two become one

One more look at before...and after:

But let's back up and see how we got us to this point. (Sidenote: it is 7:53pm and both kids are sound asleep in the new, shared room).

This morning--before the rest of the world was either exiting church on their way to brunch or just rolling out of bed--Alex and I were assembling Catcher's new bed. I have to put in a disclaimer here, because "assembling" is really a loose term. Last night when I peeked at the directions, it said "3 simple steps," and I have to admit that it was kind of true (once we figured out which way the "feet" went).

First, we jailed Scout:

Next, the boys worked on clearing the room:

Like I said, the actual assembly of the bed proved to be somewhat unremarkable (sorry to all of you looking for a massive blowout between Alex and me), so I have no visual record. After the bed was together, our next stop was IKEA. Although I knew I would hate the place the second I stepped in the elevator, we weathered the chaos and made it out on the other side alive...and without buying a bunch of crap that we didn't need but was super-cheap. In my hour wandering through the small town of IKEA, I discovered that it is good for all things kids, outdoor furnishings and people watching (if you're into watching people who help contribute to the weight crisis in America). Sorry--no visual documentation of the trip to IKEA, but maybe Alex will send me a couple of snapshots from his impromptu photo shoot with Catcher when I was on a mission to find kids' bedding.

Surprisingly, the most challenging aspect of the day turned out to be figuring out the exact placement of furniture in the new room. Here's a look at my thought process:

Although I only took pictures of three actual configurations, there were about eight that I played around with until I finally settled on my second option, minus the trunk that once belonged to my great-grandmother). Yes, our house is small. And yes, it's crazy that four people live in 847 square feet. And yes, it's a little cramped in the kids' bedroom; however, I have to admit that things turned out much better than I had imagined. Catcher is psyched about having his own bed, and the room really doesn't look that much smaller than it did before (at some point, small is just small). Right now it's 8:38pm and I haven't heard a peep from the room. How long do you think that will last?