Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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JenniferS
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 7:10am | IP Logged Quote JenniferS

What do you do about room divide ups? We have five boys and one girl. Our daughter is nine, and the boys are younger. Right now we have four boys in one room, and dd is in the other room. The youngest currently sleeps in our room, but he will be moving to a big bed soon. Right now, we have claimed the bottom bunk in dd's room for him. Eventually he will probably sleep in the other boys' room. We cannot fit another bed in that room. I have ideas, none of which dh is fond. What do you do???
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kris
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 8:04am | IP Logged Quote kris

We had 8 boys and 1 girl until this past December :) and roughly 3 bedrooms. The boys all slept in the same room in bunkbeds, futons, cots.....whatever we could fit :)
DD slept in her own room with baby.
This was in our old house.

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Mary G
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 8:09am | IP Logged Quote Mary G

Well, first let me say that we have a 4bdr house -- one for my mom, one for the girls, one for the boys and one for us....reality is that all three of the littles camp out in our room! So that means the teenagers each have their "own" rooms. When oldest boy goes off to college in June, we'll move all Maggie's stuff into the boys room (with another bed) and that will be the "littles" room ... hope springs eternal! Then just when Catie is getting ready to go off to college (2 years off), Maggie will be 10 or so and she'll move into her own room then.



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joann10
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 8:22am | IP Logged Quote joann10

We were blessed to have 5ds and 5dd. So we could divide up much easier than you. At the age of 9 we still had boys and s sharing rooms though.

Now we have four boys in one room, a bunk bed, a toddler bed(poor Mark's feet are starting to hang over) and a fold-away cot.
4 s share bedroom number 2. A bunk bed and a small single bed. Dd5 bed hops between her sisters and us.

DH and I have room #3. We do have a crib and a pack and play in our room, but I don't think that the babies know that. They usually sleep with us.
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Lisbet
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 8:42am | IP Logged Quote Lisbet

We have 4 bedrooms, but only use 3. 3 boys in one room, although we have 2 sets of bunk beds in there so we could easily fit 4 or 5. (bottom bunk is a double) Two girls in the other room, and 3 in our bed.

We are hoping to move before little Benny arrives though! (trying to get used to saying that!)

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kingvozzo
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 9:12am | IP Logged Quote kingvozzo

I'm assuming you have 2 sets of bunk beds in the boys' room? Could you fit a trundle bed under one of the bunks for the 5th ds? That's our plan when our youngest (so far ) son is ready for a bed. Our house is not enormous, and floor space is at a premiums. With the trundles, I figure we can fit at least 6 boys and 3 girls in the 'footprint' of 3 twin beds . After 9 kids, we might run out of room....

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Posted: April 27 2007 at 9:39am | IP Logged Quote folklaur

We only have three children, but we do have a tiny house. We actually have all three of them sleep in the same room. DD17 is on a high loft bed, with her "personal space" below it. dd8 and dd4 are on bunk beds next to her. The littles always wanted Sarah to sleep in their room anyway, and she would on the floor or what-have-you, and so we figured this made more sense, plus it freed up the other bedroom as a "playroom" - since my living room and dining room is a "great room" set up, and would get overrun with toys, books, etc...
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amyable
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 10:48am | IP Logged Quote amyable

I hope this isn't moving too far from the original post, but I was wondering -- with 3+ children in one room, what do
you do about clothing and shoes (i.e. closets/dressers).   Our girls bedrooms are on the small side (8x10 and an awkwardly shaped 9x11 - both with poor placement of closets/doors/windows if you ask me )

Each room has a small closet and fits a small dresser. Maybe we have too many clothes, maybe it's just because they are girls but I feel overrun and everything is jammed in (OK, it probably is at it's worst now because it can be 35 degrees one day and 85 the next around here right now! )

Anybody up for a Carnival of Bedroom and/or Closet Spaces ...with pictures, please? I need visuals.

