The Big Boy Bed has Arrived!

We FINALLY got Avery’s big boy bed!!!

After spending the day rearranging furniture throughout our entire house, it was time to put together his bed frame – or what was supposed to be his bed frame.  You see, when we ordered Avery’s crib, we got it from a fancy pants store in upstate New York.  It was made in America.  It was non-toxic.  It was certified.  It was insanely expensive and lucky for us…it was on sale and they were willing to deliver it to Los Angeles for us.

The crib BARELY got to us in time due to ‘manufacturing delays’ and when it finally arrived there was a crack down one of the slats.  They sent us a new crib and they let us keep the old crib.  Since it converts to a full size bed we thought we made out like bandits!!  A brand new crib for the baby and an extra bed (not totally safe for baby due to the crack, but completely safe for a full size bed conversion).

So when we got pregnant with baby number two we were all set.  All we needed was a mattress.  (You can read about our search for the perfect non-toxic mattress here.)  Except there was a slight problem.

You see, those “manufacturing delays” were because the company we ordered our crib from…our overpriced American-made non-toxic crib…was going out of business (thus the SALE on the crib.)  AAAANNNDDD they decided not to tell any of the customers.  So when it was time to buy a conversion kit for our bed…well…it didn’t exist.  It turns out they make the conversion kits TO ORDER, so when the company folded there was no back inventory.  Thank you Young America.  We were S.O.L.

I scoured the internet, eBay, Craigslist, Facebook, you name it, in search of a new or gently used conversion kit.  Finally, I found one random online children’s store in North Carolina that carried an item that was “compatible” with our crib and came in the right paint color.  So I bought it.

It sat in a box under our bed for three years.  When we opened it, we were surprised to see that it consisted of two long wooden planks matching our crib color and 4, yes 1-2-3-4, wooden slats that looked flimsier than what you would get from Ikea.  We reluctantly went ahead and hammered them in, threw the mattress on top.  We VERY quickly discovered that 4 slats (as we thought) are NOT at all sufficient to support a full size mattress with an actual human being on top.

Micah went to Home Depot and had them make 4 more slats to match, and then in an act of overkill ordered this Signature Sleep Ultra Steel Bunkie Board on Amazon.

Once we added the extra slats and the bunkie board the bed was solid as a rock.  And even though we spent hundreds of dollars on a “conversion kit” that would only support stuffed animals, it ended up working out in the end.  I do, however, believe at the end of the day we probably would have been better off (aka it would have been WAY cheaper) to have just bought a whole new bed frame!

But…converting to the big boy bed, especially to a FULL size big boy bed is priceless.  Instead of awkwardly sitting next to Avery every night in an attempt to get him to settle down, we can just snuggle up next to him and read.  And I must confess the bed is super comfy and most nights bedtime routine now consists of one or both of us falling asleep before Avery does in the bed.  I’m sure all the parenting books frown on that…but hey…it works.