A baby on my hip and two young girls racing ahead, I recall walking through this house the first time.

The layout, the flow, more than suitable for a family of 5 coming from an 1800 square foot house needing all 3000 feet this one had to offer.

What struck me that day was the three bedrooms and the bath on the 5th level; removed from the master suite on the 4th. After 7 years of babies in bassinets and toddlers crawling into beds we could finally have our own space.

So we moved in and I decorated the girls rooms in bright colors and made the upstairs bathroom a mini oasis for them. I hung a P. Buckley Moss print of three little girls in a clawfoot bathtub on the wall and we bestowed it “the girls bathroom”.

Almost 3 years later the upstairs bathroom (as I now have reverted back to calling it) is seldom used.

Sounds silly to wax melancholy for a bathroom but now that it stands empty I sometimes walk in and get teary eyed.

When  their dad moved out 7 months ago the girls slowly crept back into my bed and my bathroom.

At first it was just their tooth brushes that made the appearance and then before long their bath toys and towels followed suit.

It was just easier to have all of us in one place. Easier for the lone parent to bathe and swaddle those three little girls without  having to climb the extra flight of stairs.

And now I find that we live our lives in the footprint of three rooms- the master bathroom, my bedroom and our kitchen. This house with all of its square feet has shrunk into just 3 rooms.

Some day soon the girls will want their space back. The upstairs bathroom I will find full of the necessities of life with teenage girls. Curling irons, beauty products and wet towels on the floor will define it once again as “the girls bathroom”.

But for now, I bathe them in the cool gray tile of my sunken tub; I comb back their hair with my brush and I welcome their little arms at 1am when they decide that my bed will be their nest for the night.