The room that Josh and Steve built

When Uncle Steve came to visit this year for Christmas we put him to work! Since adding Luke to our family 20 months ago we have moved him from room to room trying to make our space work. The bedrooms in our home are not so very big but the girls have shared the larger room since we moved in. They are very happy in there, sometimes too happy as I have to "remind" them that it's bed time and no more giggling! And since there isn't a lot of space we tend to clean out the clutter sooner than might otherwise happen.





Well, Blake has been in the smaller room and trying to add baby boy Luka to 11 year old Blake's space has been interesting. While Blake has been more than willing; we ran up against a problem. Basically, Blake wants to be asleep at 2 a.m. while Luke prefers to scream, I mean call out and see if anyone might be awake and want to play.







My mother says that none of my children have been fabulous sleepers. I have to agree. Although, in my defense I'll just say that I'm first born and have obeyed all the rules and done what the books say. And yet....







Well, all these protestations haven't encouraged our sleeping boy to lie still. So we had him in our room. Just until he would grow out of it and sleep through the night. After his first birthday we saw no light in the tunnel and moved him into the bathroom. European bathrooms are quite big typically. So it would have been a great bedroom. Except that little matter of people wanting to brush their teeth or pee in your room! My mother was of course horrified. "I hope you tell them to flush with the lid down. You know they say...."







So at Christmas time Uncle Steve showed up. He hemmed and hummmed and looked around at the hallway space in front of the bathroom. He noticed the sky light there. And a kids' book shelf. Yes the ceiling does slope; but with a little knowhow two brothers could possibly make this work.







Josh and Steve drove all over town. Thank you Lord for Bauhaus, our version of Home Depot. They got the parts, used a pocket door and now, Luke has a room big enough for his crib, a basket of toys and his night light. The sky light window brings in natural light and there is even a radiator there.







He can't have any big sleep over parties in there but the other kids have all said that Luke has the coolest room of everyone now. And his sleeping has improved! I guess when you wake up and you can't call out to the guy in the next bed and no one is sneaking in to get their tooth brush you tend to get a better nights sleep!







Thank you Uncle Steve!