"Opal" wrote in message
.. .

"xkatx" wrote in message
newsNjMg.528$E67.277@clgrps13...

Now my question is...
Should I change rooms around sooner or later? Before or after there's
another baby? I plan to keep the newborn in the room with me in a
basinette - probably the first 2 or so months, anyways, which will bring
me to around Christmas or so.

A is 13 months now. She'll be 15 months when the next one comes. At her
age, will she really care about what room she has? Will she notice a
difference in surroundings or anything like that? Is she old enough to
even understand anything? Would she currently be sensing any stress
going on around lately, and would changing rooms at this point (or soon)
add to anything?


I would do everything in "stages" if it was up to me. "A" is definitely
old enough to notice. Amongst other things, she is likely going to really
resent the new baby. If she loses *HER" room at the same time, it'll
possibly cause more headaches than you really want to deal with.

Well, I think she's not going to be too crazy about a baby mainly because of
her age...
A couple weeks ago, I was babysitting a girl friend's son (he's the one born
the same day as she was) and she was up and about playing downstairs, other
baby woke up from a nap and I went up to bring him downstairs, the whole
while calling her and talking to her, saying, "Oh! Look! Your boyfriend is
here to play! Look who came to see you!" (just stuff like that) and as soon
as I turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and she saw me carrying
someone else, she was NOT impressed LOL
She was alright, but for about a week or so after that, I found she was
unusually clingy - fairly out of character for her, as she's normally
awesome with other people. She wouldn't even go to N's mom or sister, even
if I was sitting right there. She would have nothing to do with Grandma or
Auntie, so I do think she's still at the age where I am *hers*

I would recommend the painting ASAP, then moving A and the new baby's
stuff into the larger room after it has aired out. That way, she gets
used to the new room AND the fact that the baby will be in it too at the
same time. If you move her first, and not move the baby's stuff, then she
may feel that the new room is HERS, and the baby is taking HER space.

Well, obviously move her after the room airs out - I have this crazy thing
with smells... I'm not sure why - I plan to ask my OB about it next week at
my appointment... I *crave* the usual 'gross' smells - I have a thing for
the smell of both diesel AND regular gas, permanent markers, WD-40... I'll
keep the fantastic smell of paint for myself lol
Maybe I'll round up some paint and supplies and see if I can ditch the kids
for the day with my aunt or mom and paint the bedroom. Turns out the bed I
have does fit in her room, although it will be a very tight squeeze to get
the bed in, nevermind my dresser. Will do the job until I can find a
different bed to use, though.

Even keeping the new baby in your room for the first little while is,
IMHO, a good idea... One step at a time... A will have time to get used to
the new baby being in the home before she has to deal with the baby being
in HER room, too.

I *hate* co-sleeping (Did that with B for too long and ended up with
problems... lol) but with A, she slept like a charm in the basinette beside
our bed, and had absolutely no issues with then putting her in her crib all
on her own. I just find a basinette in my room is handy as can be, as it
saves time for night feedings... Just reach over, grab the baby, lay back
down and we can both go right back to sleep while feeding. I'm also not
sure I'm game for one baby possibly waking up the other, or me waking up A
getting a hungry baby out from a different room.
The master bedroom could be *their* room basically from the start. That
actually sounds like a good idea, and I did think of that, but I wasn't 100%
sure on which way to tackle everything.

Kelly