They Shared a Room and . . .

Our girls shared a room on vacation.  They loved it.  LOVED it.  We loved it.  After the first 24 hours of giggling together until 10pm then waltzing into our bedroom at 7am, that is.  I had some, um, what do we call it?  Oh, terror.  Over the entire Vacay being sleep deprived, and you know I'm obsessed with sleep.

Alas, after that night they would merely giggle themselves to sleep.  Youngest would wake up in the middle of the night and instead of calling me, she would wake up Oldest to ask her a question, then they would go right back to sleep.  In the morning, I would hear them wake each other up, start talking and sometimes stay in there for 45 minutes before coming out.  YES!  I said 45 minutes of extra sleep time for MaMa and PaPa.  Ohhhhhhh, delicious.

One morning, they were in there so long after I knew they were awake talking, and I'm like, "What in Sam Hill is going on in there?"  And rather than screaming that down the hall (with a shotgun on my hip), I tiptoed down to see what I could peep and find out.  Youngest was in bed with Oldest, they were wrapped in each other's arms, sound asleep.  I found out later that Oldest got her out of her crib, per her request, and told her it was too early to get up yet, but that she would cuddle her for a little bit just like with Mommy.  Then they fell back asleep.

Swoon.

I've also long held the suspicion that one of the "American Dreams" of  Each Child Having Their Own Bedroom doesn't necessarily make everyone happier.  And while in Florida, I witnessed first-hand how much MORE my children bonded through their room sharing, rather than having their own "space."  Their conflicts were less often, Oldest helped Youngest much more readily than at home, Youngest "went" to Oldest for all kinds of things, rather than rely on Mommy.

Kinda makes me wonder about a few issues, really, but I must save them for another day.  What do you think?  I would love to hear. 

Because I simply can't resist it, I'm sharing some vacation pics below.  I tried to be thoughtful and put the blog first, and gratuitous pics second.  Feel free to disregard if you have no interest. 

See you tomorrow!  :)

Youngest received the best gift EVER from Santa - her own camera.  So she can stop breaking Mommy's.

Oldest posing with Santa ONE MORE TIME!  That girl would take 5 encores with him if she could.  I love, love, love her enthusiasm for him.  For magic.  Maybe she's going to marry an older man.

At the airport, before boarding.  They weren't excited.  Too bad another family decided ours was having so much fun they let their toddler climb all over our stuff and our children, eventually spilling our special airport chocolate milk all over me and the floor.  But that's OK.  We were happy to babysit for a little while.  That's what airports are for, right?

Yes!  They do have parents!  Our obligatory once quarterly family shot to prove they aren't raising themselves.  I think my dad, cameraman extraordinaire, didn't realize how tall Husband really is.  ;)

Youngest doing her prom date pose with HER future Older man, Old Salt.  No lie, this is one of maybe 10 pics of her acting like this with the guy.  And she would have done more if we let her.  L-O-V-E.

It's a Party in the USA! 

Much love with the M and M guy at the Tampa airport pre-flight.  Much.  Love.  Like get out the anti-bac body wash kind of love.

And finally, much love to YOU, readers, for following and being interested in our corner of the world.  I didn't realize how much blogging would lead to caring about people you've never met!