Big Girl Bed

We have been slowly 'unbaby-proofing' our house for the last month or so.  We took down the gate on the stairs, purged the toys, removed the locks from the cabinet doors (the ones that still worked), and it all culminated with moving Emilie to a 'big girl' bed.  So, don't bring your babies to our house, it's not safe.

Last weekend, when we made the transition, we tried to make it fun for Emilie.  She helped me take apart her crib and put up her new bed frame, then we went out and she picked out her own bed sheets.  She was a bit leery at first, but once the bed was made, she got really excited and promptly started jumping on the bed.

Emilie is a book lover, and the first few nights after the transition we had some struggles with her getting out of bed to get more books.  Since her bedroom is right over the living room, we could hear every time she got of bed.  When we went to check on her, her bed was full of books, and she would just smile at us with a book in her hands.  It took her over an hour to fall asleep.

The past few nights have been a lot better, though.  So, either the the initial excitement has worn off or the exhaustion has set in.  She will still get out to get books but is too tired look at them.  When I checked on her last night, she was asleep in her bed completely surrounded by books.  What an angel.  The big girl bed is a success.

It's curtains for you Ari...and a new bed!

My dad called a couple weeks ago and asked if we wanted Stephen's bed for Ari. As I hesitated to ask what Stephen was going to sleep on, my dad informed me that Stephen was getting a new bed. Relieved that Stephen wasn't going to have to sleep on the floor, I asked my dad for the measurements and went upstairs to see if the bed would fit. To my relief, it did, and my dad said he would bring the bed to us soon.

Our bedrooms are pretty small in our house and this new bed has drawers underneath it to act as a dresser. Ari already had a bed, but this new storage option was too good to pass up, and the new bed didn't take up much more room than the old one. My dad came up last weekend with the new bed and we set it up in Ari's room. It fit well, and Ari was delighted in the fact that there were doors in the bed frame that allowed access to underneath the bed itself. His own secret hiding place! How fun!

The bed was a little bit taller than his old one and we had to position it differently in his room to allow for all the doors to function properly. This resulted in the bed going across the windows. Ari had long drapes in his room and the bed did not allow the drapes to hang unimpeded. We came to the conclusion that we would take down the drapes and put up a valance. Then, on a recent trip to Hobby Lobby, we found some Cars fabric and I decided that I would try to make the valances myself since I had Eva's sewing machine. (I hope you don't mind, Eva.)

Having never made curtains before, I looked at some of the other window treatments we had in the house to get an idea of how to make the ones for Ari's room. I don't know if I used the right technique, but I got them completed and Ari likes them; that's really all that matters anyway. I think they look pretty good, myself, and Ari's room got a quick impromptu makeover. Even after all that, he still doesn't make his bed. Kids!