The end of one chapter...the beginning of another

As of this past Saturday a crib is no longer a necessary piece of furniture in our home. For 5+ years we have had the same crib set up and most of that time it has been home to one of the two kiddos. It is definitely a moment to sit and reflect on.

It's hard to believe that I no longer have babies. That's a chapter of my life that is over. I'm both relieved and sad. Babies are great to snuggle, but they are difficult as well. Especially having the baby that I did in E-Man, I think I can say good-bye to those days without regret. We're done with two and are happy with that choice.

When K-Girl transitioned to the twin bed from the crib (at about 18 months) my aunt gave us the old twin bed that she had. It was old but it served it's purpose. We had said that we would use it with K-Girl until E-Man reached the age of moving to a twin bed and then we would get her a new one. The day had arrived.

We went out and picked a new bed with K-Girl. We settled on a twin bed with a trundle. She wanted bunk beds but I just couldn't do it. For the extra money that they cost and the hassle of changing the sheets and the worry of someone falling out of the top it just wasn't worth it. So this was the perfect marriage of the need and the want. Now when sleepovers start we will have a place for friends to sleep. We didn't order the trundle piece at this time, but will have to order that soon. It's nice that it's an extra piece so we can order that when we get a little more cash in the near-er future (because we can't wait too long so they don't discontinue that bed style).

This is K-Girl's new bed...

And caught during a (very rare) nap...

Initially we had to put her bed rail on her new bed. We tried to convince her that she wouldn't fall out, but she wouldn't have it. After one nap and moving the old mattress on the floor underneath her bed to "cushion her fall should she fall out" she decided to take off the rail. This made us extremely happy as we could then transfer her old rail to E-Man's bed and return the $25.00 rail we had picked up the night before. And for what it's worth, she hasn't fallen out nor even come close. You see how she sleeps. It's more of a perpendicular position to the bed. She's not really going to roll off.

And now E-Man has inherited the hand-me-down bed. We did get him a new mattress as the one that was on there was in pretty sad shape and was old. It's amazing how looking at your child in a crib and then looking at the same child on the same day in a twin bed just ages them so much. He looks like such the big boy.

With help from E-Man, we settled on a transportation theme for his "big boy" room. (There was a very close second of robots.) We got the bedding, valence, and lamp. Now we need to strip the border we have up from the nursery theme and paint the top portion of the walls. The Husband likes the idea of using the yellow color from the bedding as the top portion of the walls and I think I agree. I had thought about doing a new border in a color resembling the street and then painting yellow lines down the middle and making a border that way between the two colors. The Husband is also thinking of making a stop and yield sign like on the bedding to hang on his walls as well. Hopefully within the next month or so we'll be able to solidify our plan and make it happen. It really drives the anal side of me crazy to have the jungle animal nursery theme and the cars and trucks together when they don't completely match. ;) So soon, and I will post pictures when we are finished.

Here's E-Man in his big boy bed...

All in all the move from crib to bed is going well. Naps are still going on as they had. Bedtimes have not been any more difficult since the switch. I'd say that it was time and he was ready. But it's still odd walking into his room and not seeing a crib as it has been in that room since we moved into this house 4 1/2 years ago.

*sniff sniff*