From Before to After: Master Bedroom

Y'all haven't missed anything.

We haven't moved.
Same house. 2 years.

It's just that I'm just now getting around to putting up "real" curtains in our bedroom. (blogworthy right?)

Are y'all disappointed about something? Anxiously waiting for a different sort of blogpost? Maybe of something on a smaller, sweeter, and 7 pounds-ish scale?

I get it. I'm 38 weeks pregnant. Full-term. Ready to pop and all. Y'all were hoping for newborn pics, weren't you?

The short version is, my womb laughs at due dates. 

Scoffs, even.  

Watches them come and go, leaving labor wards empty. (i4 Sweety, you have permission to make Mama eat her words)

September 30th is the due date. The 2-week blog forecast is 99% chance of scattered nesting/decorating/i1-i2-i3/waiting-for-baby blogposts. Isaac the First was a c-section so it's not safe to induce. We wait. I paint stuff. I make to-do lists. I sew. I freeze meals. I clean things. Grandparents arrive. We wait some more.

Now that everyone is on the same wavelength (with less sciatic nerve pain, I hope,  for your sake) lets take things back circa 2011 for the "BEFORE" pictures...

June 2011. Let's call this one, "High Hopes."

Then... so you can see the step-by-step, non-haphazard way we added a bed frame, painted over the orange-water spotted walls, and got around to covering up all the storage-ness, here's some DURING or, for the forward thinking, PROGRESSION pictures... 

There's so much to love. No duvet cover, wires exposed (no that one isn't going into his diaper, though it looks like it!), a sleeping Zayah.  Who needs a bed frame for a nap?!  No way THIS room is getting confused for a Master Bedroom.  Nuh-uh.

 We'll call this one, "Laundry Day" because it sure as heck wasn't "Decorating Day." Taken by a toddler-Isaac somewhere around January 2012 or before, given the size of Immanuelle who stopped sleeping in our room around then.

Another moment captured successfully by Toddler-Isaac. SO glad he got the beige-and-green curtain fantasy in the frame.  There are just some things that need to be remembered.

October-ish 2012.  It was tough but I think, "Lazy and Not Decorating Bedroom" would be pretty on-target for this caption.

"Storage Glory" ... August 2013....and the crib is BACK in our room! The blue part of the walls was painted by this point as well as pallet-mirrors made for dressers. However, given the state of things that's just a desperate way of saying "PLEASE don't look at those awful curtains and ignore the craploads of exposed storage."

"The Last Stand"
August-September 2013. The state of things for over a week. Approximately 45 seconds after the storage boxes were opened to be whittled down to as close to empty as possible (so long extra crap!) Isaac cry-yells from the bathroom, "MAMA! I JUST THREW UP!"  Have mercy. We persevered. Boys started school, bottoms got sewn onto the curtains, my hero of a husband figured out how to rig up the curtain rods and we declared it "PRETTY MUCH DONE!"

I won't keep the AFTER shots from you any longer...

Morning Light
There are now black-outs behind the curtains, but I love morning light all the same. Helps me roll (literally) out of bed.

Beige lampshades that look oh-so gold in photos. Meh.

Nighttime with Lights On
And now the pillows look green?! {shoulder shrug}

Still a few things to add, no? Rugs. Rugs and Photos missing. And Artwork... And I can tell what y'all are thinking and you're right; actually, there WAS a full-length mirror on the blue wall by the wardrobe. It crashed (and I tried to re-purpose the wood!) but it has not been replaced. Yet.

One last one. Because looking at the same room at different times of day really IS interesting and it  DOES give you a glimpse of my life as we wait for i4...

Lamplight

And maybe rugs and artwork aren't what's missing...it's more like baby spit-up... and a diaper that didn't make it to the trashcan as soon as it was changed. Oo-oo! AND a passed out Mama holding a baby who both fell asleep at the midnight feeding. THAT is what will make it complete! (rather, it's what's sure to make it in the room before any new rug or piece of artwork!) 

