James has been climbing out of his crib for a while now (he also flips himself in, which… O_O), so it was definitely time to transition him out of the crib. My cousin is going to take the crib for her little boy and since he’s due within the next four weeks it was the kick in the pants Mike and I needed to finally get James a big boy bed.
Since Annabel’s room becomes our guest room, I really wanted to get two beds in James’ room. I did a lot of research into bunk beds and found some great, affordable ones, but I really wanted to see some in person. We went to a kids’ furniture store and both kids were ALL ABOUT the bunks and lofts. But Mike and I suspected that James would be insane in a bunk. Considering how much he likes to climb and jump, we just didn’t think we could trust him with anything that high, even if we removed the ladder.
We started to look at trundle beds, but then we came across a bed shaped like a racecar. Mike said, “I would have killed for this bed when I was a little boy,” and James shouted, “RACE CARRRRRR!” When we saw it was in-stock and on-sale, we were sold.
I really didn’t want to get another “temporary” bed (because I really don’t see him wanting to sleep in a race car when he’s 16, but what do I know?), but there were a many pros to the race car. First, it was cheap. I love cheap! Second, it goes with the travel theme I gave his nursery. And third, it’s about eight inches off the ground, and comes with built-in bed rails. It didn’t meet the criteria of having a bed for Annabel when we have guests, but right now they both fit in it with room to spare, so it’s not a problem.
James was stoked when his bed was delivered:
As you can see, Annabel and Rigby we also fans!
At the suggestion of the man who sold us the bed, we got James a memory foam mattress. Why? Because it doesn’t have springs, so jumping on the bed doesn’t produce that same bouncy effect…which is good, because James will jump off of absolutely anything and he doesn’t need a spring-assist.
We definitely made the right call by not getting a bunk.
It’s been a few nights so far and, at the risk of jinxing it, things have gone amazingly well. He’s stayed in bed all but one night (he had a night terror at 4am), much to our surprise. I think it’s partly because he really, really loves the bed, and partly because Annabel also really, really loves the bed and has stayed in there with him every night. If it’s good enough for his idol, Annie, it’s good enough for James.
Stacey says:
Too sweet I can’t believe how much he’s grown!
Donna P says:
I love this post and I love James’ (and Annabel’s) happiness with his new bed. Your kids have the best childhoods ever…way to go Heather and Mike! They will have so many memories to cherish forever.
Jeanie says:
Such a cute bed! I wouldn’t worry too much about him sleeping in it when he’s 16. I had circus wallpaper in my room until I moved out of the house at 18.
Melissa says:
What an awesome bed! I echo what Jeanie said… I had the same bed (a canopy) until I moved out at 18. We just took the canopy off. And I’m pretty sure my rainbow wallpaper is still there.
P.S. Hope Rigby is still doing well! Our little guy is just starting to eat puffs and our two wiener dogs are discovering how awesome it is to have a tiny food eater around. It made me think of her!
Katrina says:
So fun! Happy dreams, James! Vrrroooom Vrooooom!
Chris says:
Memory foam is THE BEST. Seriously, we bought a cheap bed when we moved and the movers were days late (we were in an empty house working from home with absolutely no furniture). We thought we’d sleep on it a week and put it in the guest room. We fell so in love with it we are still sleeping on it 4 years later! LOL We went to a REALLY nice hotel in SF for a concert last year and while we admired the view, and the city neither of us could wait to be back to our cheapo memory foam bed! So the kids may be on to something….