Musical Beds

We've had a hand-me down toddler bed sitting in the guest room in our basement for months and months just waiting for when our baby girl was big enough to give up her crib. Caleb started climbing out of his about two months before his second birthday, so we expected Hadley to be moving out of hers somewhere around that time frame as well. In turn, we hoped to be able to shift Reid from the Pack 'n Play he was currently using to the crib at that time.

Her birthday passed though and she still seemed very content in her baby bed. Truth be told, I was pretty content too. Hadley was the easiest child to put to sleep. I could lay her down and she'd either fall right to sleep or just play with her blanket until she did. When she woke up, Hadley didn't fuss most of the time either. She'd just lay in there maybe fiddling with a stuffed toy or kicking her feet on the sides of her bed, playing until someone came to get her. It helped Mommy get some extra sleep and gave me the security that she was safe and not able to just get up and roam. 

Finally, after a few more months passed I got up the nerve and motivation to see how Hadley would do in a "big girl bed." On July 5th, I asked Dave to help me move the toddler bed up to Hadley's room to give it a trial run - my one request being that for now he leave the crib in there too. How would I juggle all three of them at nap time if Hadley wasn't confined to her crib and could just get up and wander around at her heart's desire? We needed to give this some time; we needed to develop a routine. 

She, of course, was thrilled with this change and was eager to nap in her new bed. 

This is how I found her!

Even with the toddler bed in there though, I found myself using the crib a lot still. I used to rock Hadley a bit to calm her before putting her to sleep, but with the new sleeping arrangement, she'd tell me she didn't want to rock and asked for her bed almost immediately. As soon as I'd leave the room though, the pitter patter of little feet and a creaking door would alert me that she didn't have the discipline to stay in put yet, especially if she wasn't super sleepy when I laid her down.

But, then there was Reid...The crib was working great for Hadley and Mommy's preferences when we needed it, but Reid deserved his turn in there too. He was getting bigger and waking up a lot throughout the night, so I thought he might need more spacious sleeping quarters and a firmer mattress than what he was currently using.

About two weeks ago, Dave made the change one evening when I wasn't home. Hadley gained a lot of space in her room...

Notice the woo-woo (pacifier) is gone in these pics too. Aug 4 was the last day for those. Mommy wanted to get rid of them a month or so earlier, but Daddy said to let her keep them for a bit more because she was still little and Caleb had them a few months longer. I wanted to be fair, but my concern was that I didn't think she was talking as well as she could when she had one in her mouth. Finally, Daddy hid them and Mommy just changed the subject whenever she'd ask for one and the habit was kicked pretty quickly. She's asked for one only a handful of times since they disappeared. It was much easier than I thought it would be and a lot smaller ordeal than what I did to help Caleb shift away from his...At least I won't have this battle with Reid who never attached to the things.

...and Reid got his finally got his real bed!

Since Hadley is such a light sleeper and Reid wakes up a lot at night, the crib had to be moved to our bedroom. Things will be cramped for a while, but we're making do.

It's taking some practice, but for the most part Hadley stays in her bed pretty good when we put her down now. When she's up, she's up and ready to go, but you can't have your cake and eat it too, right?

Reid doesn't seem to be sleeping much better in the crib than he did before, but you never know with infants. He cut a couple teeth this past week (one we found on Tuesday - the 26th - and one on Wednesday), which may have been part of his issue. He's also gotten his arm stuck in the slats a couple times while he was asleep which roused him to a tantrum. It was so lodged in there one time last week that I thought I might have to break the bed. Dave was out of town and I was in a panic, but thankfully, I thought of baby soap, slathering both his arm and the slats until I got him lose!

He does seem more content at times to stay in there and play after he wakes up than I remember him being before though so that's something.

Overall, I think we made the right move for now and we'll just have to see how things go from here.