A big girl bed for Tula!

We spent the day today arranging and rearranging furniture to finally put a big girl bed in Tula's room. She has been ready for awhile I think, but I wasn't ready to give up the convenience that the mini cage offers. There are still times that it seems the only reason she goes to sleep is because she has no where else to go, but that just has been so rare lately it didn't seem like enough of a reason not to make the switch. Plus, her new thing is after her bedtime story she wants whoever is putting her to bed to "lay down" beside her on the floor till she falls asleep. We figured if we were laying there anyways, which we always end up doing for her for a few minutes, we might as well make it comfortable for ourselves. So, without really a plan or knowing we would do it today, we had nothing better to do so we decided to make the switch. We actually ended up emptying Maverick's furniture out of his room and returning it to Costco, where it was purchased. I know, crazy that they would take it back, right? But it had been less than a year since it was purchased and there were drawers falling off the track already and it was just clear to me that this would not be transitioning with him from crib to toddler bed to full...it wasn't going to last. Plus, we just don't have the space for all these cribs. We have decided that we are going to stay in our home for a few years, we were waffling back and forth for awhile about moving while the market is so crappy but we just really love our house and all the friends we have made in the neighborhood have really made this location invaluable to us. So, when baby #3 comes (which, no, it is NOT on the way at this point) but probably in the near future, that will mean Tula and Mav will be sharing Tula's room she is in now. So, her crib set and furniture came into Mav's current room, and it will be the nursery for the next baby, and Tula now has a double bed with, really no furniture at this point. We are planning on buying her a dresser at some point this week, something neutral and big enough for them to share. And then hopefully we can get rid of her rocking chair soon too and create some space in the bedroom for them to have toys and play in there. Right now, Tula is big into her dolls, feeding them, reading to them, singing to them, dressing and changing their diapers. So this will be her little play area up stairs, where she can be a Mommy in her own bedroom.

Tula seemed very excited all day as we were going through the motions, she liked picking out her bedding at Ikea and sheets at Target, talking about her big girl bed. She loved seeing that big bed and jumping up on it and playing while we were all working and moving furniture and her and Mav had the room to themselves. At bedtime, as you can see in the pictures, she had turned on the tears, but I think it was because it finally occurred to her that all the fun was over and it was just a bed and she still had to go to sleep. Soon we will begin transitioning Maverick into the room with her, and they will more than likely share a bed as well, until they want to sleep separately. I loved having sleepovers with my sisters as a kid and I just like the idea of them being together through the night until they chose otherwise. It's hard to believe that even if I were to get preggo today, by the time the next baby were in the picture we would still only have one kid in a crib. I have loved the last year the feeling of having a houseful of babies..one in each room. The two cribs just made it feel like the kids were so little. And a big girl bed just makes it feel, well, the exact opposite.

Tula seemed to go to bed okay, John put her down and read a story and laid there for awhile then left. He said she was still awake when she left but she has been in there for an hour or so and we haven't heard anything yet so I guess she put herself to sleep. Yay!

Looking forward to lots of nighttime snuggles with you Miss Belle! Congratulations on your big girl bed, hunny! What a big step! Maybe bigger for Mommy then for you, but a big step anyways! Sleep tight, baby girl. Love you.









This is not really this finished product but I wanted to share some pics. We went with black and white bedding to keep it neutral for when Mav moves in, the pink sheets were to get her excited about it but those will probably go when he comes. I think we will end up painting in there...I am thinking a warm, sunny yellow would be fun for both of them and a nice change. We will probably do another white dresser just to keep it kid"ish" looking but I don't think we will buy her any sort of a bed frame at all in case them sleeping together doesn't work out and we end up having to buy twin beds a lot sooner than expected. So, I will post pics when the room is totally complete but here's how it looked tonight. She thought it was pretty spectacular!