Sleeping Arrangements

When we moved into our five bedroom house, we tripled our living space. In fact, most of my single-days apartments would fit into my now bedroom. In the beginning, the new house seemed so cavernous, 6500 square feet. I had a room for this and a room for that. Luxury! When we moved in, it was John, Claire and I. We put together a nursery for Claire on the same floor as our bedroom. In risky pink, which, so far, has been a good bet. That left us with a guest room on our floor and two guest rooms on the top floor. After Ava was born, I converted one of those guest rooms into a future bedroom for the girls when they are old enough to be a floor away from us at night. Technically, I suppose we have six bedrooms because we added a "maid's room" on our "lower level" (read basement) where trusty Nelka resides. In Singapore, every apartment/condo has a maid's room. Our condo there had a very cozy outdoor bomb shelter/maid room. It was 6x6, windowless and like a tomb. We used ours for storage, but some of our neighbors actually kept maids in theirs!

Ava and Claire both coslept with us in their earlier days ... our habit is to just put the fuzzy headed new ones in bed between us ... that way no one falls out and we can "take turns" feeding at night (John, me me me me me me me me me me me, John, me me ......). Also, because John works long hours, it gives him time to spend with new ones even if they are both asleep. So far, we have not killed anyone this way, although once, I woken up by vigorous kicking and yelping. It was Ava! I'd apparently tried to roll all the way to John through her territory and over her. When I woke up, her left side was still steamrollered under me and she was in an infant panic, fighting for survival. Poor baby. Shortly after that she decided she'd like to try sleeping on her own in a crib. She was seven months old which was, interestingly, was the exact same age Claire was when she made her move to the crib. Maybe it is genetic. Or maybe at that age, baby ears are developed enough to appreciate the full volume of John's snoring which, I admit, sometimes makes a cold dark night alone sound nice.


We plan on employing the same initial sleeping arrangements with little Aenore, Jessica, Scanton, Violet (isn't THAT a cute name?? More later on why it is not in my next naming update) ... little whoever. I'm hoping she decides to move on at six or seven months like her sisters did. I know I don't want to get stuck with a five year old in my bed. I hear it happens! I sense we are playing with danger ... like keeping a wild animal as a pet or taking catnaps while driving ... it may work out some of the time, but eventually you get caught!

My big life dilemma at this moment is what to do with the two existing residents of the nursery when little whoever is ready to sleep on her own. If this happens when little whoever (LW) is seven months, Claire will be 3 and change and Ava 2 and change. Possible options:

- Buy another toddler bed for the nursery. So Ava and Claire would be in toddler beds with LW in the crib. It might be crowded.
- Buy another $1400 crib (to match the one we have) for LW and cram it into nursery with existing furniture. I just think that at some point, it will start to look like the sleeping quarters of an orphanage. Also, you're only young and crazy enough to drop $1400 on a crib once.
- Move Claire and Ava upstairs to their bedroom. The issue with this is that Ava fully rejects aging of any kind. We call her the "giant infant" ... she still talks with cooing noises, still drools ... I can't imagine her sleeping on any kind of a bed, even in a year and a half from now. But maybe she is a "sleeper" and will surprise us all with her sudden maturity
- Move just poor little Claire upstairs. This is what she gets for showing off all the time and being so darn mature. We may just rent her an apartment somewhere since she's so darn smart
- Give up one of my precious guest rooms. Sigh. I just hate to do it. It is a security thing, knowing I have two guest rooms. Sure, we seldom use them both at the same time but ...!

I am not expecting a lot of pity, but our house is beginning to feel not very big. What started as luxury ... a kitchen table AND a dining room table ... a livingroom AND a great room ... an office AND a library ... seems like utter necessity now. Food, shelter, clothing, theater ... Water, air, plant life, wine cellar. It vaguely reminds me of one of Claire's favorite ditties:

Alligator pie, Alligator pie
Take away the grass
Take away the sky
But PLEASE DON'T TAKE AWAY MY ALLIGATOR PIE!!!