Big Girl Beds

I've been avoiding the obvious for months now: the twirls are too big for their compact cribs.  

They all sleep so well and I just wasn't in a place where I wanted to shake that up.  Finally Dena, the wonderful Early On family counselor that comes to our house (for speech delay), gave us the courage to take the plunge.  Jake and I went to IKEA one night and bought their new beds and set them up in Scarlett's room.  Scarlett has been complaining for several months that she's "so lonely" in her room since she's the only one in a room alone.  So Jake and I figured that moving them together would work - especially so the new baby could have her own room and I could keep my office.  We'll see how long this lasts, I'm sure we'll be rearranging a lot!

So we put their new "big girl beds" in Scarlett's room, tucked in all the girls, and shut the door.  Oh boy what were we thinking?!?  I'm not sure what caused such a lapse of judgement, but it was just too much change for the girls all at once.  Scarlett kept opening the door, one time she yelled "Are you going to come check on us?  Jaide was crying but then she stopped!"  Thanks for the update.

So we changed our method.  We moved their big girl beds into our room for storage.  This worked well for two reasons: first it gave the beds a few weeks to air out and smell normal (not like packaging) and second it gave the girls a few weeks to get used to them, see them, and crawl around on them during the day.  Then we moved their cribs into Scarlett's room.  That way they could get used to their new room (lights, sounds, etc) while in their same beds.  Scarlett listens to music at bedtime which was new for them.  Plus Scarlett had to get used to having them in her room.  I could tell she was still adjusting for a few weeks cause she would often come in our room in the middle of the night with some excuse or another.  One time she had a nightmare: "I dreamed that you didn't love me and you didn't need me anymore."  Oh how sad!!!!!  Another time she yelled down the stairs to us right after bedtime: "I can't sleep, I'm a nocturnal super spy, I have to do something funny for my sisters."  hahaha!  Random!

(the picture on the right was when Jaide had to go to time out in her bed without any of her stuff - she was in big big trouble - I caught her trying to climb out).

After the twirls were sleeping well in Scarlett's room we decided it was finally time to take the plunge.  An the real kicker?  This time we were giving the cribs away to my friend's sister who is prego with twin girls!  So there was no going back!  We decided to let the girls help take them apart so they were aware of what was going on.

Prior to the main event I had to make bedding for their new beds.  The IKEA beds are a weird size, almost like a standard crib mattress but like a foot longer.  They are even big enough for me to lay in!  The weird size is not an issue, as long as you buy all your bedding at IKEA.  That was fine and dandy for everything except the comforters.  They just didn't have anything that I loved, so I decided to would put my new sewing machine to use and make their bedding.  (I have this terrible habit of thinking I'm much more capable than I really am).

Jami, Scarlett and I went to JoAnn's one afternoon to look at fabric.  I found this bright butterfly pattern that we felt matched their personalities and I found green & yellow for the bottom.  When we were waiting to get our fabric cut out Scarlett said "Look mom, that person looks like you!"  It was a 12 yr old boy!  HAHA!!!  And he did!!!  Well, at least his hair!!!  Oh my goodness!  Still laughing at that one!

PS - did you know that at JoAnn's you can use their phone app, the Michaels phone app, AND the Hobby Lobby phone app to get 40% off 3 items in one purchase?!?  Baller!

After watching several youtube tutorials I went to work.  I set up a table in our bedroom so I could sew while watching TV and not having to worry about kids getting in the way.  Jake and Jami entertained the littles so I could work.  The biggest thing I learned from this project: I really like sewing!  Not enough to do it every day.  But in a lot of ways it is an engineering project: spacial reasoning, mathematical calculations, following blueprints, etc.  It felt like I was working in the machine lab at BYU but instead of aluminum I was fabricating cotton!  

