Growing up {Parenting Advice Needed!}

So, we are in a major state of flux these days. We will close on a new house next FRIDAY (yikes!) and I've been busy packing {when I'm not wasting time on my new obsession Pinterest-follow me: Danielle Bartran} and living in a sea of boxes. {Why did I agree to move?}

So, the big question in our house these days is how to handle the sleeping situation of our growing children.

My oldest will be 3 in October and still sleeps in a crib. I know that he could get a leg over any day, but up until now hasn't tried. He loves his crib. I love his crib. I'd let him stay in a crib until he was 16 if it meant maintaining a good sleep pattern. He generally takes at least a two hour afternoon nap every day...but sometimes that nap extends to be 3 or 4 hours. That tells me he still NEEDS the nap! At night he usually sleeps about 12 hours. So, not to sound selfish: but I cannot lose that nap. {Momma needs time to craft and sew!!} My concern about switching to a toddler bed is the potential of giving him freedom to escape (or play) when he should be sleeping.

The baby is 9 weeks old now (yikes!) and is still sleeping in a cradle in my room. I realize his days are limited in the cradle, he will probably need to shift into a crib soon-ish. He's not sleeping through the night yet, so I don't mind him in my room until he's sleeping for a longer stretch.

I found a really cute toddler bed that we could make on ana-white.com. I love the idea of making a bed. That plan {I almost said pattern, haha} claims it will only cost $50 in materials to make the toddler bed! We'd still have to buy a new crib sized mattress, but that is totally do-able. {I really sort of want to make the new toddler bed!} Purchasing an actual toddler bed would definitely cost $50+ and also we'd still have to get a new mattress.

I also found a crib that I love. {Yes, I know it's navy blue, but I love the idea of a blue crib. Plus it gives me hope that I might have a girl one day, hahaha.} But it would cost about $200 plus a new mattress for that crib. It also converts into a toddler bed and has a rail for the toddler bed. My thought is that maybe when I finally break down and let the oldest out of a crib, I could put him into that toddler bed???

But here are the other issues:

We also have my husband's childhood bed and mattress on hand. It's a little higher up, so falling out of bed might hurt a little more...and it also has rails on the side, but we don't have them, I think my in-laws still do though. That would mean no additional cost, we have the bed, mattress, and matching dresser.

The current crib we have does convert to a toddler bed, but we would have to purchase some kind of bed rail to hold him in. I think that is only a $20-30 purchase?

Also, we could go the craigslist route and try to find a used crib (I'm talking cheap-like $25) that we could use to get us over the hump to toddler bed or big boy bed or whatever...

So what would you do?

What do you think I should do?

Help! Please. Help me!

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