Room shuffle: the conclusion

 Harry and Jack are becoming good little skaters, and Harry is a good puck handler, too.  I haven't taken them to hockey for awhile-- because putting all of their gear on SUCKS-- but I took them on Saturday as a trial run.  They are signed up right now to play twice a week-- on Saturday morning and one other night over the dinner hour.  In the fall, this was not a problem because Ben and I were both home that night, and he took the big boys and fed them after practice, and I had dinner with Cooper and put him to bed a little early.  Everyone won.  In the spring, though, I am on my own with 3 kids, including one bored, hungry baby, and 100 pounds of sweaty equipment.  FUN TIMES.

I broke 3 fingernails to the quick and bled all over Harry's skates and then called Ben when I finally got them on the ice to demand that he get on Amazon and order 2 pairs of velcro skates ASAP even though velcro skates kind of suck.  He did, of course, but they didn't qualify for Prime, so this week, I am SCREWED, but next week, we should be on the ice much faster.  Since both boys are in seatbelts now, I also get them ready from the waist down before we get there-- shorts with velcro on the legs to hold up their socks that go over their pants, silly padded suspender hockey shorts, knee pads, and tall, thick, footless hockey socks that velcro to their undershorts.  Then when we get to the rink, I "just" have to help them with shoulder pads, elbow pads, neck gear, jerseys, helmets, under gloves, gloves and those goddamned skates.  I don't know what Cooper is going to be doing while all of this is happening.  Maybe screaming in his stroller, but I think the stroller is going to be more trouble than it's worth since it will be an epic battle to get him back in when it's time to go, unless  have some sort of chocolate to bribe him with.  And then there's the taking off of everything and the cramming it back in the stinky hockey bag and getting three kids outside into the freezing, black cold with a hockey bag the size of Jack and 2 sticks.  Hmpf.  I'll let you know how it goes.

We finally, finally, finally finished the room shuffle.  Now all I have to do is figure out the baby's name on the wall in her room (I have the letters-- decoupage is not going as smoothly as planned. but I am like $75 into the project and will probably keep going) and wash her tiny pink clothes and hang them on the tiny pink hangers that are just waiting in her closet.

We ended up spending about what we anticipated, but we saved a ton on bedding and accessories by going to IKEA and re-purposing stuff we had, and we splurged a little more than we thought we would on furniture by going to a local furniture store for dressers instead of getting them at IKEA and buying night stands to match.  So, it all came out in the wash.

Here's Ben putting the finishing touches on her room:

 Cooper is so confused by the move.  I honestly did not think he would care, but he so does.  Anytime we tell him it;s time for night night, he grabs a couple pacifiers and his blanket and heads to his old room.  He was happy to try out the crib, but a little confused when I laid him down because it was NOT nap time.

 Speaking of Cooper, here is his cute little room.  I really think I like it the best, and besides his dresser and nightstand, we only spent $34-- 30 for that print of cars and trucks to round out the Target theme and 4 for a basket to hold his current favorite board books.

 I should probably put pictures of him in this growth chart, since it only has Harry and Jack for now.  It is also totally meaningless because it is apparently hanging at a different height than it did at our old house, and none of the measurements are accurate-- but it matches the room, so there you have it.

 Cooper's crib and nightstand, although I have since moved the book basket because he tried to lean over the side of his crib and grab books this morning when he first woke up and the crash took years off my life-- I thought he fell out of his bed. I am going to be totally pissed if he have to move him to his toddler bed just days after purchasing a second crib.

 And now, perhaps, you can get a better sense of the Target theme.  Wait til I pull out the old Circo robot quilt for his fire truck bed.

 Dresser. And all Target accessories on top.

I am, of course, a big fan of the baby's girly little room.  I like how spare everything is right now, too, because I know she is going to accumulate plenty of crap to fill it up.  We moved Jack's dollhouse up here to gain valuable floorspace in the toy room, but he doesn't mind and is happy to play with it upstairs. (We also moved his fire station into Cooper's room in anticipation of the toddler bed to be, and he's cool with that, too, because Jack is a kid who is used to someone taking all his shit).

 I LOVE this sweet little IKEA crib.  Ben tried to fool me and say it only has one level, so he wouldn't have to take it apart to lower the mattress, but Facebook shamed him into admitting the truth.  I know we could have gotten a white crib anywhere, but I love our other IKEA crib that is Harry's age and still going strong.  I also love that their furniture conforms to international safety standards, does not have any drop sides, and is not made with horrible chemicals in the wood.  I am planning to put her name on the wall behind the crib if my letters turn out.  If not, we'll at least do a giant first initial like the boys have.

 My natural inclination is to fill this shelf with as much crap as I can as quickly as I can, but I am really going to wait until it nautrally fills with baby odds and ends and more toys.  I am looking for more stuff to go on this wall, but I am waiting to find the right thing instead of just gobbling up Target art by the canvasful.

We filled this frame with pictures of us and our siblings as babies, as well as with Harry and Jack and their cousins.  I love, love love it.

Wait, you are thinking, didn't Circo make more mindldess little kid art work?  Wasn't there a turtle and frog series, too?  Why yes, we respond. CHECK OUT OUR BATHROOM,

And wasn't there an alphabet pattern? And monkeys way back in the day?

So much Target.

Nagging Ben to let me borrow his paint brush today while he was embroiled in touch up painting from moving all of our stuff everywhere, I woke Cooper up accidentally an hour into his only nap of the day, so we had to bribe him with a Fannie May chocolate sucker to make it through the grocery store.  We're awesome.

And not only are we Circo addicts, but also we are obsessed with EXPEDIT shelves, hence a toy room face lift, just for kicks:

Ben freaking hates making IKEA furniture, but he is so good at it!  I think he's relieved, though, because there isn't a single thing we need for any room.  FOR NOW.  And just in time, too, because he returns to the real world this week, and I return to taking care of my kids by myself.  Boooo.  But a certain first grader has school tomorrow, and he is very excited.  And so are we.