The Great Room Swap

When we moved to Korea, just Jarrod and me, we entered our three bedroom apartment and were delighted - but it seemed huge and fairly empty.  In the three years we have been here, we have filled it with two kids and furniture and clothes and toys... and while we still fit nicely, it is a lot less-huge.  Prior to Emmalyn's arrival, Marc was sleeping in a crib in our nursery, and we had an office/guest room that we were able to use for our 20 visitors over the past three years (some were repeats..).  This weekend, we finally moved the desk into our room and got rid of our guest bed to make it Marc's "big boy" room so that we could move Emma out of our room and into the nursery.

We have been waiting to make this room swap until our last known visitors came and went... and then we waited for the school to come pick up the guest bed... and then we waited until we figured out what bed we were going to use for Marc's new room... and FINALLY we got it all set up on Sunday night after Marc went to sleep (but we forgot to talk about WHEN he was going to move into the room).

We got the toddler bed frame from our online facebook flea market, and Jarrod stayed up late Sunday night drawing Pororo and Crong for the headboard and footboard of the bed - which transformed this plain blue bed into an AWESOME Pororo bed.

Monday morning, we watched as Marc entered his cool new room with his cool new Pororo bed - and loved every minute of his excited exclaimations "Po-ro (Pororo)! Crong! Peh-y (Petty)! Loomny (Loopy)! Poby! Eddie!" as he explored the surprises we had in store for him.

Because we just got a toddler bed frame, we had to quickly move Marc's crib mattress into the toddler bed so that he could "try out" his new bed as soon as he saw it.  I didn't fully realize that at this moment we were switching his room.

I will admit, I am a bit sad. Don't get me wrong, I have been pushing for this move.  We NEEDED to move Marc out so we could move Emmalyn from the pack-and-play bassinet that she couldn't even straighten her legs out in any longer and reclaim our bedroom for ourselves.  But after all of the waiting and all of the preparing, this just seemed so sudden.  And my little baby boy is growing up.

I did have a choice.
I could have moved the mattress back into the crib in "Emma's Room" and give him one last nap in the crib (for my benefit), all the while lamenting the passage of time and the closure of this chapter in Marc's life -

- but we had built all of this hype about his new room and we needed to "cement the bond" -so to speak- that this awesome room/bed wasn't just a play room (the kid doesn't do change really well).

I didn't move the mattress back - I put Marc down for his nap in his new bed on Monday... (the timing could have definitely been better - since he had just developed croup) and despite his coughing and fever, he went to sleep easily and STAYED in his bed.  I'm a proud Momma.  And when he wakes up,  he waits for his Mommy to come get him and then jumps up out of bed.  DON'T TELL HIM that he has the same ability to climb in and out of the bed like he does all day long when he is put to sleep and wakes up.

We also discovered that Mommy can now lay in his bed with him - so several times during the day he will get a book and his blanket and say, "Mommy, come." and expect me to follow him to his bed, climb in it with him, get under the covers, and read.  It is a really special time together. Maybe this new big boy bed is not so bad. :)  I guess this is another of those bitter-sweet moments when things change for the better... but they weren't bad to begin with.

The other important factor of this great room swap: Emmalyn took over the nursery (changing green to pink), moved into Marc's crib with a temporary (pack-and-play) mattress and is learning to put herself to sleep. Pray for us.

At least she wakes with smiles.

And so, life goes on.
My children are growing up.

I am trying not to blink.