The Old Switcharoo

Bekah and Jeremy, my two older kids, are 16 months apart in age. The phrase we have used is "Irish twins." Oddly enough, I had more people than I could count ask if they were *actually* twins.

Jeremy stayed in his crib until he was almost three. He had no earthly desire to climb out. We used to joke because at bedtime, he would ask us to put all of his toys in his crib with him. We would oblige and say goodnight. Minutes later, we would start to hear small thuds as he tossed the items back out, one by one.

Bekah, on the other hand, was a ninja. She started crawling out of her crib very early. She was the reason we had to put child locks on our cabinets. We didn't have baby gates up until Bekah. She was a one-woman wrecking ball.

When we found out we were expecting Doug, we figured it would be easiest to combine Bekah and Jeremy into one room. That was back in 2007.

We always knew there would be a point that the arrangement would stop working. We kept putting off switching things around. Something would come up, or we wouldn't have the energy, or we would all get sick.

It all came to a head this past week. Brooklyn got potty trained and that was the last piece of the puzzle. We didn't want to put her in a big-girl bed (a twin-sized bed) until we knew she was potty-trained. We jumped that last hurdle. A couple of generous friends donated two twin mattresses and we were in business.

We started moving smaller things on Friday night. Yesterday, Brian worked in the evening. I wanted to keep the momentum going, so I buckled down and took on a big task, moving the boys' bunk beds. That was a huge undertaking. As it turns out, the only way to move them is to deconstruct them and then reconstruct them.

Today, Bekah and I served in childcare at church for the first time. Once we got home, we resumed the project.

By the end (we still have some minor projects to complete, but the vast majority is complete), we had 5-6 kitchen-sized garbage bags full, 4-5 garbage bags full for donation, we gave away the crib, the toddler bed and the crib mattress. I vacuumed every one of the rooms. I must've gathered up at least five pounds of dust and dog hair. It was crazy.

I was a little sad to say goodbye to the crib, but honestly, it was time. I didn't feel like we went beyond the expiration date. I was honestly sadder about Jeremy and Bekah not rooming together anymore. It feels like the end of an era.

I am excited for this next chapter. I am also excited to get some rest.