Since we are on the subject of the second baby and bring that baby home, and in fact HeatherY specifically mentioned the new baby's nursery in her comment yesterday, and since you all have good opinions and are always such a help to me... Let me tell you about our plans for the children's rooms and see what you think.
The plan is to move the Pumpkin into a new room, which we will do when she turns 2 in March as a birthday present. It will be Winnie-the-Pooh themed, so lately I've started getting her into Winnie (a really easy task). In June when the baby is born, we will keep the baby in our room in the co-sleeper next to my side of the bed for the first 6 months or so, as we did for the Pumpkin. When we and the baby are ready, we will move the baby into the nursery, which was the Pumpkin's nursery.
The reason for this change boils down to space. The Pumpkin's current room (the nursery, with a safari/animal theme) is pretty large and can comfortably fit the crib, the dresser/changing table, a twin bed, and the large glider/recliner that we have. Our other large room is the guest room because it can fit the queen-sized bed (plus some other small items). We need to keep the guest room with the queen bed because Londo's parents come up pretty frequently to visit, and they will be coming up to watch the Pumpkin when the baby is born, so we definitely need to keep it.
The room that we will move the Pumpkin to is smaller and was supposed to be my office/craft room, but I never did set it up in the 2+ years we've lived here. Instead, it became a place to dump and store stuff. My mom is currently helping me clean it out so we can set it up. It will definitely fit a twin bed, a dresser and a bedside table. There should be some floor space left for her to play. But there is no way that this room could also fit the glider/recliner, which is why I can't see it as a new nursery for the second child. I also want to be sure to have a twin bed and a crib in the nursery for the baby because I will likely cosleep for part of the night after we move the baby into the nursery, as I did with the Pumpkin.
To sum up:
-We need the nursery to be the large room because we need the space, therefore we are moving the Pumpkin into a smaller room.
-We need to keep our guest room, so we really can't make that room a new nursery.
-We are trying to make it a big, fun deal by making it her birthday present and having new decor with a theme she will love (she is already loving Winnie, Tigger and the others).
-We will move the Pumpkin 3 months before the baby comes, and we will keep the baby in our room for another 6 months. Hopefully, this will keep the Pumpkin from feeling like she had to give up her room for the baby.
Okay, what do you all think? Bad idea? Might work? My planning and decorating sense is impeccable? Let me have it.
12 comments:
You'll have to keep us posted on how that goes. It's something I'm considering when we get the "big boy bed".
seems like a good plan to me. We are too much of slackers I think for all of that : but the guest room is a big deal. our guest room and baby room are the same, but since he sleeps with us, it works out fine!
I dont think at her age the size of the room will make as much of an impact as the 'specialness' of it.
We moved our son to his room at 6-weeks and he's never coslept with us (the one night when the power was out at bedtime [he was 9-months-old] and he had to stay in our bed, he wouldn't sleep). So I can't offer much help except to say move the Pumpkin as soon as possible so she doesn't relate the baby with switching rooms. Even if the new baby is in your room for 6 months it's still "baby=getting the new, smaller room."
So I'd say move her right away.
She will not notice the size of the new room. What you might want to do is let her help pick out sheets, etc. for the bed, or a lamp, or [fill in the blank] so she feels a little more ownership over it.
Once the baby comes you might need to be a little flexible for a bit--Miss M had been in her own room for a couple of months when AM was born, but she had some major separation anxiety after I was in the hospital. So we moved her back to our room (it's big, so we fit the grownup bed, the toddler bed, and the cosleeper without trouble) for just a week or so, until she got over the waking 2-3 times a night screaming for me. She was comforted by just being able to SEE me during the night.
You really don't need to overthink it; she will be far more resilient that you :-)
Thanks for the shout out! :-) I agree with OneTiredEma. Let her pick out something she likes (or pick something you know she adores). We won't be moving Sweet Pea to a different room so I have no idea about that. I doubt she'll notice that her room is smaller but she will notice that "her" room has someone new in it.
Sounds like you thought it through. I can't imagine 9 months not being enough time! I bet she will forget she even lived in that room...just don't remind her :-) We decided to keep Aria in her own room (the bigger room) and this week she decided on sleeping in the twin bed (she has both crib and twin in her room). I was worried about her being really attached to the crib, but we never had to force it! She's got like 7ish months until we use the crib again so it's turning out to be a non-issue. I'm planning on moving it in a couple months. The baby's room is so small but I guess we'll be simple with the furniture we buy since we only just have the crib right now. I never had a fancy chair so I don't have to deal with that either. The dresser I get will probably double as a changer too. So much to think about! In the next couple months I'll probably have the details down like you do :-) It is fun to start thinking about...can you tell about my babbling!
I really doubt she's going to notice that the new room is smaller. She'll probably just be excited that it's made up all for her. Though ... sleeping in the new room might be traumatic for a while. Good luck!
I really fretted over which car seat should be on the left and which on the right. Neither of our cars is large enough to put one of them in the middle. We ended up with baby on the left in one car and on the right in the other.
What about talking about how she has outgrown her "baby room" and needs a new "big girl" room? And maybe add in a dash of "big girls sleep through the night" if you are feeling daring. Of course, I have only one child so I have no clue if that will work. :-) I would imagine that no matter what you do, there will be some transition trauma, but she will probably be fine in the end. You may not sleep very much, but she will get there. I hope it works out!
I think the theme and "birthday present" are a great idea. Making it special and seem like an upgrade. Who doesn't like appreciate a free upgrade! :)
I agree that you should move her into the new room prior to the baby coming so she doesn't realize that she is being moved so the baby can have the room she is currently in. My only caution is the Winnie the Pooh theme. While 2 year olds loves Winnie, they quickly outgrow him and move to Dora by 2 1/2. Have you checked out wall stickers? They are a great alternative to wallpaper and easily removable if you want to redo the room to a different theme.
I've learned the hard way that it's better to get them involved in the choosing of things, decorating, and setting up the new room rather than doing it all and surprising her. It helps her think of it as her own and she takes pride in it.
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