May 23

We have had boxes piling up in our foyer for the past week, waiting for today:

BUNK BED DAY!!!

The kids were pretty excited, and Chris and I were pretty pumped too. (This is the first step toward getting our room back: Daisy moves in with Caleb, Lily moves to Daisy's room, Eli moves to Lily's room, and we get our room to ourselves, for at least part of the night.) Last weekend we painted the walls, and during the week we painted trim. This morning we popped a movie in for the big kids, put Eli down for a nap, and got to work assembling.

Chris joked that he and I are a good team, because I read the directions and tell him what to do, and he does all the grunt work. It works out well. The beds were fairly simple to assemble, and the kids were eager to check out our work.

Lily enjoyed being able to look out the window from one of the beds.

Eventually Eli woke up, and he was content to keep us company as we continued.

Success! Bunk beds!  

Caleb was so excited. He was pumped about the bed, about sharing a room with Daisy, and about his awesome new sheets (which he chose) and quilt (red, per his request). We put the finishing touches together while Daisy was napping, and I was putting Eli down for another nap when she woke up, so I don't have any "Daisy sees her new bunk bed" pictures, but she was excited too.

After dinner, we all went grocery shopping. When the cashier at our first store asked how we were doing today, Caleb told him, "We got bunk beds!"

Despite the fact that we had four kids in tow, Chris and I managed to visit two stores and knock out the whole list for the week in just under an hour!  Eli fell asleep just as we entered the checkout at our last store.

I transferred him from his wrap to the car seat, and he stayed asleep. He slept the whole way home, and slept through us unloading his siblings and the groceries. Poor kid was tired!

Finally, bedtime. 

Caleb has a red quilt and zig zag sheets, and Daisy has a lavender quilt with polka-dotted sheets. They are really, really happy about the whole thing. But happy and excited doesn't always mean the transition will be easy. I have no idea how this is going to go. We intentionally chose to make the switch after school was out so that it wouldn't be a huge deal if Caleb and Daisy stayed up all night talking. I'm hoping Daisy doesn't roll out of her bed, because up until now she's been in a queen bed set on box springs on the floor. She could afford to be a wild sleeper. Now, she doesn't have as much room to toss and turn.

We're also nervous about Caleb. The ceiling fan is dangerously close to his bunk. He has slept with it on forever, but we have it off tonight and I just ordered a new, compact, flush-mount fan that should arrive within a week. Hopefully that will help the situation a bit.

Hopefully they will sleep well tonight.

And hopefully they're just as excited when they wake up!