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kris
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 11:02am | IP Logged Quote kris

I hope this isn't moving too far from the original post, but I was wondering -- with 3+ children in one room, what do
you do about clothing and shoes (i.e. closets/dressers).   Our girls bedrooms are on the small side (8x10 and an awkwardly shaped 9x11 - both with poor placement of closets/doors/windows if you ask me )



--- when all my boys were in the same room we didn't keep any dressers in there. i kept all their clothes in the laundry room which was in the basement. dressers are big space wasters for us since once the kids get bigger and have bulky jeans and sweatshirts, not much seems to fit in them anyway.
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Bookswithtea
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 11:03am | IP Logged Quote Bookswithtea

Bedroom space never seems to work out for us. We have a boy, then three girls, and then a boy. There are 12 yrs between the two boys. We have three bedrooms upstairs and a finished basement with an egress window. The three girls share a room...one bunk bed and a toddler bed that she is quickly outgrowing. I'm still debating on whether to go with a trundle or a bigger bed for her.

Ds right now has taken over a basement room as his bedroom so that the little boy could have a room. In reality, the 2 yr old still sleeps in our room and the teen boy sleeps in the 2 yr old's twin bed surrounded by little tykes toys!

I've got no peace about the two boys sharing a room with their age difference, and I've got no peace about the oldest sleeping in the basement (although dh thinks I'm being weird about this). We are expecting. I am less concerned about squooshing the new baby into one of the two upstairs kids rooms than I am about what to do with our 9th grader. We dream about doing a bedroom addition, but I just don't have a peace about that, either. Other than a bedroom, we are doing fine, space wise (house is just under 1700 sq. ft not counting the familyroom, craftroom, and 'bed' room in the basement). I don't want to spread us out any more than we are, already, and I want to retire in this house and don't want to be cleaning 3000 sq ft in my old age, kwim?

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Lisbet
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 11:04am | IP Logged Quote Lisbet

Family Closet, in the basement. No clothes or dressers in the bedrooms. Solves the problem.

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juststartn
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 11:05am | IP Logged Quote juststartn

We've currently go three dds, and are due with twin boys in a month or so (not sure when they'll make their appearance).

Right now, all three dds are in one room, two twin beds and a crib-converted-to-a-toddler-bed....

We are going to be putting all three dds into a full size bed, and the boys into the toddler-bed-converted-back-to-a-crib...they'll all be in the same room. We already had moved all of the dc's clothes to the other bedroom (we have a three bedroom house--one for DH and I, one for the dc, and one for the clothes/hsing/sewing/miscellaneous "stuff"...two double dressers...their hanging clothes (all church stuff) is in the closet in the "dressing room"...we use the larger closet in the dc's bedroom for Rubbermaid tote storage for their not-in-season/wrong size clothes...

Dont know if that makes sense at all. But we've got so much stuff it's just NOT funny. We are planning on moving in another couple of years (once DH returns from this upcoming deployment)...right now, we're in 1100sq ft--not teeny, but for this area, it is. We don't have a huge yard either (maybe 1/4 acre if one counts the house's footprint).

The dds are limited on the number/size of the toys that they are allowed to keep, and I stay on us all about keeping things neat and tidy....the toys are only allowed in the bedroom (they have one rubbermaid tub and one basket, total, plus a few larger things like a wooden play stove, a doll bed, a dollhouse, and a FP play piano). If things get out of hand, and they won't fit in the basket/box, then it's time for another weed out...

Its not going to be exactly spacious....but it'll do for now. We'd go with bunk beds, except that my youngest dd is 3 and would be up on the top one all of the time--and we have hardwood floors. Not to mention the soon-to-be-born twins, who, if they follow the family pattern, will be climbers from day 1. LOL.

Rachel

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Cheryl
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 11:13am | IP Logged Quote Cheryl

amyable wrote:
I hope this isn't moving too far from the original post, but I was wondering -- with 3+ children in one room, what do
you do about clothing and shoes (i.e. closets/dressers).   Our girls bedrooms are on the small side (8x10 and an awkwardly shaped 9x11 - both with poor placement of closets/doors/windows if you ask me )

Each room has a small closet and fits a small dresser. Maybe we have too many clothes, maybe it's just because they are girls but I feel overrun and everything is jammed in (OK, it probably is at it's worst now because it can be 35 degrees one day and 85 the next around here right now! )

Anybody up for a Carnival of Bedroom and/or Closet Spaces ...with pictures, please? I need visuals.


