Blended Families
la79al
member
I'm so torn
la79al
member
Okay, I have a stepson who is 13.5 and a stepdaughter who is almost 9. We get them 50% of overnights. We also have a DD who is almost 2 and another baby due early September. Right now the kids each have their own bedroom upstairs and DH and I have the second biggest room in the house as our bedroom, downstairs. Recently DD has gone from an average of 2-3 wakings per night to 8-10. Nobody in the house is really sleeping, not to mention I have to keep running upstairs to take care of her. We have come to the conclusion that this is only going to get worse when DC#2 arrives, as he/she will also be upstairs, most likely from the beginning (DD was never able to sleep downstairs). At this point, we have decided that it makes the most sense to move our bedroom upstairs. Our old bedroom would then become more of a playroom/baby gear room as there is no way both will fit in our current living room. The problem is that this means we are about 1 bedroom short. DH feels that there is some way that DSS and DSD can share a room. I feel that this is a crazy idea, as they would end up killing each other. His other idea is that DSD and DD can share a room (even though DD will get into all of DSDs many small/messy things), the baby can go in our room (though DD made too much noise for him so I don't know why he thinks this one will be any different) and then DSS can keep his own room. I don't know if my idea is much better. I am proposing that we put a futon type thing in the playroom/baby gear room and DSS can sleep in there. The only thing he does in his bedroom, besides sleep is play his video game and that would be moving to the playroom anyhow. He is the last of the kids to go to bed, and even if he wants to go to bed earlier, the rest of the kids can move to the livingroom for the rest of the evening. I am not trying to say that 'my kids' deserve better than my stepkids. I am trying to figure out a way that we can gain a little more room downstairs but also all get sleep. WDYT?
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Re: I'm so torn
So total, how many bedrooms and how many kids do you have?
This and actually in most states, the court would have an issue with it too.
Technically, 3 bedrooms plus an extra room downstairs. Soon to be 4 kids.
So four bedrooms, 5 beds needed. Are any of the bedrooms large enough to split in two?
This is exactly what I was going to suggest.
I love IKEA storage solutions, but I think we are past that point. We already have half the livingroom furniture in storage and DDs toys on shelves and in baskets. I cringe to think about where we are going to put things like a bouncy chair, swing, etc.
I think swapping rooms w/ DSS is your best bet, as far as needing more room downstairs... hard to give you options w/ out seeing the space. Is there stuff downstairs you can move into kids bedrooms?
Bunk Beds.
In order to have a BR in the basement you do have to have an egress window installed. I looked into it last year and they were about $3000.
I would think that you could move DSS room to your room and section off an area that would be a playroom when he is not there/not using the room. Have you asked the kids how they feel about it, if they have any ideas?
If you are really wanting to keep the 4th room as something other than a bedroom, your only solution realistically would be to split it like this. You, DH & baby in one room (when the baby gets here), DD & SD in one room, SS in the other. You need a "boy" room and a "girl" room. Your SS is WAY to old to share a room with a girl.
Seriously, you are going to make your DSS feel unwelcome if you put him in the "play room" with a futon. This is his house too at least 50% of the time. How would you feel if you didn't have your space all the sudden and it was now everyones space? 2nd of all you have a 2 year old and a new baby coming. Make the living room work. How long do you actually need a bouncy seat and a swing and all the baby gear out for. Honestly a lot of that you only use for a few months and then it gets put back in storage. Deal with it being a little cluttered or tight with the extra baby gear for awhile.
Trust me at my house we are very short on space I have a 3 bed room townhome that was built on a concrete slab so no basement. There are 3 adults, 2 children full time, and 1 child part time oh and a dog at my house. We made it work. My nephew was 3 when DS was born and we Had the swing, pack in play, bouncy seat and all his toys in our little living room because we still felt he was too young to play in his room by himself. Yes it looked like the baby store barfed in my living room but we delt with it. And DS grew out of his swing by at least 4 months and his bouncy chair as well.