Ella's Big Big Girl Room

So, Ella's been in a toddler bed now for 6+ months but we've been talking a lot lately about getting her into a full sized bed. We never intended on putting her in a toddler bed but because her crib converted to one, it was easy (and cheap) to do, so we did it. But it's small and cramped and near impossible to lie in bed and read books with her, so we made the leap to a twin bed this weekend.

Ella was so excited as we're Ricardo and I. We just can't stop peering into her room. There's no longer a baby in there but an actual...KID! YIKES!

We went to IKEA and let Ella pick something out for her new big big girl room and she chose these cool flower wall lights which were only $9.99 each-man, I love IKEA. She loves that she can turn them on and off on her own, especially since she still ask to sleep with a light on at night.

So without further ado, Ella's Big Big Girl Room

Yes, I know the flower lights are a little uneven. We have to fix that...some day.

Being that I'm not artistic or creative, I was pretty pleased with the pictures in her dormer. She received two different "Ella the Elephant" books, which she loves. I always remove the sleeves off the book before putting them in her bookcase and hold on to them. I figured, why not put the sleeves to use so I went to The Christmas Tree Shop and bought frames for $7 each and framed the sleeves. I think it turned out pretty cute and it was certainly a cheap way to put up some artwork!

Ella spent a good portion of Sunday just hanging out in her big girl bed reading and playing.
And of course, Mikka got in on the action too...doesn't she look thrilled?

Saturday night was Ella's first night in her new big girl bed, so of course, I checked on her 8 million times. Around midnight, I found her like this:
Poor thing is so used to her bed being against the wall that she just gravitated in this direction. Last night was better though. She seemed to stay in the right direction all night and under the covers.

It's a little bitter sweet to see her in such a big bed. I'm glad we didn't go right to a full. I don't know if we'd be able to find her in a bed that big!

BIG GIRL BED!

It's a big day in Ella's world today because she moved from her crib to a BIG GIRL BED! She's soooo excited. She started asking for one earlier this week so today we decided to convert her crib to the toddler bed functionality.

I'm a little diaspointed and not sure what to do because as you can see from this picture, the toddler rail that goes with the crib (although it was an additional $60) doesn't do a thing. It barely even goes an inch above the mattress so it's pretty useless.

We have put a regular bed rail on

But all bed rails say they are not for toddler beds and should be used only on twin size are bigger. Getting a twin is not an option right now, so we aren't sure if we should just stick with the mesh bed rail or just use the one that came with the bed but isn't very high? What do you all think?

Ella has just wanted to hang out in her bed all day-we had to drag her away to go to Target. She's even been inviting everyone to join her, including Mikka.

She's so proud of herself. She's upstairs taking a nap now, which is a total miracle and not something I'm expecting to be repeated (she was exhausted) and as she was falling asleep she kept saying, "I'm a big girl! I'm a big girl!" Too cute.

She's so proud of her big girl status that today at Target she even asked for and picked out some of her own big girl underwear (Cinderella and The Little Mermaid). We're not going to pick back up potty training for another month or so since it seems to stress her out so much, but this is a step in the right direction.

I just can't believe she's in a big girl bed...she just keeps growing up.