Bunk Buddies

My parents are wonderful. Every weekend they take one of the children for a grandparent sleepover and bonding night. Occasionally, they take both children. They've been doing this since Michael was born, and so they had a crib at their house donated by a neighbor.

Michael outgrew the crib first. He would sleep in a little travel tent we got for trips that we keep at my parents house in between trips. Or, he could also choose to sleep in my old full-size bed in the room they now use as a guest bedroom.

Ava, until last night, was still sleeping in the crib. At 3 1/2 it was time for another solution and my mom and I have been brainstorming options for several weeks. We thought about pulling the crib mattress onto the floor and surrounding it with pillows as a makeshift "daybed", but we weren't really in love with the idea. We thought about buying a toddler bed since that would allow us to continue to use the crib mattress, but that seemed like a temporary solution that would have to be replaced with something new in another couple of years.

My mom found a bunk bed on craigslist that came with two twin size mattresses. My husband picked it up, brought it over to her house, disassembled the crib, and assembled the bunk beds. Meanwhile, my mom picked the kids up from school and took them to Wal-mart to choose their own sheet sets for the new bunk beds. She also mediated the discussion of who would get the top and who would get the bottom bunk.

Last night, my husband and I got this picture from her in an email.

Somehow, watching your children sleep (or seeing it in a picture) always raises the most intense feelings of love in a parent's heart. And watching them both sleep together, in their new beds with their new sheets is incredibly special. It'll be an amazing treat for them to be bunk buddies at their grandparents house. I hope it is something they remember fondly when they grow up. Kudos to my mom and my husband for all the work they put into getting this set up.