Toddler Bed

We are still waiting to hear back from the dermatologist on the results of my biopsies. While we are hoping they come back normal, we are realistically planning for the possibility of another surgery in a week or two. As I could potentially not be able to move my back for 6 weeks, we realized we needed to do some thinking on our current nap time situation! Jessica has not started climbing out of her crib, and we had planned originally to let her stay in her crib as long as she was happy there (within reason). It is the safest place for her to be given her penchant for finding danger! However, I will not be able to lift her if I have surgery, and I definitely won't be able to lift her right after John is born. Therefore, we decided to set up the toddler bed.

The pieces for Jessica's toddler quilt all laid out!

I bought a used crib mattress for $15 on Craigslist a while back to use as a trundle under the bunk bed in her room. This way she will be close to the floor on a waterproof mattress until she is ready to move up to the bottom bunk. I also bought a waterproof mattress cover on sale for $7 at Target. I had an extra sheet for the bed from our crib set up. She has some blankets but is getting big enough that she probably needs a quilt. This weekend I cut up 5" squares from fabric scraps leftover from making her dresses and pajamas. I also cut 5" squares from the burp cloths and bibs that had her name embroidered on them (I don't plan to use them with future children). This is how her Toddler Quilt will look.

A close up of the squares

I plan to use a neutral backing so that when John is ready for a toddler bed, I can take Jessica's apart and use the backing for his quilt. I plan to enlarge Jessica's quilt at that point so that she will have a twin sized quilt with one side being made of scraps from things I have made her and the other side being a more neutral print so she can reverse it as she gets older, if the patchwork seems too childish to her at the time! There are plenty of uses for a twin sized quilt: your bed at college, curling up on the couch when it is cold or you don't feel good, and of course you will always have something practical that your mother made especially for you!

The burp cloth scraps awaiting serging!

And what did I decide to do with the leftover pieces of burp cloths? I decided to trim them, serge them, and use them as newborn pre-folds to go in John's diaper covers! Very practical and frugal if I do say so myself! How is the transition to the toddler bed going? Well, we tried one day of it, and it went really well. She was quiet, napped some, played with the socks in her sock drawer, etc. However, she did not get as good of a nap as usual. She would probably adjust over time; however, I do get nervous at the prospect of loosing any part of her 3 hours nap!! Therefore, we decided to use the same approach for transitioning her to the toddler bed as we did for potty training her: a practice day here, a practice day there, with plenty of "back to business as usual" days in between! We also realized that if she is not completely transitioned by the time I have surgery or have the baby (whichever comes first) we can move her crib close to the bunk bed so that when I let her rail down, she can climb out on her own.

Dilemma solved, a cute quilt in the works, and only out about $25! And did I mention I am already putting fabric scraps in a bag for John's toddler quilt? ;-)