A little more than a year ago, we welcomed our first child into the world—a sweet little boy named Grey. he was born in a time of adversity, as our house, the place we planned to bring him home to, flooded a month before he was due, mere days after I set up his nursery. after losing our home + most of our belongings, we moved in with my parents. I set up a nursery for him there, as well. I can remember the mix of emotions I felt each time—excitement, disbelief, sadness, fear, exhaustion, bitterness. but because of Him, the underlying emotions were hope and joy.
when he was about six months old [and we were still living with my parents], my husband + I found out were expecting again. to say we were surprised is a bit of an understatement. it was not exactly the timing we expected or had planned for; but ultimately, we were beside ourselves. admittedly, it was laughable, especially considering all that had taken place that year.
Thankfully, after much prayer, tears, and waiting [patiently and not so patiently], the Lord provided us with a home. we all were excited for so many reasons. it was just the right timing as my parents reminded us that we were quickly outgrowing the two bedrooms they had so graciously given us in their home for a year.
the house we purchased has three bedrooms + two baths. this is an ideal arrangement for a family with two children; but I knew from the beginning, I wanted the babies to share a room. with our first child, we chose to find out the gender. with this second one, we decided to be surprised. I mean, why not carry on with the element of surprise? regardless of the gender, I want our children to share and there are a few reasons for this. in short, I think it's sweet. it's also economical. another plus is that the bedroom that is used as our nursery is a good size room, so I'm not worried about it being crowded. and having shared a room with every member of my family at some point, my brother included, it wasn't even a question to me of whether or not a boy and girl could share.
When I decorated Grey's room(s), I chose a mostly neutral palette. this proved to be beneficial in our case, because it's not too "boyish" of a nursery, should a sweet baby girl join the family this time around. I plan to make a few minor changes, such as adding another crib, different bedding, furniture placement... just to name a few.
Now baby #2 has not joined us yet, so we will see how all this goes. I have heard from both sides how or why sharing a room will or won't work. the baby will be in our room for awhile, so we'll just see and cross that bridge when we come to it.
