So Happy Together

Around Thanksgiving this past year, our kids started sharing a room.  Luke and Brent liked the idea of Luke being upstairs with the rest of us so we made room in Nora's room for both kids.  

I was pleasantly surprised how well we were able to fit all of Luke's clothes into the closet/dresser and that we had room for Nora's toddler bed and Luke's twin mattress on the floor in second bedroom upstairs.  

By February, we purchased a twin bed with space for a trundle underneath for the kids to share.  Nora moved into her first twin bed (which she looks so tiny in:)) and Luke's bed tucks nicely under Nora's bed during the day for storage.  It's a great fit for the room.  

Recently, I've been wanting to make the room a little more "their" room instead of "Nora's" room.  I was able to rearrange a few things, hang a few things we had on hand, and I'm happy with how it turned out.  

A quick tour of where this room has been:

Nursery ~ 2012

East Wall: Crib and Sweet Dreams Baby decal

West Wall: Rocker, Changing Table/Dresser, and Tree decal

Toddler Room ~ February 2014

West Wall: Crib converted to toddler bed

Shared Room ~ May 2015

West Wall: Twin bed with trundle
(added Sweet Dreams decal with tree)

Bedtime

The west wall didn't change much.  I just moved "Sweet Dreams" from the "Sweet Dreams Baby" decal over the bed. 

East Wall: Changing table/dress (flipped)
Removed Sweet Dreams Baby decal and added kids' poems

On the east wall, I flipped the changing table into the dresser.  My parents got us this awesome piece of furniture when Luke was born.  The drawers come out, the piece flips, then the drawers go back in the other direction!  Cool, huh?!  (Don't misunderstand: this does not mean Nora is potty trained;) We're just changing her on the bed now.)  I also moved around some pieces I made a while back out of the poems Brent's mom wrote for the kids when they were born.  

Luke's poem

Nora's poem

On the north wall, I moved some of the remaining shapes (moon, stars, clouds) from the "Sweet Dreams Baby" decal and added some fun pieces I made.  I was inspired by some ideas I'd seen online so I decided to make my own so I could personalize them.

North Wall (a small space between closet and door): Added decal and art

Daily Life

A day in the life of Luke and Nora sharing a room...

Mornings

• We don't have a set wake up time for the kids.  They get up in plenty of time for our morning routine of getting Luke to school, Nora to Papa & Gma's, and Jen/Brent to work.  They typically both get up around 7.  Occasionally, Nora will wake up first and announce to Luke "The sun came up! Time to wake up!"  It's very sweet, though my not-a-fan-of-morning-self feels badly for Luke:)  
• Once Luke's up for the day, he pushes his bed under Nora's and we have room to get dressed for the day.

Evenings

• Nora goes to bed around 8:15pm.  She sleeps with her "BB" (aka pink blanket), her "bear bear" (aka pink teddy bear), and likes a sippy cup of water.  We read stories before bed, which for the past six months has been her "story book" (a book of multiple Disney Adventure Stories).  Her favorite stories in the book are the "Three Musketeers" and "Goofy Blasts Off".  Once stories are read, she likes her radio and Minnie lamp turned on that projects stars on to the ceiling and she continues to "read" her story book to herself.  
• Luke goes to bed around 9pm.  He sleeps with three stuffed animals (froggy, sheepy, and a puppy) and his blanket.  You'd think that by the time Luke goes to bed that Nora would be sleeping...well, that is not the case.  She is always very happy to see brother come to bed and greets him accordingly:)  But, she knows that once Luke comes to bed, she has to be quiet so he can get rest for school.  
• Brent and I are usually headed to bed around 10pm and it is not unusual for Nora to still be awake in her bed.  Sometimes she'll announce the song she hears on the radio, or will request we leave the hall light on, or we'll simply see her little eyes open from the hallway:)  
• One funny thing we are used to each night is hearing the thud of Nora's story book hit the ground.  We know she's winding down when she pushes her story book off the bed and onto the floor:)  

All in all, the kids enjoy sharing a room and it's worked out well for all of us.  When the day comes that Luke wants his own space again, the guest bedroom downstairs will be all his again:)