How to turn 4. Featuring Isaiah.

First, start the birthday weekend early.  Be the first one to have a birthday in your brand new class at your brand new school. You get a poster and a huge crown and people sing to you. Even if you're super shy, you will still think this is awesome.

On your birthday morning (though you may still have little interest in eating any kind of breakfast) have the standard hard-boiled egg, but have it on the "Special Rivers of the Day" plate and rock that sleepy face like it's your birthday.

Check in on Lego-cake and cupcake making in the kitchen. As Mama may, in fact, need you to lick some icing out of a bowl she's finished with. And since you're four and all,  no one will notice (right?) if you stick your finger in some icing that's already on a cupcake.

(at some point your little sister will notice that the cake is on the table and you are sitting watching Disney Jr and not noticing.  Just because she's only 1 and you're 4, doesn't mean she should be ignored. It IS cake. She has a point.

Next, don your crown.  Once friends arrive choose "Open peasants" over "Eat cake and ice-keem" to kick off the birthday fun.

...ask your Daddy to take a picture of you with your sword. He'll realize a smile on your face and a request like this from you means you're really really excited about that sword. He will gladly comply.

Everyone in the photo could've benefited from the knowledge that your 1 year old sister was in sole possession of and said "CHEESE!" appropriately.  How was she the only one who noticed your Daddy taking this?

After that, check and make sure you are bigger today.

Confirm the results.

This may be a no brainer, but next, go to Legoland.

Live up the chance to choose what YOU want to do at the park. As a 4 year old in a (growing ever) large family, the specialness of that opportunity won't be lost on you.

...make sure that some of those ride and attraction choices make your Mama's heart turn to pure goo.

Like this here...you can't see it, but your Mama's feet are becoming goo as quickly as you're throwing out that peace sign. You ARE in Asia. It is ALWAYS called for.

Next choose an age-appropriate place for dinner. Pizza? Of COURSE you pick pizza! You are 4 and there are only a couple of options. (and the other McOption was acquired through the drive-thru and eaten on the way to Legoland for lunch)

And lastly, if you were born a car-baby, continue that tradition. Even as a 4 year old your parents will still think its photo-worthy.

Happy Birthday Zayah! You rock Mr. Four Years Old!

The Rivers Boys Start School

Isaac is in Kindergarten 2. (translated into American = K5)
Isaiah is in Nursery. (which I think might be the British term for "preschool at 3 years old")

It is a brand new school. As in, parts of it are still under construction. It's an "International School." Which basically is like a private school, but since there really isn't an option for local schooling and homeschooling gives me the hives and my children the spankings, this is the route we've chosen.

2 days under our belts and I think it's gonna be a good year.


I would write more but this new routine has worn me out as much as it has our boys (or is that the 36 weeks pregnant thing?) so for now you get pictures. More later on International Schools, Third Culture Kids, and such.

For now, please enjoy this photo representation of us entering a whole new phase of our parenting...

...aka- "school aged kids."

And yes, I realize only Isaac fits this category, but both my baby boys are now away from me during the day, so Zayby-baby will get equal picture time because it's his first time at preschool AND because he's adorable...

See ya next year Summer Hair.  Or rather in like 2 months because who has time to keep up with hair cuts AND it's always summer here (so summer hair always has a place).

Numero Uno.  Depending on the type of degree he wants to get this could be the first day of like 20 years of school. Bleh! Who is glad they're done with school!?! (me!)

Nombor Dua loves mousse. (and his curls love it too)

It was really quite comical getting them to understand their "signs" and to hold them correctly AND smile (See Top Photo for the only one)

The first of many drives to school.

Birdie was there too.

He has his moments! I was actually trying to get a shot of Singapore out his window (which we get a view of on the drive) but that car was ill-timed and Mr. Kingston made it WAY better with his expression anyway!

In class. Totally an oldest child!

His, "I'm excited but I'm shy..." face...

Home Bird was NOT happy that her boys went into their classrooms and didn't come out again (or that she didn't get to follow)

...but she cheered up when the "Lions" came to do the Lion Dance.

