The MOJO Family: Rachel's new bedroom and the mystery of the missing paint can

Mommy the monster

It seems that half of our blog posts are related to Rachel sleeping... because getting a good night's sleep is so crucial to us since we've become parents. And it's never guaranteed. So for a while now, we've been getting ready Rachel's 'big girl bedroom' to transition her into a bed and out of the baby's room. Prior to this, she was sleeping on the carpet of her floor, often without blankets.

Rachel chose to switch into a new room with a monkey/animal theme, and has helped pick out several things. We have really wanted to play this whole thing up to get her excited about her room so that 1) she will sleep well in it and 2) she will not feel like she was 'kicked out' of the baby's room.

So, we bought a twin bed, a dresser, and a rocking chair on craigslist. Then we bought monkey sheets, monkey drawer handles, monkey wall decals, a monkey/giraffe/tiger lamp, a monkey wall clock, and a monkey laundry hamper! Perhaps a little overboard in some ways, but it's a part of playing it up and we essentially needed to outfit a whole bedroom since the nursery will stay as is. Also, with 2 exceptions (the wall decals and the sheets) the prices for all things were very reasonable with some pretty awesome craigslist and online shopping.

Nana is currently working on a quilt and 2 wall hangings to complete the animal theme room. Go Nana!

Dresser - the dresser we bought was a good quality 5 drawer dresser from a family for $70. I was looking for weeks before I got one I liked. Unfortunately, it was light blue with maroon color pull knobs. (For those of you who know Jason well, he hates light blue because his college arch rival was light blue North Carolina and he went to NC State.) So we decided to paint it. And while we were changing it, I decided to buy monkey pull knobs.

Light blue dresser drawer waiting to be painted

Paint - last weekend I went out and bought groceries, a paint tray, a paint roller, and a can of bright yellow paint. When I got home, we had company coming immediately so I quickly put the groceries away and then had dinner, etc with friends/family. Before bed I thought I'd try and get a coat of paint on the drawers, but I couldn't find the paint can anywhere.

Where could the missing paint can be? The roller and paint tray were in the garage. The groceries were put away properly with no strange mishaps like a paint can in the fridge (totally possible in my life). Rachel and Jason had been playing in the garage when company arrived. So I asked Rachel:
"Honey, were you playing with a big silver can?"
"Yes Mommy."
"Do you know where it is?"
"Yes Mommy. I put it somewhere."
"Can you show me where?"
So she shows me to the Chariot, where she had loaded several pairs of shoes and a few other items, but there was no paint can. Then she looked around the driveway and kept looking down the street, where she has recently enjoyed throwing balls and frisbees. No paint can. Suspicious...

Sunday I scoured the house, called the store, asked all the company we had had over, and came up short. The yellow paint can was missing. So the drawers sat, a pale blue, waiting to be painted.

I was pretty sure the upcoming days would reveal the missing can in some random place. But no paint can.

So this weekend I went to the store and started over. In fact, I decided yellow was not the color to be and the universe was steering me toward green. So green I bought. And painted the drawers. So the green dresser with monkey pull knobs is all finished and sits nicely in Rachel's new fun room.

Still... no can of yellow paint has materialized. So the ending to the mystery remains unknown.

But, we are very excited for Rachel's room and she has transitioned quite well to her big girl bed.