You know it's your fourth when...

Well.

When you put them in a closet to sleep.

You read that right.  Go ahead, read it again.  Confused?  Don't be.  I'll explain.

It's simple.  Out house is a 1500 sq. ft. home which rocks, minus the minuscule back yard, it does.  I love our house.  Is it our forever home?  Probably not, God willing.  However, it's our now-home.  It's wonderful.  It's tiny but roomy.  Calm.  Organized. It's just enough.  Except for the epic sleep quandary of recent times.

There is kids, and bedrooms, and sleep.  Or lack of sleep.  Or desperately trying to gain sleep.  But not.  Apparently, closets may fix that.  And basements.  You'll see what I mean.

First let me explain what happened over the last few months.

When Emily was born our 3 bedrooms were like this:

Master: Jim, Emily, & me.  June would fall asleep in our bed though and get transferred to his.
Bedroom 2: Josh & June
Bedroom 3: Elizabeth

A few months passed and all was well.  Around May-ish, Emily started waking up when June went into our room to sleep.  Then she would have restless nights. NO GOOD.  Sooooo... I kicked June out of our room to save her sleep.

We tried having the boys fall asleep together and that just didn't work, so out of desperation, we asked June to fall asleep in the basement.  The plan was to transfer him to his bed. On the second night, he asked to sleep in the basement, all night.  I thought for sure he would get scared.  That's a big fat, NOPE.  Months later, he claims the basement as his room. He has that oldest need for solitude thing.  He LOVES it down there.  For now I moved the toddler bed for him, but have plans to make it more room-like at some point.  Maybe get him (luck into?) a desk and dresser.  We already have plans to get 2 twin beds from a relative.  One will go to him. Lastly, I need to transform the empty closet into a clothes-storing one too.  Basement bedroom.  He's 6 going on 16.

So yes, June moved into the basement.

Emily still wasn't sleeping great.  It helped to have June not falling asleep in our room, but as Emily got more curious and mobile, she started popping her little head over the crib bumper and looking at me.  At 3am.  And. Just. Cry.  And Scream.  Several times a night.

I can just tell that if she has her own room, she would sleep FAR better.  She's too darn nosey.

I ran on weeks of awful sleep.  A beautiful silver lining is that I'm pretty awesome at running on little sleep because I don't feel hindered like I did in years prior.  I'm still really like to sleep more solid stretches at night though.  And not be yelled at.  Repeatedly.

We toyed with the idea of stringing a fabric room partition where her crib is.  Then it hit me.  Closet.  Move Emily into the closet.  Then she can't SEE me!  We have a His and Her closet anyway, so we basically have an extra closet anyway.  But would the crib fit?

I measured.  It would fit. The CRIB would fit.

Is that a normal move to move your infant child into a closet?  Well, no.  Is that a smart move?  Do you like to sleep at night?  I do.  So, whatever, with bleary eyes I started the transformation.

Also, I have thought and thought and thought about who she could room with or who could room together so Emily could have the nursery, but there just is not a good solution right now.  That's another blog post entirely, but basically Josh and Eliz are both at volatile ages and need to be handled with care, er, firm bedtime rules within the confines of their own 4 walls.  It would be a free-for-all if those two roomed together or if I moved Emily in either with them.  Eliz decided to learn how to climb out of her crib this week.  That's another fun transition.  And I don't think any of them would take to moving to the basement, so here I sit.

I decide to push aside my "Woman, you have LOST it."  feelings and just do this!

Friday afternoon, I moved all our "stuff" into my closet.  I also assembled 4 bags of my clothes to send to GoodWill.
Friday night, Jim painted and put the crib in the closet.  He rocks.
Saturday, I bough accessories and prettied it up.  The boys were conveniently at my in laws during this time and I could have Emily sleep in Josh's room while we painted and prepped.  It's done!

I give to you.... Emily's "room"

Those big baskets were bought so that storage can still happen (since it is a closet afterall) and it can still look pretty.  Because that is important.  She's in a closet, but it doesn't have to LOOK like a closet. :P

There is an outlet and everything so her sound machine is right in there with her.  

That grey box in the corner is my GoodWill box... I always have a constant GoodWill pile going, ready to donate.

There is enough space to put her Sunday dresses & Jim's old tie rack works pretty well as a head band holder.

You'd never know that was a baby's nursery with the doors closed. ;)

And this is my view from my bed.  With the 1 closet door partially shut, she can't see me. (Well, she could but she'd have to strain, plus the dark will block me a bit... it's all good.  There will be no babies closed up in a closet.  Proper ventilation will be provided!)

Not too shabby, eh?  Is it conventional?  Heck no, but really, what in my life is the standard norm...? :P  Roll with my people, it's quite the ride!