I’ve said this before on the blog, but I am one that lives my life based on the beginning and ending of the school year. I work in higher education and now I have children so this will be even more so in the coming years.
I would rather make new year’s resolutions starting with the first week of the Fall semester than in January. I know, it’s rather odd, but nothing makes me happier than to see school supplies on sale and the anticipation of fall clothes coming out of the closet. I like that the fun and often directionless summer is over and we all know that routine will reign again in our households.
I am also a lover of routine so it all fits nicely hand in hand.
That being said, this is one of my favorite weeks of the year….school is back in session. The Murphy schedule doesn’t change too much except that my schedule at work is inevitably much busier through the end of September and Bree will start her gymnastics class next week. But regardless, it all just feels like things are returning to their rightful places such as school zones being turned on and school buses out in force.
And this fall is especially important as we are getting that much closer to getting to meet Mr. Bennett! Come on November!
Speaking of the baby that will join us in a little over 10 weeks, things in the Murphy household have to adjust a little before he can arrive. As I mentioned before on the blog, Sean and I bought bunk-beds and created a beach-themed unisex room for Bree and Bauer to share in preparation for Baby Bennett to join our family. Bauer has wanted nothing to do with this new sleeping arrangement and has happily camped out in his crib since the bunk-beds arrived back in May. We kept saying we would just give him time…he would move when he was ready. But here we are about 10 weeks out and he was still giving us no indication that he has had a change of heart.
On the way back from the lake this past Sunday, Sean and I concocted a whole plan to get the transition to happen sooner rather than later. It involved some middle of the night moving from crib to big boy bunk, a thought to take down his crib and hide it until Bennett arrived, putting the crib in the “beach” room, etc. We expected we had about a 2-3 week hard core transition in front of us.
So we decided, like everything Murphy, we would start this in conjunction with the 1st day of school. Sean put up the railing for his bed before dinner and we figured we move him from his crib to the bunk once he was fast asleep. We were both nervous about what this would mean for everyone’s sleep schedule in the coming weeks.
We went out to get sno-cones last night after dinner to celebrate the 1st day of school (the kids changed classes and teachers from summer) and Mommy surviving working UTA Move-in Day in 105 degree heat.
We love us some Bud’s sno-cones in Bedford.
Bree is addicted to blueberry sno-cones.
I think she’s just amused that it turns her whole mouth blue. As you can see from the background, our crazy two year old wanted nothing to do with his sno-cone, but loved hanging out by the trashcan.
We got home from Bud’s and it was 8:00. We did a quick brushing of teeth, changing to pjs and were preparing for a story when we noticed Bauer was in his big boy bunk. He was laying down waiting for the story. Maybe the railing was all he needed to feel comfortable after all. We finished the story, said some prayers and tucked both kids in. And we left.
We watched them on the camera we have in Bree’s room…and continued to be cautiously optimistic that something in the parenting realm could be this easy. There was a lot of banging on the wall with feet, a lot of “Bree-Bree, where are you”, a lot of Bree looking down and Bauer looking up, a lot of Bree trying to climb down the ladder, but no attempt from Bauer to escape back to his crib.
After about 30 minutes of really entertaining “kid tv” on the camera, all fell silent. Yes, by silent, I mean both kids were asleep in their own bunks in the SAME room.
Bauer sleeping sideways in his bed….we assume he eventually passed out while making a ton of noise hitting the wall with his feet. Luckily our master bathroom backs up to their wall….such a fun sound.
Bree came in and told us she was up this morning at her regular time and I went to check on Bauer, who was still fast asleep.
He finally yelled for Mommy about 20 minutes later and had a big smile on his face when I walked in!
We officially survived night one of “Operation Bree and Bauer Share a Room”. As I type this blog, we are attempting afternoon nap one. It is surprisingly quiet in both bunks.
And yes, I will continue every night and every afternoon to be surprised when this really works. This was supposed to be stressful and ridiculously hard with two toddlers. And let’s be serious, it probably still will be. But I’ll take my success from last night and this afternoon and relish in it at least until 8pm tonight!
Happy first week of school to all…
And to Bennett…you officially have a room complete with a crib to sleep in! Hooray!
