No more crib (sad face), no more pacifiers (sad face)

you girls have new beds! they're so cute and tiny...little extendable twin-sized beds from ikea. i mulled over what kind of bed to get your girls for longer than i would like to admit. initially i wanted to get identical day beds to line the longest wall in your room, head board to head board, like a huge window seat. but you girls just love to play in the little beds when we shop at ikea so much that i thought these more appropriate. and so cute. they are side to side in your room now, stella's just a tad longer than jane's.

jane-girl, you have surprised me and have stayed and slept so soundly in your new bed. such a non-issue taking you out of the crib. i'm having a harder time about it than you. its the end of an era, no more crib means no more babies. is that part already over????!

stella - bed time has been particularly rough for you the past few weeks. it all started with taking the pacifier away. i'm sorry my love. you loved your pacifier, but we felt it was time. jane has yet to give up hers which has made the transition all the harder for you. we are over the hump now (2 weeks later), but it has been a rough go of it. and now to top it all off, you have a new bed. as excited as you are i'm afraid all this change may have messed with your mojo. we have had some crazy night terrors and i'm really started to understand this book. the unending requests from you before bedtime is amazing. water/back rub/song/book/door open/lights on/where is your bunny/etc. its a routine that is beginning to take upwards of an hour. i'm trying very hard to remember patience patience patience. i dont know why this is so difficult for me, why i don't innately understand that all this change must be hard for you and to be gentle and kind to you during your tantrums. my initial reaction is just to yell back at you and let you deal with it. i'm sorry my pet, i sometimes expect too much from you, my big girl. you are allowed your tantrums and upsets as much as the rest of us.

i have to be honest and say i'm a bit heart broken about the overhaul your room has seen. its has been so hard for me to get rid of stella's old bed! we actually bought the bed on craigslist from the cutest gay couple who were getting rid of it to make room for the baby they were adopting. i was fully pregnant with stella and we were just nearing completion of the construction on our house. we had been sleeping on a pull out couch for months through all the construction and we finally had a finished house and a real bed. it was a beautiful feeling, and so comfortable! and then to bring stella home with us from the hospital and lay in bed with her and the dogs and have our first moments as a new family in it (see the video at the end of this post). and then bringing jane home from the hospital and setting up the bassinet right next to the bed. and then dad and i got a bigger bed for our room so we moved the bed into the girls room for stella's first big girl bed, a queen-sized big girl bed! you were so tiny in it. and all the family storytimes in it. all the songs sung in it. the dogs sleeping at the end of it with stella. sneaking into the girls room to sleep with stella if i couldnt get comfortable in our bed, or to snuggle with her if she was having a nightmare. how many times dad would fall asleep in it while putting you girls to sleep. watching the girls jump their hearts out on it and then blocking the corners of the base with my hand as a cushion in case they fell off. searching through all the sheets and pillows for a pacifier. hitting my shins on its edges while making the bed. looking for all the lost toys underneath it. so many good memories, ugh, now i'm wondering why we switched it out!

no, its so nice for you ladies to have something your size, something new and fresh to grow with you and make new memories with you.

so here are a few pictures of the new beds and, basically, a picture of the beginning of a new time for our family. you girls are growing up too fast (what a cliche eh) but truer words have never been spoken.