Moving Kiera to Jade's Room--making it THEIR room...

A few weeks ago, I got a hair-brained idea to paint Jade's room pink.  It is her favorite color and I was kind of tired of the green that has been in there since we moved in. So after many sample tests, as you can see on the wall below, we finally decided on the right shade of pink.

Before...

Say goodbye to the green...

.

Then after a week of painting, letting it dry, painting the ceiling mess-ups and trim and Jade sleeping in the living room...Walllah!

And hello to the pink...Jade could not have been any happier!  

Time to move both girls into one room.  Kiera has been sleeping in the office for the past year and a half of her life and she spent the first 6 months in our room.  So we finally bit the bullet and decided it was time to have them together.  I don't know if you remember when we first tried having them together when Kiera was about 10 months old, Jade just growled at her and Kiera screamed forever.  With me working and not getting much sleep anyway, that was not a battle I wanted to fight right then.  It was easier to have her in the crib in the office.  I just worked wherever around the house because my laptop was portable.  But it was time, and I really need an office space to keep my stuff organized for work.  I have to say the transition certainly went better than I thought it would.  We tried putting them down together the first few nights, but after several hours of laughing, screaming and playing, Ben finally went in and laid on their floor until they fell asleep.  Then we tried putting Kiera down first, while Jade went somewhere else.  But some nights Kiera takes way too long to fall asleep and Jade is not getting to bed until after 10 pm--which makes for very grumpy girls in the mornings.

Now a new adventure has begun as Kiera decided she could climb in and out of her crib.  After having nightmares of her breaking her neck or something, we took the side of her crib off and now she is mobile!  Not good for this active little girl.  She gets into things Jade never even thought of getting in to.  The other night, I heard a big thud, so I go out to investigate and neither girl is in their room and the door was wide open.  A little panicked I start walking down the hall and discovered that the office light was on.  As I opened the door, I saw Kiera, mid-leg swing as she was climbing onto the guest bed in there and Jade giving her a boost.  Just as calm as could be Jade says, "Kiera wanted to sleep in the office so I was helping her." After explaining that what they were doing was not safe, we escorted them back to their room and Ben gave Jade the talk about not being a follower.  She does not have to do everything Kiera says.  We need her to be safe and stay in her room because the house could be dangerous for a wandering toddler at night in the dark.  I think Jade understood and has since resorted to screaming, "I am going to tell Mommy!" every time Kiera gets out of bed and heads towards the door.  I hope this phase ends quickly and  they both learn to sleep with the other one in the room....it is not my favorite!  However, I do have to add that the other night it was cute to walk in to check on them and they were both in Jade's bed, snuggled side by side just reading together.  Awww..sisters!