Bed Transition

In a previous post, I mentioned that we currently live in a 3 bedroom house, and that we are in the process of turning our guest bedroom/office into Brenson's room. I think it's all going to turn out just fine, but for a while we were really debating on how to handle the bedroom situation.

We have quite a bit of overnight company between family and friends that come to stay, so we really need an extra double bed somewhere in the house. Before we found out that Brenson is a boy, we had talked a lot about putting a second crib in Brianna's room and having her share with the new baby. I think that had this baby been a girl, we would have done that. However, since he's a boy, we decided to give him his own space.  

Our living room isn't big enough for a hide-a-bed, and an air mattress won't fit in the kids' bedrooms with all the furniture in them. So, we decided to transition Brianna to a double bed, and when we have guests, they will use her room. 

Brianna's crib is convertible, so we started the transition a little over two weeks ago with taking off the side of her crib. She was so excited! Here she is before going to sleep on her first night in her toddler bed:

 

The first night was exactly what I expected it would be . . . rough. She actually only got out of bed one time while going to sleep. I think she realized very quickly that we were serious about her staying in bed and decided not to push her luck. However, she fell out of bed 4 times that first night. We could hear her falling out of bed over the monitor, but every time we went in her room she would still be asleep (just on the floor!). We would put her back in bed, and a few hours later she would fall out again. It was a long night.

The second night was even worse because she would wake up when she fell out of bed and come into our room. Brianna has never slept well with us in our bed. We have tried to get her to take naps with us or even sleep with us all night a time or two, but she won't have it. She needs and has always liked her own space. I think she came in our room 4 times the second night, and I would take the lazy road and just put her in bed with us. Of course, she would fuss around for 30 minutes until I took her back to her bed. Then we'd do it all over again. *sigh*

After the first two nights, I got really nervous that maybe she is just too young for this. Our plan was to transition her into the double bed (with side guards) in about 3 months, but I was quickly beginning to rethink that. I was ready to put the side back on her crib and try this all again after she turns two, but Chris convinced me to give it at least a week.

I'm so glad he did, because after the third night, she has done great! She hasn't fallen out of bed since then, and only a few times has she gotten out of bed when she is not supposed to. She has only come in our room in the middle of the night one time since the second night. I think she has really transitioned well!

Here she is sleeping peacefully during nap one day :-):

She really loves her bed like this. She thinks she is very grown up and always wants to climb into bed herself. I'll admit, I was a bit {okay, a lot} emotional about my baby being out of a crib already, but I think it's going to work out just fine.