A new bed for a little girl.

The time has come for Anna to move out of her crib and into a toddler bed! I would have preferred for her to stay in her crib because she was fine in it. She's never tried to climb out, but we need the crib for our little baby boy. Our little boy will sleep in a bassinet in our room for the first few months. However, I did NOT want to move Anna into a bed after the baby was born. We decided to do it before the baby was born, so she would be used to it and not have to adjust to a new bed and a new baby at the same time. Plus, I couldn't handle two kids waking up in the middle of the night.

We technically got this bed for free. We had a Visa gift card and it was $25 at Goodwill. I'd been looking at beds on craigslist for a while and every once in a while I would see one for $30, but even on craigslist they're $50-$100. So once I saw it at Goodwill, I got it. And I didn't have to pay for it, so it was even better! I bought it back in April or May. We had to take it apart to get it home. It was originally dark blue with with bars being white.

This bed was a pain for me to paint! Dan primed it white, but either the way he primed it or the quality of primer was weird, because when I went to paint it, the paint wouldn't stick very well to the primer. Which is the opposite of what's supposed to happen. So, I had to do 2-3 coats. Trying to paint a bed when you're 7 months pregnant is not very comfortable or fun. Especially painting something that has lots of little areas and crevices to be painted. I really dreaded doing it, but it had to be done! It took about a week to finally get it all done. I would paint one side, then have to wait for it to dry and do another coat the next day, etc. I'm just glad it's done!

We put it in Anna's room last Sunday. We told her it was her new bed and she got right in and laid down. She didn't get out of it for over a half hour! It was so cute. She kept saying, "I sleeping. Or Mommy put blanket on. or New bed!" Then she wanted us to hang out in the room with her, while she was in her bed.

"Sleeping" in her new bed.

We gave her a book to read and she just stayed in her bed, looking at her book.

The first night went flawless. It probably helped that it was Sunday and she didn't get a nap because of church, so she was really tired. She slept the whole night through. Nap time the next day went well. THEN the second night came. She woke up at 2 am and it seriously took me over 2 hours to get her to go back to sleep. I tried laying her down and telling her she had to stay in her bed. We did that a few times. Then I tried to sing to her and just sit on the floor next to her. After an hour of that, I tried rocking her to sleep in the rocking chair. That little girl would not fall asleep. I couldn't just leave her because she could get out of bed and come into our room. I finally got her to sleep, tried to fall asleep myself, but then this little baby in me was moving so much, had the hiccups and then I got hungry and had to go eat something. Then Anna woke up. At that point, I was done trying and just put her in bed with us and kind of slept.

So, thanks to some facebook suggestions, I bought a baby gate and put that up. We put her to bed and she gets up and cries, but we just have to let her cry for a while, then go in and lay her down, etc. The first night was awful. I felt so bad. She was really upset. Dan was gone, so it was just me and I was still tired from the night before. Last night, (the 2nd) night went better. The second time I went in and told her she had to stay in bed, etc. She started to cry, but didn't get out of bed and fell asleep! So I'm hoping this will continue and she'll keep adjusting and doing well.

I need to get her a pillow. Does anyone know if they sell toddler pillows? I want to make some cute decorative pillows for her bed to match her blanket. I might have to wait till after the baby is born to do that though.