Big Girl Bed

Since baby brother will be getting the crib soon, we decided it was time to make the switch and put Alex in her big girl bed on her 19 month old birthday (Saturday before Easter). Well, we made her a twin bed by stacking the 2 twin mattresses from our daybed/trundle bed that was in the study and adding a hide away bed rail to it. Thanks Mom for the colorful quilt!

We weren't sure how Alex would take to the switch so we wanted to make this a special event of her becoming more of a big girl and give her plenty of time to adjust. She had already been playing on the mattresses in the study so she was used to seeing them around. However, we connected the rail and made the bed in her room when she wasn't around after her nap on Saturday. When we surprised her with her big girl bed, she was so excited to climb on it in her room and she loved the colorful quilt. So far, she has treated it just like her crib and doesn't seem to have any problems adjusting to her big girl bed. She doesn't get out of it at night or in the morning which we are so surprised by, yet so thankful for!!! It has probably helped that we put her snugglies, crib blankets and humpty dumpty doll (made by sweet, talented Alice W.) in bed with her for naps and bedtime as she loved these items in her crib. Side note... every time she wakes up in the morning (and from some naps), she wants to bring all those items with her to the kitchen/living room and gets upset if we leave one thing behind. She forgets about it all about as soon as we make it to the kitchen for breakfast. Silly girl!

Alex thought the mesh rail was fun as we made silly faces with her back and forth.

Alex wanted to sit under the covers to get the entire feel of the bed.

We celebrated Alex graduating to her big girl bed with cupcakes after she saw it (stole this idea from the Hallum family - thanks!). Of course, she ate the icing first and only part of the cake. Chris and I laughed at ourselves as we tried to make this a big deal and special. However, Alex adapted so well to the bed that we could have just said, "Hey Alex, you are sleeping in this bed now. Enjoy." I think she would have been just fine. However, we enjoyed making it more fun... maybe talking it up about being a big girl with a big girl bed helped with the transition. ???

We have always checked on Alex every night when we go to bed and usually cover her up. Her first night in the big girl bed, we found her sleeping perpendicular to the bed rail which was no surprise as she slept all over her crib in every direction. However, since that night, she has kept her head at the pillow end. She's learning. :)

After breakfast the morning after her first night in the big girl bed, we found her on the bed playing with (and counting) balls that she lined up by the rail. She stayed in her room for a while that morning playing on her bed which totally surprised us as she often likes to be in the same room as us.

I plan to start looking for a bed skirt as we've decided for now to keep the bed rail up all the time which exposes the bottom mattress. Any ideas where we can find one?