Preparing for baby #2: A toddler and a baby sharing a room?

Unless we win the lotto (which we don’t actually play at the moment) and move to a bigger house Athena and her baby brother will be sharing a room once he’s no longer sleeping in our room, out of sheer necessity.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this (talk about worrying about something that’s probably almost  a year away!) recently although it really shouldn’t be at the top of my worry list! Athena’s nursery is fairly neutrally decorated and is an average sized double room. However it has a large bookshelf in it, a large chest of drawers and two half sized wardrobes, plus a smaller set of shelves for cloth nappy storage and of course her cot bed which she will grow out of before too long I imagine, being on the tall side!

My worries are two fold. Worry one is how well will they sleep in the same room? Obviously in won’t put them together until baby boy is sleeping through the night but inevitably one or the other will wake up and set the other one off. How do you deal with these situations? Will I end up with bigger bags than ever from attempting to settle them both back to sleep? Or will I end up forever bed sharing with one or the other to let them (and me!) get some sleep?

Worry two is how will I fit two cots and two sets of clothes etc all into the same room, and then when Athena goes into a single bed will it be even harder? I’ve toyed with the idea of a high or mid sleeper from bedstar, Athena on the top with a bed guard and baby boys cot underneath. I figure this way they will be unable to see each other to distract each other from sleep, but Athena would need to be at least three to do this safely I think. Having one bed above another would mean that we retain a bit more space for clothes and things too!

Any ideas from anyone who’s been in the same situation will be greatly appreciated! I’ve started a shared kids bedroom board on pinterest (where these images come from) that I’ll be adding to when I see some inspiration!