Sleeping Arrangements

I feel like my life has become a game of musical beds. Wait...that sounds terrible! I mean musical beds for the children only, lol.

We have three girls - ages six, three, and almost one. We also have one boy - age five. Right now we have the baby in her own room, the boy in his own room, and the two older girls sharing. Beth is in a twin bed, Matt is in a twin bed, Carrie is in a toddler firetruck bed, and Katy is in a crib.

As we prepare for our move to Washington DC, I am realizing that our new house is likely to be much smaller than our current house. I looked at the floor plans, and it appears that none of the bedrooms are really going to hold two beds and two dressers. The obvious solution is bunk beds. Luckily for us, the twin beds that Beth and Matt have do in fact convert into bunks. They are the beds that my Dad and his younger brother slept on in the 50's and 60's, and then my brother slept on in the 80's and 90's. They're still in perfect condition too - I don't think make furniture like they used to. At least not in our price range!

I would like to put Matt and Beth together, but when we tried that before those two partied all night. It was really ridiculous how late they stayed up, and it made for one cranky mama. Once we switched to have Carrie and Beth together things went much more smoothly. Plus Matt is getting older, and as the only boy I think it makes sense for him to have his own space.

That means Carrie and Beth will likely end up with the bunk beds. At 6 1/2 I will comfortable having Beth on the top bunk. I worry about Carrie crawling up after her though. Of course she could do that even in those beds were not in her room. That is why we have never bunked the beds before. The other issue is that the only available bed for Matt will then be the firetruck toddler bed. I'm trying to play up the coolness of the firetruck, but he knows very well that it is a toddler bed and is not too eager to move in. He is kind of big for it anyway, but I think he could still stretch out comfortably for another year or so. My older three were all out of the crib by two, so once Katy graduates from that she will move into the firetruck. At that point we may redo the rooms - again.

Anyway you look at it I think we will be bed shopping within the year. It's so hard buying furniture and household items that last, when we really don't know what kind of military housing we will have from year to year. Not to mention we have had terrible luck with things being damaged in transit by the movers. As for the things that do make it to our home unscathed...the kids and pets make quick work of those things. Matt and I have agreed that we will just get all new stuff once he retires. Only twenty more years to go! And then our grandchildren can come visit....better hang onto those bunk beds!