The Kids Room and our sleeping adventures

Now that Graham can crawl, we realized we to adjust our sleeping arrangements. The most recent inspiration has been to move Graham to the 'kids room'. I tried to get him to sleep in his pak n play, but it was very upsetting (boy does not want to be caged in and/or left alone). So, this last weekend while Gwen stayed slept over two nights at Grandma's, we took the opportunity to see if Graham could sleep in the 'kids room' (on his twin futon mattress on the floor). Normally after going down for the night he wakes up about every 30 minutes and I have to nurse him back to sleep until I go to bed, then he nurses every 2 hours or so. Well, first night alone he went to sleep and stayed asleep for 2 hours (which was an improvement!). He then pretty much woke up every 2 hours and I ended bringing him to bed with me. The second night he slept for 4.25 hours straight! Though, I ended up finishing the night with him. It is exhausting going back and forth between the rooms. Still, this was motivation to make the change. I figure if I can spend the first half of the night baby free and in my own bed, then I am willing to put in the effort the second half of the night. Last night was our first night of explaining to Gwen her room is now the 'kids room', and Graham is going to sleep in there in his bed, and she is going to sleep in there in her bed. I put Graham down for the night on his futon. We each read a story to Gwen in the living room, and then I brought Gwen in to her room and thought I would sit with her until she fell asleep (mainly so she wouldn't harass sleeping Graham). It took her an hour and a half to go to sleep! At one point Graham woke up and we all were in kids room: Spencer laying on the floor next to Gwen's toddler bed, me laying on the futon with Graham and we both stayed until both kids were asleep. At 10:30pm we emerged from their bedroom exhausted, but too upset to sleep (it was extremely frustrating trying to 'make' someone sleep- like watching a pot boil, but worse since you don't really know when it is going to do what you want and need it to do)....so much for our evening. Jury is still out on whether or not the effort is worth it, but it seems like the right thing to do, have the kids in their room, and the parents in their room. Last night Graham slept until 1:30am (which again, is an improvement). When I went in to nurse him, Gwen crawled into bed with us, telling me to move over to make room and give her a pillow. I found myself smashed between two sleeping babies, and god forbid I wake either up trying to escape, so I slept the night on the Twin size futon. *This photo is in our bed after a strange afternoon when they both woke up early from their naps, but went back to sleep after a nice cuddle with Mama.