taking the crib front off tomorrow! ideas?

Hi All, my DD is 2 years, 4 months.  She has no problems in her crib, doesn't climb out, etc.  But, I am expecting a baby at the beginning of July so we decided to start the transition and start with taking off the crib front and then later getting her the big girl bed when we set up the baby's room.

 The challenge is - my DH STILL holds our DD to sleep every night. He is pretty ready to drop (she's 32 lbs!) this so we were going to try to use this transition as a time to get her to just lay in her bed and fall asleep on her own. She does this for nap time at school every day so we know she can do it. She also will fall back asleep on her own if she wakes up in the middle of the night.

 how should we do this?  Baby Whisperer says to just prepare to sleep in her room with her for a week and then slowly sit further away from her each night as she's falling asleep, etc. 

 Please let me know what's worked for you! I will also post this on another board to get more answers! we need help! Thanks!