Daniel's Big Boy Room!

Daniel officially has a big boy room now! We finally bit the bullet and got Daniel a full-size mattress and converted his toddler bed into a full bed. Daniel was still quite happy in his toddler bed and still fit it just fine of course, but the (crib-size) mattress was just shot, being almost 5 years old, so it was time.

(We almost got a full bed for Annabel, which I may have mentioned as a possibility a while back, mostly because I want her to learn to fall asleep on her own, but since she's actually doing better with sleeping, getting to sleep a little faster lately and going down a little easier, we decided to hold off for her bed for now. Good thing, because you'll see, we sort of learned a lot here!)

Anyway, Daniel is very excited to have a big mattress now and he just LOVES some of the new things we have hanging on his walls! Check it out for yourself!

We went back and forth on whether to get a box springs or not, I went back and forth on which mattress to get (oh the millions of choices out there...why must they complicate my life further?!), we ended up getting a wonderful mattress and deciding to get a low profile box spring, thanks to the awesome suggestion of our helpful salesperson...all things combined though, the bed was HUGE! I myself literally had to climb UP into it, Daniel needed a stool and also that little wooden side bar you can see as a step...SO...

We lowered the mattress- took out the slats supporting the whole shebang, put the box spring and mattress on the floor inside the bed frame...much better. Annabel can even climb into it- she's much happier! The super high bed was incredibly frustrating to her, because they play in Daniel's room all the time! It looks super low now, especially up against the headboard which now looks really tall, but like I said, we can all get into the bed now and that's just so much better! Daniel has been sleeping great in his new bed- no adjustment at all!! Whew!

The comforter was not easy to find! It was actually really hard to find comforter/quilt bedding with green in it, but when I saw this, I knew it was perfect. It's not too young, it's colorful and lively and very "Daniel" to me, it will grow with Daniel, and it lends itself to different wall colors someday, too. It's from Target, but only available online; I finally realized I hadn't looked there and I'm so glad I did! Daniel just loves his new big puffy blanket and even having actual sheets to use for a lighter blanket in the summer has been great, too. The other fun thing is that this set was called mix & match which means the sheets, fitted and top both, are half blue check and half green check, so Daniel can pick which colors he wants where- green is under his head, blue is under his feet, and blue is on top of his shoulders, green is on top of his feet, if that makes sense. Anyway, it was just a fun little feature that Daniel got a kick out of!  (I do already have Annabel's bedding, too, because I just absolutely fell in love with it, I had to have it and I didn't want to run the risk of it getting discontinued, and it too would grow with her...it's the most adorable little girl polka dot stripe combo with the perfect colors in it for her room...also from Target- LOVE! No peeks though...you'll have to wait...! So glad to have found a girl bedding that didn't have princesses and glitz and glam and even flowers all over it- this is just perfect! I almost just want to get her new bed already because of the new bedding!)

Here's a closer look at the new artwork above Daniel's bed, which of course he loves! They are ride posters from Cars Land! "Here's the ride I can't go on, the tractor ride, and the tire ride!"

Here's a bulletin board I made for Daniel's new big boy room with all the buttons we got from Cars Land (remember when I said I had plans for those buttons!), postcards we purchased there, and a photo of all of us in front of the Cars Land sign. I think this little project turned out great!

 

And I even got Daniel his very own bulletin board to decorate, too! Daniel LOVES having his very own place to put things up. He had "no time to lose, no time at all!" (his new frequently heard expression these days!) in putting pictures of his own up on his bulletin board. He even hung his Chuggington (train TV show) calendar up on the board- that's where he wanted it and he loves to cross off the days on the calendar.

We also finally hung his growth chart up on the wall. It had been on his door and was always flapping around and being generally annoying, so I'm really glad it has a special spot on the wall finally! We still have to make some actual marks on it, but the kids just love standing up next to it! Annabel's growth chart finally got hung in her room, too! She LOVES it- the umbrella ("bella") the girls are holding is the most interesting part to her right now. (This girl desperately wants her own umbrella, so does Daniel for that matter, Annabel is just much more vocal about it! Pink and/or Minnie, of course!) We love that her chart sort of goes with Daniel's, the whole beachy/boat theme.

Here's the wall opposite the bed with the bulletin boards. The tin signs and long dresser have moved to that wall. (The tall dresser had to leave the room, it's now in our room, which we knew would happen going into this whole purchase of furniture when pregnant, these rooms are SO tiny- ugh. Next house- bigger rooms for the kids!!!) Daniel also has his initial letters, a gift from a dear friend from when he was born, above the door. His Mickey picture from Aunt Christina and "Daniel" picture from Aunt Kathy are still in their special spots- no moving those! And you may have noticed the white shelves above the growth chart are still there, too- I just put away most of the baby things and put out or shifted some of the big boy things. And of course Daniel, contrary boy/pack rat that he is, wants all the baby things back. Aiyiyi! Can't win! He does like his new CD player, identical to Annabel's- has a clock- so nice! Daniel's library books, a little racecar box from Uncle Jason, that CD player, a lamp, a framed picture of him and Daddy, and a Cars Land framed picture of our family are all on top of the dresser. (And don't get too excited, it's not this neat all the time- Daniel loves to put lots of other "special" junk things, up there, too!) Anyway, Daniel's room really came together! We all love it!