We made a crib decision! After tons and tons of indecision we chose crib number. . . . none. We chose not a single one of the cribs on our list. Several of you suggested the Baby Mod Parklane from WalMart and since it met all our criteria and had wonderful reviews, we took a leap of faith and hit “buy now” without ever seeing it in person.

We bought the crib on a Thursday, then took a long weekend for Mr. S’s first Father’s Day and enjoyed some relaxing time near the water. Baby S surprised daddy with a special message that morning:


ADVERTISEMENT

When we returned home from our weekend away the FedEx truck pulled up as we were unpacking the car. Mr. S helped the delivery driver bring the 83 pound box up our front steps, and he and I carried it up to baby S’s room together. Despite its giant size and weight, everything inside arrived in perfect condition (in only four business days and for only 97 cents for shipping!).

We decided that because baby S had spent two restless nights in a pack-n-play over the weekend, we’d continue with the upheaval and make the switch to the crib straight away. Mr. S unpacked all of the pieces before his helpers joined him to read the instructions while I put sheets on the new Naturepedic mattress airing out in the guest room.

Mr. S started the build at 5:40pm – baby S takes his bath and starts his bedtime routine at 6! Luckily he finished up just as I walked upstairs with a very drowsy baby with a tummy full of milk. I have to admit, my first reaction to the crib was not love. I was shocked by its size and a quick scan of the room showed that nothing fit. I couldn’t even send baby off to sleep in our glider – the crib was so big that the glider couldn’t glide!

I felt a mix of regret and sadness as I lay baby S down in his crib for the first time. He popped his eyes open, grabbed ahold of his lovey and scooted tight into a corner before I said goodnight and left the room. I watched him on the monitor roll around getting a feel for his new home, and knocking all five of his pacis out of the crib in doing so.

I went upstairs to play paci fairy and could not find the darn pacis on the floor. They had all fallen behind and under the crib. I couldn’t get to them without taking out the drawer or moving the crib completely! The paci fairy comes once a night about half of the time in our house. I thought to myself that if I couldn’t find the pacis at 7:30pm when I was wide awake, I was in for a world of trouble at 4am. So I pulled out the set of breathable bumpers I was given at my baby shower last fall – so much for “going without” for a while to see if we really needed them.

I flicked on the light and fumbled around, half reading the instructions until I got the bumpers on and tight. Then when the pacis were secure in the crib, baby S was snuggled in with his lovey and smushed into one corner, I left the room, prepared to be up several times overnight.

The new crib and new mattress must be quite nice because baby S slept ‘til 7:30am without a peep all night! Which left momma well rested and ready for a big furniture moving affair in the morning.

Did you transition to a crib when your baby was a little older (Baby S was 7 months)? Did it go better than you planned?