Piper's Place

Piper never really took to sleeping in her crib very well and tended to wake up more during the night when I put her in there.  Co-sleeping worked better for us anyway since she wakes to nurse.  While I was changing things up for Salem, I figured I should do the same for Piper.  During my research, I read a bunch about Montessori beds for babies, which are the same as they are for toddlers/preschoolers. Many people stated that their babies even slept better once they were on a floor mattress rather than in a crib. We decided it was worth a shot and upgraded Piper's area in our room.

I should learn to take before photos so these changes would seem more dramatic

The mobile I made for Pipes before she was born still works with the new bed and I scored a super cute sheet set for $4.60 on clearance at Target.  That's thrift store pricing right there! I love that if she rolls off the mattress, she can't get hurt.  Since our dear babe will be crawling about soon, I added some books and toys (which I found when organizing Salem's room) to the area to hopefully entertain her.  I have an idea for baby safe wall decor, which I will add at her level soon.  

Piper's vantage point

We swapped beds so I could see what she sees

Piper has been sleeping on her new digs for a week now and she seems to like the room to move about.  I like that when she wakes up at night to nurse, I just go lay with her and then return to my own space when she finishes.  She has also been putting herself to sleep for her morning nap, which was super rare before.

Reading to his sister

All in all, I think the room upgrades for the kids are going to work out.  It will be interesting to watch them grow in their new environments.

Salem's Room

After months of letting Salem sleep in my bed (because in all honesty I was too tired to care where he slept), I realized that I needed my space back.  On the nights Miguel was home (he works nights), he would end up on the couch in order for Salem to sleep in our bed.  Um, yeah, no.  My husband and I needed to be close to one another without a toddler foot in our backs.  So one day I decided enough was enough and a change was needed! Salem had been sleeping in his toddler bed for naps but just didn't want to sleep there at night. Some research and racking of my brain to remember things I learned in my education classes in college, led me to the decision of implementing some Montessori and Waldorf principles into our home.

I am not an expert on these types of education nor do I plan to be, I just simply took some ideas from the two styles (simplicity, fostering independence, a natural approach to learning, etc.) and added them into our life. When I looked into Salem's room, I always felt overwhelmed by the amount of toys and books we had packed into his space.  If I was overwhelmed, surely Salem was too.  His toddler bed was more of a trampoline than a bed and I thought maybe he needed a bed more suited for relaxation and rest.  The drawers of his dresser were packed with all of his clothing options and I dared to wonder why he always brought me more than one of each item when I asked him to pick out his clothes. His room was decorated for an adults perspective and I thought he might want more stuff at his level.  There was an oversized rocking chair that I used to nurse him in, that had become a toy as well.

After really examining and assessing the situation, I came up with a plan to reorganize, simplify and update his quarters in order to foster his budding independence.  Here is his room now:

Our plants love the light in Salem's room.  He has taken on the responsibility of watering and does it on his own (ish)!

Simplified his toy and book choices.  Organized the rest of his things into three different sets to rotate in when he tires of the current set and hid them in my closet. With limited choices he is able to focus on each thing rather than switching quickly (and making a huge mess) like he did before.

A twin size Ikea foam mattress on the floor replaced his toddler bed.  This opens up his space quite a bit and allows room to grow.  Salem has really taken to this new bed and stays in it much more than he did before.

A kid sized table and chairs replaced the big rocker.  Salem now has a place to work on and hang his art (as well as play with cars and whatever else)

The changes were easy and Salem has really taken to his new digs.  He especially likes the photos and art work at his level; he beamed with pride when he first saw it all.  I didn't show the dresser drawers which now house only a few clothing options in order to assist Salem in making decisions (when there are too many choices, it's too hard to decide) or the closet which has his shirt and shoe choices at his level.

Salem has slept through the night in his new bed twice since we changed things up a week ago. The other nights,  he came into our room and fell back asleep on our floor, which I could handle since his feet were no where near me.  We then decided to put his old crib mattress underneath our bed for him to pull out when he wants to sleep in our room. I figure every step towards independence is a win and for those nights that he still wants to be close to me, well, that's a victory too.  After all, I am now getting more sleep which means we all win!

Let the Nesting Commence!

Much to our dismay, Miguel and I were unsuccessful in securing a home for our little family prior to Salem's arrival and we were destined to live in my parents basement for a few more months. Not really a big deal except that I was robbed of my chance to 'nest' during my pregnancy.

On September 3, we finally moved out of the basement and into our first home as a family (and our first real home in almost a year)! I was so excited to finally give Salem a room of his own and that became my priority.

Because of my obsession with outer space, we decided that a room full of spacey-ness would be perfect for our son. First order of business was to assemble his furniture and then get to decorating. Miguel, Sara and I all pitched in to make the letters of his name from space inspired craft paper. After completion, we framed the letters and spelled his name up on the wall.



Next was to hang the variety of original artwork friends and family had given our lucky son.



Then, I ordered a super sweet (to scale) solar system mobile for his upward viewing pleasure and some spacey wall decals. Once they arrived on the doorstep, I immediately continued my work on the room.



Even after all of this, I thought the walls were still kind of bare so I cut out a bunch of hand-drawn stars from the left over craft papers we had used for the letters and placed them randomly throughout the room.

Finally, I decided to sew a new valance for the window and matching bumpers for his crib (which I naively thought were just for decoration until I found Salem with his head against the crib rails one night). I decided to document the process of bumper making and will type a short tutorial for my next post.



So, here's to my little man and his awesome room! Now that his space is complete, its time to tackle the rest of the house :-)