The HEMNES

As I sit here at almost 11 pm Monday night, Labor Day 2006, I have to say that Matt and I are pretty proud of our 5 hours of "labor" today. It's name? THE HEMNES. This is the name of Gabe's new loft bed that we just purchased and assembled from the great land of IKEA. Let me back up to where it all began........(picture a swirling thing in your mind like on TV when they flash back...)

Today was the day that I had decided we were going to clean Gabe's room. Any of you that have seen Gabe's room know what I mean! We started by moving everything out of his room and tried to rearrange the placement of the bed. In Gabe's room there are three big pieces of furniture that all have to fit: the bed, his drumset, and his desk. It was becoming very clear very quickly that our current set-up was not working. We needed to get Gabe's bed up off the floor so the drums or the desk could go underneath...hence, the HEMNES. We found it on the IKEA website, checked to make sure the measurements would fit, checked to make sure we could actually get it home in our minivan with the three kids, and finally checked to make sure they had it in stock. We headed off to IKEA in Canton, Michigan. Any of you who live close enough, YOU MUST GO!! It is the Disneyland of interior decorating and organization. I can't tell you what it was that struck me the most. Was it the sheer magnitude of square footage of the building itslef? Or was it the play area with staffed children's workers that will watch your kids for free for up to 45 minutes, giving you a pager should any problems arise? (Zoe wanted to go, but after being there 10 seconds and realizing that Mom and Dad were no longer there, she freaked, so we brought her back out) Could it have been the dining area that had entrees such as chicken marsala and salmon for the adults or mac and cheese for $.99 for the kids? Or even better, was it the rolling cart that held your dining trays so you could carry more than one tray at a time? This place was insane. Bed Bath and Beyond on steroids. It was just amazing.

So anyway, we get our 112 lb. package into the minivan with all three kids, drive home and start the assembly process. The first thing we had to do was move Gabe's current bed into Zoe's room as her new bed which matches just amazingly beautifully. Then the assembly of the loft began. I would love to say that it went perfectly smooth, but alas...let's just say we had to take it apart (ahem) a few times and reassemble it before it was all correct. Gabe is now in the HEMNES. He can get up and down the ladder just fine (it's at an angle so that helps). Tomorrow once he's at school I will take and post some pictures. Here's to a TRUE Labor Day!!