Julia's new room and big girl bed

So, my Julia has been fully potty trained since August 1st.  However, the poor thing had to wear pull ups or a diaper during nap time or bed time because she couldn't climb out of her crib.

Part of me didn't want to mess with a good thing.  Julia has always been a good sleeper and I was a bit timid of putting her in a real bed for fear she wouldn't sleep through the night, she would get up, or she would go aimlessly walking through out the house at night.

But finally after some searching and thinking, and praying, and asking, we got our hands on some beautiful furniture from Julia's godparents, Bill and Christy.  Their teenage daughter Bridget got a new set of furniture and happily passed on her furniture to us.

The Weavers...Christy and Bridget are to the right.

On October 23rd, Uncle Bill, that's what we call him, especially Julia, brought just the bed to us.  It was so nice of him to drive it down to us and Julia was beyond excited.  I couldn't believe it but she did absolutely fine that night.  She got up once around 8:30 because she heard me in the hallway with the laundry, but after I told her to go back to bed she obeyed and slept through the night.

Even though Julia was sleeping in her bed fine at night, during nap time I put her in her crib.  (We left the crib in her room just in case she wasn't quite ready...but honestly, she was ready, mommy wasn't).  Last week we started doing nap times in the bed, and same thing, no problems.  It wasn't until the weekend when Daddy John picked up the rest of her furniture, and we took out the crib and changing table/dresser that Julia really started to just enjoy her new space and one afternoon it took her an hour to fall asleep.  I think she was just so excited with her new room.

I'm happy to report that last night Julia called me in her room to go to potty.  I brought her in to our bedroom to use the master bathroom so we wouldn't wake up Mark.  And this morning she woke up totally dry!  I'm starting to see that I really need to let her grow up and be the little person she is supposed to be and not "baby" her.  I'm trying to give her new opportunities to grow and shine.  That's why we've started gymnastics.  I want her to make all kinds of friends, and learn from all types of people.  God is giving me the strength to let her grow up gracefully!  And let me tell you she is doing just great.

Today a new trick I did to make nap time go more smoothly is I allowed Mark and Julia to play in her bedroom for about 20 minutes.  They read books, played with dolls, laughed and talked, while I did the upstairs garbages (all 5 of them), vacuuming, and laundry, and when I peeked in Julia's room, Mark was sucking his thumb on her rocking chair, and Julia was cuddled up underneath her sheets.  I said Marky, are you ready for bed?  And he nodded his head and said, "mm hmm."  he picked up his blanky (we call him Linus from charlie brown) and headed into his room and we told Julia good night.  I decided that if I let them play and settle down a bit it would be less likely she would need to keep playing after the door was closed, and wouldn't you know there wasn't a peep in either room for over 2 hours!

Julia's new room is just beautiful.  Her baby furniture was a deep dark cherry wood color and it made the room look small, but now her furniture is all white, and she has a tall bookcase and a dresser, her new bed and a small night table.  (We are keeping her desk and mirror in the garage til she's older).  All the furniture being white makes the room look miles long!  It's always been our favorite room in the house...thank you Weavers for sharing so generously with us!