Going Cribless

Oh my, we did it.  We pulled the trigger.  As of Sunday night, there are zero cribs in this house.  Eli and Ben are in toddler beds.  I gotta tell ya, I was not looking forward to this move.  I was scared to death.  Even though Noah did great when he moved up, I was really worried about doing it with two little boys at the same time.  I knew Eli was ready.  He slept in a "big boy bed" (AKA a mattress on the floor) when we went to visit my parents recently and he did great.  Ben was the one stressing me out, because he still occasionally wakes up during the night.

As usual, the boys are surprising me and making us proud at every turn.  They are doing great in the new beds.  Ben had a hard time settling in the first night.  First he wanted to get up and play.  I could almost hear him thinking, "FREEDOM!!!!" when he realized he could get out of bed by himself.  Then, he started playing with the lightswitch.  Eli, who was super tired and oh-so-ready for bed, started whining because Ben kept switching the light off.  I ended up laying on the floor in their room until Ben finally fell asleep that first night.  Since then though, they've both gone out pretty easily at night.

Naps are going surprisingly well too.  I was very fearful that "big boy beds" were going to mean the end of naps in our house, which is so not cool!  I'm going to hang on to naps for as long as we can.  It's important for the boys and for Mama's sanity!

Here's a few snaps of my big boys and their big boy beds:

Ben

Eli

"CHEESE!!!" - Ben

Silly brothers

Ben and Eli have story time in Eli's bed

G'night, boys!  (Naptime Day #1 in the beds)

They were super-excited about their new Cars wall stickers, too. 

We're big Lightening & Mater fans!

Eli all tucked in and ready for bed (Night #2)

Goofball.

Somebody doesn't look ready to go to bed yet!

Noah didn't want to be left out, so he's showing off his new Woody & Buzz Toy Story wall stickers

Big brother!!!

And now for the three most adorable sleeping children ever:

Eli

Ben

Noah

Big Boy Beds:  just another milestone on this crazy, fast journey from three silly boys to three grown sons.  I can't believe how fast time can go or how much love two hearts can hold.

We just love these boys!



Sunday Afternoon Well Spent

Hello Blogosphere.  Yes, it's us.  The Withers Clan.  Yes, we own a calendar and I do realize that it's been about 10 months since my last post.  A lot has kept us busy since then.  More on that later (will plan a catch-up post.)  But right now, let's dive in to how we spent our Sunday afternoon.  Super summer fun!!!

Our great friend Allison sent me a link to how to build your own Kid Car Wash.  I checked it out and decided it was something the Withers Boys needed to have.  One trip to Lowe's, one trip to the Dollar Store, and about $30-35 later and here we are!  So.Much.Fun.

Here it is, ready to go!

Noah and Eli are already enjoying it and the water isn't even on yet!

Just like a real car wash

Pure. Summer. Happy.

I must give big props to Nathan, who didn't flinch when I showed him the idea and said, "Here.  Build this!"  He's such a great Daddy!  We had a great afternoon of fun with he boys.  Good memories to last a lifetime!

If you'd like to check this out and make your own, here's the link we used. 

 http://www.thescrapshoppeblog.com/2012/06/best-pvc-pipe-car-wash-tutorial.html

It's really very simple.  The "magic" ingredients are lawnscape misters and sponge balls.  A few of the misters go a long way.  We used 17 of them in our Kid Car Wash and it was PLENTY (probably too many to be honest.)  Sponge balls are super easy to make.  There's a link on how to make them in the tutorial, too.  We used some to hang in the Kid Car Wash and kept the extras to use as scrubbies for the cars and just to throw around.  Much better and easier than water balloons!  The pool noodles were my idea - I bought four of them, cut them up, and hung them on the end of the wash.  Just like in the real drive-thru car wash!

Thanks for stopping by The Withers Blog.  There will be more soon, I promise!

~Abby