Little Man is Growing Up! :'(

I know it is inevitable, yet that still doesn't stop me from getting a bit teary-eyed thinking about how much Ethan has grown in the last 27 months. There are days that I fear if I blink my eyes too long he'll be going off to college and I will not know where the time has gone. But yes, there are definitely other days that seem to drag on forever (you know, the ones where he is acting like a stubborn two-year-old, and I can't wait for Daddy to get home!) haha! It really hit me hard a couple weekends ago as I was washing up all of his old newborn outfits to get ready for the baby's arrival. Was he really once that little?!? Seems hard to believe now and sadly, hard to remember already (which is why I need to blog more frequently - so I can better remember these moments)! I know I need to start taking in every moment and savoring it because before I know it I will be shipping him off to kindergarden and the rest will be a blur...

Last week we hit another milestone. The big boy bed. More tears! We finished painting his room (a HUGE thank you to Grandpa Frank for doing the majority of the painting while he was here visiting!!), hanging the curtains, and getting everything back in place on Tuesday evening. So, we decided to take the plunge and see how it would go moving him into it. He has been excited about his new bedroom for weeks, always wanting to go in and see it and play on the top bunk (yikes)!

When my parents arrived last Thursday (for Memorial Day weekend) for a visit, the first thing he did was lead them upstairs to check it out! Too cute!! :) But, apparently playing in his new room was all he had in mind the first night...there were tears. Lots of tears. Not only was he adjusting to a new bed, but also a whole new room! We tried to keep other things the same by putting his blanket and animals and cars in bed with him and dressing him in the sleep sack he normally wore at night. But the first thing he did after we left the room was climb back out of the bed. Hmm. Not good. We went back in and put him back down, which made him upset, but fortunately he stayed in the bed this time. He eventually cried himself to sleep (not exactly how I had envisioned the first night going), but he was asleep. Whew!

The next morning he awoke at 8 am. Ouch. Definitely early for him (especially considering that it was pretty late before he finally fell asleep the night before), but still a manageable time. Not sure if it was just the newness of it all that awoke him early or the fact that the room was much brighter than usual. Unfortunately the sun comes up on that side of the house and it gets quite bright at a very early hour right now. He was in a great mood when he woke up, despite the baggy eyes he was sporting due to all of the tears shed the night before (yep, poor guy gets that one from me).

Naptime was also quite an adventure the first day. With nothing there to stop him from getting out of bed, he was up instantly and out roaming around the room. I decided to let him roam just to see what he would do and if he would crawl back in the bed himself. Hmm, not so much. After about 30 minutes, I gave up on him getting back in bed himself, so I went in and put him back in bed and told him he had to stay there. Of course, more tears! :'( But at least this time after just 10 minutes of crying he finally fell asleep.

Things definitely got better and easier as the week progressed. Now he crawls into bed with no issues and stays there without trying to get out of bed. He has been falling asleep quite quickly too with no more tears!! Yay!!! :) Still waking up a bit earlier than I would prefer, but I can't really complain.

His room still needs some more finishing touches (pictures, art and a toy storage system), but here is what we have so far...

I purchased the super cute transportation bedding, made by Circo, at Target. There's a quilt and sheets on each of the beds. And of course I couldn't resist the adorable car pillows (Ethan is snuggling with one of them below)! :) Ethan is a big fan of his cars and trucks room! The lime green Eclipse Bailey curtains and Room Essentials stick lamp were also purchased at Target. The cute, red laundry basket was purchased at IKEA and the furniture (bunk beds and dresser) was purchased at Goree's Furniture in Opelika, AL. The paint on the walls is Behr's Ultra Premium Plus (satin finish) in Riviera Blue (540B-5), purchased at Home Depot.