I was in the camp of CRIB FOR LIFE for a long time. She loved her crib. She slept wonderfully in her crib. She has been able to climb out of it for nearly 2 years now but she just didn't. We put her in there and she went to sleep. She liked being in there.
Want to know what finally made me make the change? Gymnastics. Blakely learned how to do rolls over the bar at gymnastics and then that very same afternoon decided the she could do those same rolls over the rail of her crib. Here is the video of her first learning this. At first she would let go and land on the mat on her back but by the end of class she had it down and did about 20 of these things in a row.
Yeah...not safe to flip out of the crib.
Lonnie and I started talking about it and decided that we didn't want to convert the crib to a toddler bed just to have to convert it back in a few months for a new baby (please, universe, please!) and then still have to get Blakely used to a new bed. There is a queen bed in her room already so we thought we would just move her to that bed. Will she fall off the queen bed? We weren't sure but it is pretty high because it has a mattress topper on it as well as box springs and a frame. I didn't want to put the mattress on the floor because that meant storing box springs and a bed frame somewhere in my house. I am in a major purge mode and am trying to get rid of all our excess junk. The idea of that just laying around....no.
So we just went for it and put her in the super big girl bed. We laid pillows all around the sides of the bed and lined her 50 peeps up on the sides of the bed as well.
Seriously a lot of peeps...
She freaking loves it. Has never looked back. She doesn't move a lot when she sleeps so falling off the bed hasn't been an issue. Sometimes she gets turned sideways but eventually finds her way back to her pillow. The best part? It is so much easier to put her down at night. I can get in the bed and snuggle with her while we read and sing songs. Then we give kisses and she is already in a comfy position and goes right to sleep when I leave. It rocks.
We have had a few nights where she called me back down there a few times for "another hug and kiss" but other than that the transition has been smooth. The first week or so I would go back down there immediately if she started calling for me because I didn't want her to get out of the bed. That seemed to work because she doesn't get out and always waits for me to come and get her in the morning. Sweet!
I would say the most negative thing about it so far is that she is waking up earlier! Ugh! She usually sleeps until 7:30 but since this change she wakes up at 6. Wayyyy too early for this mama. Slowly but surely she is sleeping later. We have made it to about 6:45 now and I am hoping to get back to the 7:30 routine since I function a lot better at that hour.
I am so happy my girl loves her big girl bed! The plan is to leave her there until we have another baby or don't and then we will make her a big girl room with her own new bed. Ideally I will get pregnant in about 2 weeks (again, please universe!) the new baby will get Blakely's room with all the same furniture and then we can make Blakely a new big girl room. I am trying not to plan that out too much but it is pretty hard. Infertility puts your life on hold so much. Anyway, I am thankful the transition went well and I am sure that now I have typed all this out that she will hate the bed from now on and get up 23 times per night. Hopefully not ;)
I just have to say that I'm dreading this transition so much, because as you say "it's the last baby thing." I keep thinking back to when we were all trying to get pregnant, then we got pregnant and started planning out our nurseries together. Then we had our babies....now, they are almost 3. Just.Not.Possible. Girl, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and saying millions of prayers that you will be pregnant in 2 weeks too. You are the best mommy, and B will be the greatest big sis ever.
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm reading a ton of these posts lately - apparently we all have kids transitioning around the same time. :) I was definitely in the "crib forever" camp as well, but we needed the crib for Harvey, and I figured at nearly 3 yrs old, it was time to make the change. ;) Stella has a toddler bed right now b/c of space (she and H share a tiny bedroom), but at her Nana's she has slept in a queen bed since she was about 18 months old and has always done great. I'm glad you just went for it - way easier to cut down on the number of transitions needed!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad the transition went well! Super cute bed!
ReplyDeleteLove the new big girl bed! It looks super comfy! I'm still CRIB FOR LIFE with Shane. I have a bad feeling with that one. And I can assure you we will never need a crib again. Maybe that's why I'm CRIB FOR LIFE.....
ReplyDeleteI was also in the crib forever plan.
ReplyDeleteBut we went on vacation and she LOVED her big girl bed then so we went for it!
Last night was her first night and it went well. We will see how it goes from here!
Glad it is going well with B!
Also good luck with your trip. You are a great mom and I will be thinking of you over the next month! !!!
Yup - I think we all made this transition at the same time. Great minds! I LOVE that B has a queen bed. Taylor's crib mattress is so much better than Alex's so I"m thinking instead of upgrading Alex's mattress, I'll give him Taylor's and get Taylor a big bed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I"m mad impressed with B's gymnastic skills.
That last sentence sums Chloe up, haha! She's not that bad, but she does like to get up and now that she's potty training, she sure knows how to use that as an excuse. Little stinker. B's bed looks so comfy! I think I'd fall asleep in it myself! Isn't it funny how we fret and worry about things like this and then once we finally do it it's like, why didn't we do this sooner??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0010BBN7M?cache=930cf0808239cacd51a2cd612793e59a&pi=SX200_QL40&qid=1410363793&sr=1-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1
ReplyDeleteMaybe something like that would help her sleep longer and also keep her from moving too close to the edge?
Just a thought :)