Amy,
I'm going to try to find a picture that I know is around here somewhere of my boys' closet in my old raised ranch. We had just put shelves in it before we moved. I will probably post this weekend about the amount of clothes we have. You are right that this is the worst time of the year when the warm and cold weather clothes are all out at the same time.

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Bookswithtea
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 11:16am | IP Logged Quote Bookswithtea

Lisbet wrote:
Family Closet, in the basement. No clothes or dressers in the bedrooms. Solves the problem.


Is your washer/dryer in the basement? Mine is off my kitchen, and its a small room with two outside access doors so wall space it minimal. I don't think I could fit a family closet in there, though believe me, I've brainstormed about it!

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Lisbet
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 11:24am | IP Logged Quote Lisbet

Books, yes, my washer and dryer are in the basement, the 'family closet' is right off the laundry area. We also have a laundry chute from the upper bath to straight above the washer/dryer.

I don't suppose a little kitchen laundry area would work.

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Posted: April 27 2007 at 12:03pm | IP Logged Quote joann10

Most of our clothes are in the basement. We have no dressers in the boys room. I have two large clothing racks in the basement that we hang almost all the clothes on. One for boys-one for s

Our washer and dryer are also in the basement. I have a big table next to the dryer where all the clothes get folded and everyone has their own pile.
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JenniferS
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 1:13pm | IP Logged Quote JenniferS

Ahh...we don't have a basement. I like the trundles idea, Noreen, but dh does not. I think we will have to do it eventually.

As for dressers, well, we used to have them in the boys' closets, but then there was no place for the toys to go(because the toy chest took up too much space in the room). So, I put one dresser in the hallway. The baby constantly empties the drawers. I put the other dresser in our entry room. The closets do have shelves, and we use them. My mother graciously lets us store off-season clothes in her third garage.

Right now a few of the boys end up in bed together by morning, but the older boys aren't crazy about this arrangement, though they allow it. Dd also has bunkbeds in her room. I think the youngest boy would be fine in there for a few years, but will need to be out when he(or dd) is older. So, probably, we will do the trundle thing.
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Posted: April 27 2007 at 9:23pm | IP Logged Quote JodieLyn

we're split pretty evenly.

because of the size of the room and space for beds and dressers.. instead of a trundle.. that has to pull straight out the side of the bed.. and so you have to keep a clear space for that.. we have a foam mattress under the bottom bunk and it's possible to tweak it and pull it out and place it at a 90* angle to the bunk beds.. which means that the dresser next to the head of the beds and the ladder at the foot of the beds (off the side) can stay where they are and we still get that 3rd bed in there.

And I would probably just put the youngest in with the girl.

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Posted: April 28 2007 at 2:22pm | IP Logged Quote meaculpa365

We have 6 Dc varyng in age from 19 to 2. We have had everyone share in various configurations. Our homes have both had 4-5 bedrooms.
Oldest DDs shared w/ loft & toddler beds in our apartment.
Then we put oldest w/ baby bro, as he slept in the room by day & in w/ dad & me by night. He was less noisy than the hampster!
When the next baby-dd, arrived the 2 older dds shared while the 2 youngers shared.
Next baby, ds, put the 2 boys together & 2 youngest dds in bunks while oldest finally got some private space.
When we arrived in AU we put 2 teen dds & oldest son in sep. rooms, giving 2 youngest, dd & ds, bunks together. They liked to play together but I felt funny b/c of the gender differences. After 6 mos. the youngest dd moved in w/ her oldest sis.
It seems that the teens fight over personal space but the littlies make huge messes together!
Both my parents (mom had 4 sibs & dad had 7) lived in 3 bedroom homes w/ one parent's br then a girls & boys br. I don't think either ever had bunks-just double beds. Pam in Au JMJ

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