much babies develop between 4 and 5 months. She can grab things! She can roll herself clear across the room! She can scoot!
But despite how big of a change it was, it already feels normal and the sleeping situation has improved. So as hesitant as we all were about the change (my husband and I are devoted creatures of habit), it was definitely time.
I think that’s often true about change, yes?
