Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The End of an Era

It came as a slight surprise to me when Saturday morning Mr. Ham said "let's do the switch today."

The what?

The switch. The bedroom switch. Tear down the crib, set up Grant's new bed in the room the crib had been in, and start having Natalie sleep on the bottom bunk in Abby's room.

Ooooh. That switch.

Grant tries out his new bed
for the first time.
This is something we had been talking about for several weeks now. We originally had discussed doing so around Memorial Day weekend. I'm not sure why we didn't. Maybe part of it was denial? I dunno. What I do know is that Mr. Ham tore down that crib, then we disassembled the changing tower. Then assembled the hutch to make it a dresser/hutch instead of a changing tower. Then it was time for the bed. I made it with Grant's new Thomas bedding, and his room was ready. And he was THRILLED! I'm not sure if it's the having his own space, the Thomas bedding, the blue walls, or something else. But he was THRILLED. Still is. It's pretty cute, actually! (Click the thumbnails to see the pictures their actual size.)
Grant reads to his puppy in his new bed.




Once Grant's room was ready, we prepped the girls' room. Changed the sheets for Natalie, brought her favorite blankets (for snuggling) into the room, and let her check out her new pad. She was excited, too. And the next morning, she came into our room (way too early) with Abby, and she had a HUGE grin on her face! She, too, is still excited.


Grant shows off his Thomas bed.
It's bittersweet for me. Because it's the end of an era. For almost 7 years we have had that crib up and (mostly) in use. When Abby was a couple of months old, we moved her into it. She stayed in her crib until she was almost 2.5 – a few months before we needed it for Grant. He used it until he was a few months shy of 2, because Natalie was coming. And she has used it since she was a couple of weeks old. (Funny how that works – first child gets a couple of months in our room. Last child, a couple of weeks. But, I digress ...)

We knew when I was pregnant with Natalie that she was the last. It was confirmed for me shortly (we're talking moments) after her birth. I knew I was D.O.N.E. DONE! While I occasionally get a tiny smidgen of baby lust, it's very fleeting! I just remind myself how nice it is to be done with the newborn craziness. Natalie's got a routine, we're all settling into a nice family routine. I'm happy to NOT upset it now! ;-)

But, still, it is the end of an era. The Baby Era is over in the Ham household. Over and done. (Mr. Ham is fixed, so there's no question about it!) And I'm 99.9% happy with that. But, part of me will miss my cuddly, sweet babies. (Especially when the older one mouths off and rolls her eyes ...) The Baby Era is over. I'm not sure what to call it now. We have one in school, one in preschool, and the other's technically a toddler still. The first of many Transitional eras, perhaps? Maybe I'll call this Transition Era, the First. That will give way to The School Era, when all three are in school. Back to Transition, etc.

Yikes! I had better stop thinking about that! It'll make me sad.

Time to enjoy these sweet babies – er, I mean children – of mine before they want nothing to do with me!

4 comments:

Loren said...

Oh what a sweet and precious post Heather! I have been out of the era for so long but now I have a grandbaby to cuddle and another on the way :) WOOHOO! Yes, these days go sooo very quickly and then a whole new era begins! Enjoy every single precious day my friend!

ham1299 said...

Thank you, Loren! :-)

Odie said...

Great pics of Grant! Definitely a bittersweet era. That's part of the reason I desperately want another - I'm not ready to say goodbye to the baby days, even though I love being able to sleep through the night and not have to change diapers! lol

~ Chris

ham1299 said...

Not changing diapers. Oh, I HOPE to get there soon!

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