Lion Dance

My Kindergartner thinking its the most normal thing in the world to have a Lion Dance on the first day of school. I wonder if his Japanese friend there thinks the same thing?

When construction is done the school will be huge!

So even though Immanuelle kept asking, "Where Isaac? Where Isa-ah?" in the car, she was pretty ok with having all of Daddy and Mama's attention for the rest of the morning. Including finding brother's sign and posing with it going to the Kopitiam (Chinese Coffee Shop of sorts). SHE knew what to do with the sign!

No follow-up pics, but here's an "after" shot of Isaiah. He loves his teacher and his "-cool" (we're working on "S's")

We're excited about the "Cool-year!"

Too Easy...

Reading to her babies while her quilt was finishing in the dryer. Girls are SO much different than boys!

Folks it has happened.
Immanuelle Marie is now a certified "Big Girl Bed" sleeper.

Like her big brothers before her, she has a younger sibling on the way and that means movin' on up to the Eastside whether she likes it or not. Or, mind you, whether I like it or not. (she's way tiny to be a big girl) Isaac and Isaiah were briefly both in cribs, but that was just because we had no clue Isaiah was going to arrive so quickly. As soon as it was possible, Isaac was promoted to big boy, Isaiah followed about 20 months later, and now Birdie-bye has her badge as well.

Our life sometimes seems so full of unsettledness, moving, changing, transitions, and the like. We wouldn't trade our lives for anything, but always "saying goodbye" to everything and everyone can wear on you.

So, with big-beds we have done our best to try and make this one small aspect of their young lives as easy as possible on us and them. We decided not to do toddler beds, but to go straight from crib to bed...
#1- because even though our crib can change into a toddler bed, there has always been another baby needing the crib in the crib form.
#2- because we didn't want to buy anymore furniture than necessary. (an extra crib or a toddler bed)
#3- because saying "bye" to something- even a bed- can be difficult sometimes. So we just decided to only make them say goodbye to their crib. Instead of a crib AND then to a toddler bed too.

More "sameness" for them for longer, less furniture buying and having to help them transition through change for us. Win-win!

Now that we're through with the explanations that you care not for... shall we move on to photos of our sweet Ellie Bellie in her big girl bed?

We shall.

Easiest

Transition

Ever.

HomeBird was so excited about her bed. Everyone "helped" as we assembled the mucho cheapo frame from IKEA. We found her reading to her babies that she had lined up all by herself like she'd done it a thousand times. At bedtime she showed no apprehension and seemed to need none of the brief explanation we gave her.

For this milestone Anthony and I have made sure we start on a night when we are both mentally prepared to sit outside the door and "train" said child to stay in bed. Isaac took 2 nights, Isaiah somewhere around the same. Not long, maybe a few tears, repeating the instructions, but overall not a big deal for us or them.

But Ellie Bird? The baby who speaks in 5 word sentences? The in-tune toddler who tells me when she has poo-poo in her diaper? That easy child?  She never even tried to get out. 

Doesn't surprise me.

Maybe she loved it too much to want to get out? Maybe she just knows the rules somehow already? I dunno, but the only "training" we had to do was one time catching her standing up on the bed and telling her to lay down.

Naps? You ask? Hasn't missed a beat!

One adorable note was that she seemed to think that she was supposed to lay on her back on her pillow, but after 45 minutes the first night, we went in and she still wasn't asleep.  She was perfectly still, quiet, and under her blanket, but awake.  So we told her to lay on her belly and after that she was a goner.

AND...to round out this ridiculously easy transition, she has slept about 30 minutes longer than usual the last two mornings!

Love. Her.

So not only has she seemed to tackle this milestone effortlessly, Mama now gets those snuggles with her after she's asleep, as logic would tell you, cribs and snuggles don't exactly mesh well.

Parenting is most definitely not always this easy. So we are super grateful this one has gone so well!

Sweet dreams baby girl!