I bought extra material to make matching pillowcases.  I saw a tutorial that was suuuper easy to make.  But then I came across this awesome Pillowcase Tutorial that creates a finished product with no visible raw edges.  So you can wash it over and over without fraying.  Since I don't have a serger, I decided to try this technique out.  I followed their instructions, except I decided to skip the decorative ribbon.  I loved the result!  I hope my Grandma Seaver will be proud that I'm putting her many lessons to good use!

The twirls LOVED the "fufferflies" and the fact that they each had yellow and green - especially Siena, she's really possessive of anything yellow!  haha!

The first night in their new beds they were soooo excited!  We had to convince them to leave their room to go take a shower and brush their teeth.  We read the book Big Bed for Giraffe that I bought a few months prior to help them understand the transition.  I love this book!  The images are cute, the story is simple (Scarlett has it memorized), and it clearly shows them it's time to move to a bigger bed.  When we read it we would change the gender pronouns to "she" and use the phrase "big girl bed".  Plus the twirls were at the stage where they were trying to climb out of their cribs occasionally, so when giraffe climbs out of her bed we would say that she got hurt and had to go get a shot!  haha!  Nothing like a little fear to motivate them!

They were so ready for bed that night!

Well they didn't stay in their beds for long.  There was lots of playing...

and being naughty....

and getting in trouble....

After an hour we changed our approach.  Jami remembered that on Supernanny she always used the same technique in this situation: you stand in the hallway on the other side of the door, as soon as someone gets out of bed you immediately enter the room, you pick the kid up and put them back in bed, then leave - all without saying a word.  Jake, Jami and I decided that we were going to try this.  So we took half hour shifts.  It was constant work.  I was so sweaty!  Such little stinkers.  The first night took 2 hours before they were asleep.  The second night it was 45 min.  But the third night they got it!  No one was out of bed.  Now we watch them every night til they fall asleep just to be sure, but we rarely have to go in there any more.  I'm so grateful that Jami has such a wonderful memory!!!
 We let them sit up, read books, play with their monster trucks, etc - as long as they stay in their own beds they are not in trouble.  Sometimes Scarlett will get out of bed with some random request, but we started saying a new thing "mom is off-duty" meaning that after we put them to bed mom (or dad, or Aunt Jami, or whoever she's trying to coerce) is no longer responsible for doing stuff.  Off-duty means that I get to sit on the couch and if she needs something she has to get it herself.  The allure of getting out of bed is dwindling now that she has to do the work.

Nap time is a different story.  We decided that we would just let them be in their room for "quiet time".  They can't get out cause it has a child safety handle.  So they are free to read, play, or nap.  But they get that quiet time to unwind.  Sometimes they'll play for 10-15 min, but more often then not they'll just lay in their beds and read til they fall asleep.  If they don't fall asleep, I will get them after an hour.  But if they do I often have to wake them up after 2 hours - otherwise they would sleep for 3!

 Sometimes they climb in Scarlett's bed, or each others...

At night the little stinkers will sometimes just dangle their feet out of bed - I think they're just taunting us, waiting to see if we'll come.  But they usually don't get out of bed.

 Sometimes they are really sweet and they just read and play together.

And a few times they have even fallen asleep on the same bed.  *sweet*

The girls love being able to get out of bed on their own.  I often wake up to all 3 in my room, the lights on, and a twirl next to my head yelling "bake up mommy" [wake up]

Occasionally I've gone in their room and found it DESTROYED - stuff everywhere.  They lost the privilege of having their hair bow holders in their rooms.  I am grateful that the clothes are in the nursery room, so they can't make a mess out of that too!  I was complaining to Dena that they just pull all the books off the shelf and throw them around the room.  She told us to only let them have a few books on the shelf til they learn to keep them on there.  DUH!!!!  I cannot tell you how often I've been struggling with something and the answer is so obvious!  I think that as parents we often get blinded by our exhaustion and sometimes it takes the advice from a friend/relative/neighbor/etc to help us realize the simple solution.  Thank goodness we have wonderful people in our lives to help us solve our MANY parenting issues!  ;-)