her signature pose - hand on the hips
She stands in the 3am light in the doorway of our master bedroom, one hand on her tiny hip. Pink monkey pajama pants. Sweetest of 2-year-old voices, “I need to go potty.”
I take her to the bathroom. We are both quiet, too tired to speak. Afterward, Tim opens his arms and she snuggles in, grateful, not wanting to go back to the room across the house.
Five minutes later, her older sister appears. Five years old, with gangly limbs and extra-long eyelashes, she prefers to be squished in bed with all of us than have a mattress to herself.
Tim says, “Oh, fine. Come on in.” I giggle softly from my side – and the girls do too, before slipping off to slumber.
All four of us – no, wait, five of us – on a queen size bed.
Yesterday, Tim said, “Sometimes I think about downsizing. We only use two rooms in our house anyway.” Mmmm. I murmur in agreement. I know he’s not joking. Neither am I.
We have less stuff than ever, but we are slowing re-discovering what happiness looks like. And it’s certainly not found in Target.
This is sweet. And thoughtful. Y’all are more generous than me–I don’t think I could do night after night of kids in my bed.
They actually usually sleep in their own beds, but – every once in awhile – they sneak into ours. ;)
That is so sweet! It is so true that it isn’t the stuff that matters, it’s our families, the ones that we love that matter in life.
We have lived for the last almost two years in two rooms and sharing a kitchen. Most of our extra stuff is in boxes in the garage. I think every once in a while that I really don’t need any of it and I should just get rid of it, but then I think about the fact that one day we will have a house of our own and will need decorations again and what not. But really none of it matters. If we live in two rooms, or a whole house of our own, as long as we are together that’s the important stuff.
Most certainly not at target! We are continually trying to downsize the stuff. Phew!
You just may need to size up on the mattress, right?
We are getting quite crowded in our queen when the total peoples comes to 6. :)
We used to have a king and I kind-of miss the HUGENESS of it now. That said, the mattress we have now is so much better – the ComforPedic Harmony Plush by Simmons. I recommend it.
there are 6 of us living in our tiny little house and I don’t think I’d want it any other way. I love knowing that everyone is always close.
Don’t know how you do that! Our king size bed is full with 2 of us! I guess my hubby is ginormous though, and I sleep with too many pillows. :)
our queen sized bed is a little too small for 4 of use, but the closeness is sweet. I still want a bigger place, one where I can entertain.
Our queen size bed is too small for all four of us to get a good night’s sleep in but I enjoy it in the morning when the girls crawl into bed with us.
Too funny. When I was pregnant with #1 we bought a queen bed and have been stubborn and unwilling to replace it since. Three kids later and we laugh that at the times we might most enjoy a king bed we still love a good cuddle in our own. And I totally agree on your other point. The more we pass on to others, the better we feel about life…it simplifies our own lives more, less to clean up, less to maintain, and it goes to someone who’ll breath life into it again. Cheers!
PS The princesses infiltrated our home too. And I say infiltrate because I have never bought one thing princess and yet we have many many items as gifts that our two girls adore and enjoy. Sigh.
Same in our house! We try to avoid buying anything heavily branded, but – thanks to grandparents and friends – our girls have no lack when it comes to Disney princess pajamas, clothes, toys, and costumes. ;)
I needed to read this! We have a 2 bedrooms on our main floor and a 3rd on another floor. My husband and I would much prefer having our kids (3 year old boy and baby girl on the way) share a room rather than relegating someone to another floor. I know since they are different genders that eventually we may need separate bedrooms, but having everyone close feels right in this chapter of our lives.
Also, I really believe having a smaller house is much better for my sanity….so much easier keeping an eye on the kids, cooking, etc. when I can see everyone at once!
very sweet… I was wondering how you’re move back in was with so much less “stuff” – is there one or two things you just HAD to get again?
