Big Girl Bed Day!

Yesterday, both of our girls graduated into bigger beds so their baby cousin Cassidy (due in a few weeks!) can have Ellie's crib. We expected high drama from Keira--who else?--since she had recently declared tearfully that she wants to sleep in her toddler bed "forever" and that when she's a grown-up, she'll "turn it sideways" so she can still fit in it (ummm....). Surprisingly, though, there were no tears; in fact, she was thrilled beyond belief to make over her room into a Fancy Nancy room! She told the cashier at Target, the director of her preschool, her teacher, and all of her classmates that she was getting a "big-girl bed," and was extra excited when I picked her up after preschool with a celebratory chocolate milkshake in hand for her. She didn't even complain much that I'd already drank half of it. (Good mommies always test delicious things thoroughly to be sure they're safe for their children to consume.)

Before we get to the pics, can we just pause for a minute and appreciate the supreme awesomeness that is my Bear? This little game of "Musical Beds" involved him dismantling the crib, driving an hour out to my brother's house, reassembling it, driving an hour back to help me pick up Keira's twin mattress at Costco, tying it down (masterfully) in the back of Pap-Pap's truck, bringing it home, unloading it, returning the truck, and then assembling Keira's (formerly cousin Brandon's) twin bed...all on his day "off." And he didn't get cranky or throw any tools or anything. He was, like, happy to do it and stuff. I love my Bear.

So, to the rooms! Here's what Kiwi's room looked like before:


(Note the miscellaneous Important Papers she has taped to her wall, like some criminal in a "CSI" episode. My favorite is what she calls "the picture of the castle," which is actually a photo of a Mormon temple from some literature our friendly neighborhood missionaries dropped off one day.)

And here's what it looks like now, with her new Fancy Nancy bedding (well, comforter--Mommy is too cheap to spend $33 for the matching sheet set when $14 pink polka-dot ones from Target match just fine) and fancy pink canopy, which Keira calls a "turret" for some reason:


I think I'm going to order this Fancy Nancy wall decal for over her bed, and move her name letters to the wall above her fancy new bulletin board, which we scored for $15 at Costco. I used one of her now-obsolete pink and purple toddler bed sheets for the background, but the colors are too pale (and are even more washed out by the flash in this photo), so I may find something a little brighter. Why? Because being fancy is not about being understated! Kiwi was beyond excited to pin her Important Papers onto it herself, and you gotta love that she hijacked Auntie Lisa's blue Post-it note that says "Brandon's Bed" out of the hardware bag for her new bed and added it to her display:


Then, to fancify the mirror above her dresser, we picked up a bag of sparkly "jewels" from Michaels yesterday from a section entitled "bling" (in formal script, no less). When did that become a legitimate term, anyway? Last night, I dabbed dots Tacky Glue on the mirror and let the girls stick jewels onto each one (the butterflies were already there):


Pretty fancy, no?


Here's the happy, fancy girl in her new bed!



Ellie's graduation to the toddler bed was much less of a to-do, since we kept the same bedding and decor for her ladybug room. Her room is in serious need of some artwork on that wall over her bed (I think I'm going to order a second copy of Ladybug Girl and frame some of the illustrations, which are adorable), but here's what it looked like before:


She started asking to take naps in Sissy's bed a few weeks ago and did really well, so we weren't surprised that she settled in nicely! I didn't take an "after" photo of her room for some reason, but it looks pretty much the same. Here she is, all snuggled up!

Both girls slept cozily all night long, and *knock on wood* it hasn't even occurred to Ellie to get out of the toddler bed and wander the house at night yet. If we're lucky, she'll be a wonderfully bizarro child like her sister and never attempt it! (Neither one of them ever escaped the crib, either, and both were in it until they were 2 1/2. We're lucky parents!)

Of course, tonight Keira decided to bust out the tears of longing for her old bed, but it didn't last too long...and really, if she hadn't done that, I would've worried that she wasn't our Kiwi anymore.

Bear said he's surprised I didn't cry once yesterday about not having any more babies in cribs, and I'll admit that part of me is a little wistful for the baby phase...but the rest of me is too happy sleeping through the night in MY big-girl bed to want to start over again!