Cody’s Big Boy Bed!!!

I have been talking a lot about all the transitions we have made with Cody over the last 3 years. Change is always hard because I am a creature of habit! With that being said, parenting is tough for me because you can never get too comfortable in one spot….things with kids are always changing and evolving. Thankfully, the transitions weren’t near as hard as I had created them out to be in my head! I think one thing I have REALLY learned with having a second child is that you have to go with the flow and let some things go. I definitely still have lots of structure to our day and commit to those things that are really important to me as a parent, but I have learned to let a lot of the little things go and I am much happier because of it!!

Our next big transition was the dreaded BIG BOY BED! I was in NO hurry to get him out of his crib and he wasn’t complaining so I thought I would just let it happen naturally. I knew that if he was climbing out or asking to go to a bigger bed, then that meant is was probably time to switch him. Until then, the crib certaninly wasn’t hurting anything!

He did finally start climbing out (he was over 3 at the time!) and, at the same time thankfully, I was kind of over the crib. I wanted to lay with him in bed and read him a book or snuggle with him so we ended up both being ready at the same time which I was grateful for :) A few months before that, the hubs and I had started looking at beds and talking about what we would want for him. Although we knew it would be a lot of work, we kept coming back to the idea of daddy building the bed. Steve is pretty handy and we both felt that there would be nothing more special than to have his first real bed be something that daddy built for him. I found plans online at Ana White (which is such an amazing site for ANYTHING you are looking to DIY) and they were free so Steve printed them off and then tweaked them to what we were wanting. If the loft bed is something you want, there are gobs of options on her site to choose from!

We decided to put the bed in a different room. One, because Steve wanted to build it in the room and was going to be doing that here and there when he had time and two, because it would have blocked the window in his current room. Although I was worried it would be too much to do a new room and a new bed, I think this was good because he had time to get use to the idea of having a new room and bed. We talked about it all the time and went in the room to check it out. We involved him in the process as much as possible, asking him questions about where he wanted things, picking out colors, bedding etc. It took Steve about a month to build so Cody had plenty of time to get ready! The other thing we did was start using the Good Nite Light. He got this as a Christmas gift and we started using it right away. I wanted him to know that although he may be able to get out of his new bed (unlike his crib), that he was not to come out until his sun was up. Kim suggested we start using it before the transition to get him use to it and I am glad we did! It took him some time to really understand it and so by the time we moved him to his big boy bed, he was use to the sun/ moon concept and we really had no major issues.

We waited to move him over to his new bed on a Friday night so that if we had any problems we would both be here to help with things. It took him a little bit to fall asleep that night and wanted to play more than anything. He slept through the night and then got up early and came in our room. Same thing the next morning. Of course, at first, I thought it was cute that he could come in our room. HOWEVER, I had to cut that off because I didn’t want him to think he could do that all the time. So Monday morning, I had him go back in his room when he came out the morning  and told him he could play in his room until his sun came up and that was all it took! We have days here and there he comes out early, but 90% of the time he plays in his room until it is time or is still asleep until it comes up! Now that we have used the Good Nite Light for a while I will say I love the concept. If your kids still nap, I would recommend looking into one that has a nap setting also. Cody has “quiet time” and I would love for him to have a visual cue as to when he can come out. One of the moms at The Little Gym told me she has a bunny one that you can get that does both morning and nap time!

SO, the transition itself wasn’t too bad! Cody LOVES his new bed!! First of all, it is super cool!! When the kids in the neighborhood are over here playing they all say how much they wish they had a bed like Cody and he just beams! He also loves telling everyone that daddy built it for him and I know Steve is really proud that he could do that for him (and we saved a boat load of money too which is always a bonus!). I know that once Cody grows out of it, Grayson will enjoy it and it will surely be passed down as a family heirloom which is really cool! It is a sports themed loft bed so he sleeps on top and has a playhouse underneath! I like that he can keep it messy underneath, but his room itself can stay clean. If you don’t want them to sleep on top at first, they can sleep underneath!  A lot of the plans on Ana White are for a twin bed. We opted for a full bed. My neighbor, who is a seasoned mama of 3 kids, had given me some great advice and said she would go with a full. Although it is more money up front, I am glad we did. He has plenty of room to grow with it, we can lay in there comfortably and if he ever gets sick we can stay overnight in there with him and have more than enough room. He also has plenty of room for when his brother gets bigger and they want to have sleep overs or when friends stay over. Overall, it was great to be able to build a bed that would work perfectly for us AND Steve was able to really personalize it too!

Big enough for all of us! I got the adorable bedding at Target!

Steve made pull out drawers in the steps for extra storage

He used a baseball bat for the handle going up the steps.

Under the bed he has a total playhouse! Steve used every space that he could so he built in shelves for more storage!

His little window and reading nook.

Of course we had to add a chalkboard! We bought chalk paint at lowes and then framed it in for a more finished look!

Steve based the doors off of a scoreboard. The black he hand painted, the white and red numbers/ letters are stickers and then he painted over the “Field of Dreams” and the outline white of the doors in glow in the dark paint so it looks cool at night!!

The hubs is an electrician so the playhouse wouldn’t be complete withouth lights!

We used baseballs for the posts. We also made the railings high enough that we wouldn’t have to worry about him rolling out. You can make them even higher if you want, that is the beauty of building it :)

I had the hamper from his baby set, the sport shelves I got online. They are REAL and were only like $5 a piece. The table is made of baseball bats and I found that at Home Goods. The crates we got from Kim’s dad and use them to hold his books.

Got the football toy box for $2 at a garage sale!

I found these curtain rods on ebay. I bought really nice black out curtains at target for like $30 total! I love to use black out shades so Cody isn’t asking why he is in bed when it is still sunny out!!

The hubs won this battle. I didn’t want to spend the money on this, but he had to have it! It glows in the dark so I guess I can let him get one thing since he did build the bed right?!

Sports themed big boy bed transition…check. Mama feeling better that it is over with… check! Cody LOVING his new room..priceless!