I have not managed to ever get into cosleeping with my son… he is a thrasher who sees the bed as a playground – yes, even at 3 am when he wakes up crying, the minute I put him in bed, it’s all laughing and jumping and purposefully sitting ON my head! LOL … I have tried, believe me! :) It’s a no-go for us! :) Maybe the next baby will be snuggli-er! :)
We actually haven’t bought much since we’ve been back – aside from a few furniture pieces. It’s freeing to live with less…and our house is a cinch to keep clean! ;)
Stephanie,
Such a sweet entry! We too have a queen sized bed and have slept many a night with one, two, or even all three of our sons in it with us. When I lay there with someone’s foot in my kidneys, I do think about how, before I know it, time will have passed. Our children will get older and no longer want to come and crawl into bed next to us. Makes me snuggle them all the more tighter now. And, nothing is sweeter then a middle of the night or early morning quiet snuggle!
I agree – you can’t find happiness at Target. However, you can find little moments of sanity there and with small children, those moments are needed! My kids know that Target is mom’s time out spot – even if I don’t buy a single thing. :)
we recently found out we’re pregnant (have not announced it on the blog yet), and my husband who is usually about simplicity is freaking out saying we need a bigger house. Ahh, how quickly perspective gets lost…thanks for this sweet reminder :)
SO happy for you! My face (and my heart) lit up when I read your news. Parenthood will change you forever – in truly wonderful ways.
Three words – KING SIZED BED! Once you have another little one not so cozy in utero, it might not be so easy to snooze with the whole fam in there.
And after your 2011 in a 5th wheel, you must all feel lost in all that space of a house again! ;-)
Super sweet! <3
Yeah, I think we must be bigger people than you because we don’t have any more room in our queen size bed for little boys (especially now!) although they are cute in the morning when they come to bounce (I don’t know that little boys really snuggle unless they’re sick!).
I totally agree on the house thing. People think we need a bigger house now (we have 3 bedrooms) and I’m like, no, that just means more to clean! ;) And I like that I have never needed a baby monitor. So I’m really really trying to clean out and purge stuff. The problem is, none of it is really worth anything (to sell or even give away) but a lot of it is sentimental. I got the pack rat gene from my parents!
We’ll see how far I get in the next 2 months!
You know, we have this big house with 4 bedrooms for the 5 of us, and every kid has their own space. That’s the American dream, right? Well, my girls always BEG to sleep together, and more often than not end up in our queen sized bed by the end of the night. And I think, WHY? It is so much more natural to all bunk up together.
NOW TRUST ME. You will not always welcome them quite as eagerly. They begin to get long and gangly and kick you and scratch your face all night and leave you with a sore back and sleep-deprived brain fog. BUT even so, I still find myself opening my arms when those bed-headed little girls come staggering into my room in the middle of the night, even if it means that I may not get back to sleep. It’s such a precious time.
Jasper still crawls into our bed in the wee hours. Sometimes it’s a pain (he kicks and flails and takes up a surprising amount of bed space for a four year old) but I know I’ll miss it when he gives it up. I love waking up with his sweaty head tucked under my chin and his arms wrapped tight around me.
Sometimes we joke about that, too, how we really could all just sleep in one bed if we needed to, and we would certainly keep warm! Our house is very small as it is, but it’s still plenty.
Hope you had a great birthday!
Steph
I’ve had at least one little one crowding into our queens bed almost every night for the past couple of weeks – it’s not that much fun for us when we’re really needing our sleep – both the little ones push us out of the bed they sleep so sprawled :) But the love to snuggle on the couch and fall asleep with Daddy at night – and that is very sweet, then talk Momma into snuggling on the couch with them for an hour or so in the morning – my “to do” list hollers at me, but I’ve been ignoring it in favor of the snuggles and I’m a happier Momma because of that one little decision. So worth it!
We often find our whole family in the same bed too! We have a king size bed and thank goodness..our daughter sleeps sideways and we are constantly moving her feet off of our heads:) Our son is a “snuggle bug” and is usually tucked inside Gary’s arms. Although, I love every second of it…I am thankful that all four of us aren’t sleeping together all the time…I tend to wake up with a sore back after being kicked all night:)
We went through our house last weekend and ended up with 12 bags to take to Goodwill! We could definitely downsize more!
I agree! Every once in awhile is nice, but…not every single night. I admit that I tend to sleep best when I actually have room to stretch out and I’m not relegated to the very corner of the mattress. ;)
One exception, though, is when I have a newborn. I typically sleep BETTER when I have my baby by my side because my babies sleep best that way too.