A Big Boy Bed!

Well, the time has arrived to finally decide what we were going to do for James' new big boy bedroom! Chris and I talked for weeks back and forth about using his nursery furniture in his new room, and converting his crib to a full bed. Or, buying him a bunk bed set.

I am not keen on bunk beds for a couple of reasons. 1) in the typical bed under a bed fashion, they are hard to sit in as an adult (on the bottom bunk) and read to your child. James and I read stories every night, and so I wanted this to be comfortable. 2) Many bunk beds are really tall, and with 8ft ceilings, I wanted whomever was in the top bunk to be comfortable. (I also didn't want it to be a HUGE pain in the but to make the top bunk).

We spent a long time looking at beds online, on Craigslist and in local stores. I was at my wits end, because everything is so so FREAKING expensive, and even though we had put money aside just for James' room, I really didn't want to break the bank, especially because Chris and I have been being ultra-conservative with our money while we prepare for the new baby's arrival.

At our last stop last Saturday we were in a store and were just about to sign the deal on new nursery furniture for Baby Girl when we saw a GREAT bunk bed set. It is made of birch and is beautiful. Also, the bottom bunk is not attached to the top, so it can be placed anywhere in the room. It also comes with built in drawers and a little desk! (It was also on SALE--Yahoo!!!)

I was immediately thinking that it would:

• be great with the color in James' new room
• be so nice to have an extra bed for one Garrin stays over
• offer a nice play area underneath the top bunk when the bottom bunk is not there
• be a special thing for James and a great way to celebrate his soon-to-be big brother status

I had also wanted some awesome safari bedding from Pottery Barn Kids (could someone please tell me to stop looking at that website everyday?) but is is already too expensive and now had to buy TWO SETS of bedding. We ended up finding awesome log cabin quilted bedding that is really soft and fun. It actually reminds me of summer camp. So, I am going to decorate his room with teddies and fish and woodland wildlife--maybe even some stuff from the Little Bear series (which he loves).

Also, the great thing about having all of this set up is that we can take our time transitioning him into the bed. Everyday at both nap times (10am and 3pm--I know, I am SO LUCKY!!!) we go in and he lays down for about 10 seconds before he gets up and plays. He lines up all his teddies either on the floor or on his bed, and then he goes and lays down again, and then gets up again and rearranges the teddies. It is very cute and I just love him to pieces. Eventually I just take him back to his crib, but I think he is getting the idea.

I took some photos yesterday of the whole process. Enjoy!!!

(Oh, and I guess reading back over this post, that you can tell how much I obsess about every little detail, huh??) Oh well. That's just me!! LOL