A Bed Fit for a Big Girl

Chloe has been showing a lot of interest in "big kid" beds. In fact, she has been begging for a big girl bed of her own and asking to sleep in Evan's. So, we decided we would go ahead and set hers up for her despite the fact that she has been sleeping perfectly in her crib and something deep inside told me I was tempting fate.

Here's a before shot of her nursery (minus the bumper pad, we removed it when she attempted escape one night).

I loved her nursery set so much that I decided I just wanted to stick with it for her big girl room, too. I absolutely adore the picket fence and flowers on her wall and couldn't imagine changing it. Since they were still carrying her design in the PBK catalog I decided to just stay with it, but went with the "green" instead of the pink since I thought it was a little more grown up. We were able to use the same valence and panels so that gives plenty of pink in the room. I'm hoping this lasts her for quite a while.

As you can probably tell, Chloe LOVED her big girl bed! She was thrilled and had to climb up and read books on her pillows. She was singing and kicking her feet all around. One interesting thing... Evan did not climb out of his big boy bed for at least a year on his own. He would not get out of bed without one of us coming to get him. This was nice was we didn't have to worry about him wandering around or staying up playing or anything like that. Well, the first thing Chloe did was climb up and down off her bed on her own. This is foreshadowing for later...

Yes, Chloe absolutely adored her big girl bed... right up until time to actually go to bed. I could tell she was getting tired and so I told her it was time to get ready for night night. Her response was,

"No, night- night. I want to go home."

Uh-oh. I suspected "home" was her crib. Sure enough, she had a really difficult time falling asleep. She genuinely seemed scared when I turned off the light, so I stayed with until she fell asleep for this first night... for the whole 2 hours before she fell asleep. She woke back up at 4 and as soon as she opened her eyes, her feet were on the floor and she was at the door crying. She can't open her door, but she's not likely to go back to sleep standing at the door so I went back up and stayed with her until she finally fell back asleep at 6. Then she was up at 9 for the day, again feet on the floor as soon as her eyes opened.

She told my mom on the phone,

"I got a big girl bed and a night light and mommy."

I guess in her mind I just came with the bed. I knew I had to put an end to that quickly or I'd be sleeping up there for quite a while. So, at naptime that day I helped her into bed and she pointed to the other pillow and said, "You lay down right there."

I cheerfully told her nope, she was going to sleep like a big girl all by herself and to stay in her bed and I'd see her when she woke up. She was very uncertain, but agreed and she stayed in her bed and took a great nap. I was thrilled!

But that night, she was acting pretty afraid again. I laid down with her for a minute, but then told her I had to put Evan to bed and I'd check on her when I got done. She immediately started crying. When I left her room she got out of bed and came to the door crying, but after about 5 minutes she crawled back in her bed and she went to sleep! Success!

I think it may take a few more nights before there is no crying, but it looks like she will make the transition after all. So, you may be wondering how I handled taking the crib down. Well, I have to tell you, Matthew knows me well enough to know that it must be done like removing a band aid... quickly. He doesn't give me any time to waffle, he had that crib apart in 10 minutes flat. It does make me sad, especially knowing that I may never have another "nursery" in my house again. (That would be why the rocker is still in the room right now, LOL, I couldn't handle thinking that Tuesday night was my last time to ever rock my baby.) But, as with all things, seeing her so happy and gaining independence is thrilling as well and I love her "big girl" room. I think it is beautiful.

Here are a few more pictures of the rest of the room. She has two closets, so we put the dresser in the other closet to leave more floor room and make it less cluttered.

Random Moments from Our Summer (Unedited)

Notice anything different about our family room?

Yup, those would be hardwood floors! Our latest (and we really really think one of our last this time) remodeling projects. (Please disregard te underwear in the floor, they aparently didn't go with the batman/power ranger combo suit. Anyway, Matthew put these hardwood floors down all by himself! So proud of him and I love them!

I'd like to introduce you to Indiana Jones.

And I don't really have a clever caption for this one. I just think she's cute.

May the Force Be With You

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... ok, well, it was about 5 years ago and right here in my own house... What I'm trying to get at is that Evan's room has undergone yet another transformation as it grows with him. Here's a quick look back:

The nursery. The theme was happy bugs. I loved it. This was before we got the glider, I guess. The crib and dresser were mine as a baby. I did the "coke can test" to make sure it was safe because I'm super paranoid. It is totally 70's looking, since I was born in 78 but it saved us some cash and I think it is special that my babies slept in the same crib as I did. Not to mention that Evan sleeps in the same room as I did. Well, not as a baby, but anyway... moving on.

The toddler room. Tractors. Guess what? The twin bed? Mine as well:). My mom does not get rid of things. It comes in handy for us. I actually slept in that twin bed until I got married! In this same room:). I loved the tractors. Evan loved tractors and John Deere and it fit him perfectly. We had Brian sketch the tractors for the wall and barns and stuff because he's a great artist. Then, we put them on transparencies and projected them on the wall with an overhead borrowed from school and Matthew did a great job painting. I was really sad to change the nursery and get rid of the crib and all, but I loved this room when it was finished.

This was when we first did the room so there are still some stuff from the nursery, but later we added the aquarium and we replaced the stuffed animals with tractors and John Deere memorabilia.

They didn't have a valence that went with our bedding so my mom made us one out of an extra bedskirt.

And now... the newest transformation. STAR WARS/superhero. A real "boy's" room. No more baby here, baby! I was really sad and hesitant about this change, but Evan LOVES his room. Matthew insisted on moving some of his toys up so he could play in his room. We have always kept all toys out of the kids' rooms so that they only sleep there. But, Matthew wanted him to be able to have his own space. I of course, didn't feel that was necessary at his age. However, when I saw him playing happily I had to admit that Matthew was right.... for the few weeks it lasted. Most of those toys have now made their way back downstairs now:).

And the TV. Another battle. I have always insisted that our children would not have TVs in their rooms until they were teenagers at least. (Just like I also insisted on no gaming systems. Somehow no one really pays any attention to what I insist upon very often).I didn't want them holed up in their rooms all the time. Matthew moved this little TV in while he was up there working and then before I knew it, it had become a permanent fixture in the room. But, since it doesn't have a DVD player or digital cable, there's really not much for him to watch most of the time so he really never watches it anyway.

My big boy enjoying his Legos without the interference of his sister.

I'm expecting this room to last him for quite a while. I hope so anyway, I don't think I can handle anymore change any time soon, LOL.

CUIDADO!

More construction is underway at our house!

Can you guess what it is?

The Last of the Home Improvements

We are finally finished with all of our home improvement projects for a while. I'm so glad. The latest thing we did was to finish out the kitchen and my kitchen has been covered in sheetrock dust for two weeks now and I went like five days with no working outlets. It was not fun, but I'm very happy with the finished results.

Dining Room Windows Before

Matthew and Evan putting the finishing touches on last night.

And after

And our finished kitchen backsplash and new kitchen window.

A few other little home improvement projects that have gone on around the house:

Matthew and Evan installed a new screen door on our screened-in porch.

And we had several big shrubs in our landscaping that died, so Matthew pulled those out and replaced the plants with some other things. He also switched the rock out for mulch. He likes it better. I think it will be much more work for him, but it does look nice.

The finished product:

I didn't take a before picture, but the front row where the smaller shrubs are now had I think three big boxwoods across it. Matthew put in some ewes, holly bushes, and white azaleas. It looks very nice.