Preparing for 2 under 2!

Soon2bStaff · September 2015

Hello! I know this question might be for a select few of you but hopefully some of you can relate and/or give advice. I'm expecting baby #2 in February and DD will be exactly 22 months when the new baby gets here.

A couple of things --

1) we are keeping DD in her room since I decorated it and I still love it (since that's all the matters lol) and I will not be transitioning DD into a "big girl" room. However, with her being 22 months, should I get her a toddler bed and move the crib over to the new baby?? Disclaimer: for DD, I got a convertible crib that goes into a toddler bed and full size bed later on (hello at least 17 more years). It was only $175 and still in great condition! My thinking is buy another convertible crib so baby #2 has it's own that will transition with it for many years?!? Also, I rather not have a toddler getting up in the middle of the night and rolling around/off her toddler bed when DH and I are handling a newborn. Thoughts/suggestions? Does that sound practical or should DD be in a toddler bed by a certain time frame?

2) we have decided to not find out with the new baby. I'm getting excited about all this now that it's finally sinking in but it's hard for only two reasons - one being I have to fall in love with two names (boy and girl) and technically only get to use one of them. Not a big deal but something I've thought of as a bummer! And two, decorating this nursery!!! I'm not a green and yellow type person and DD's room is painted baby blue and has baby pink, white, cream, tan, etc decor. I love it and how girly it is without being over the top! I would like to have #2's nursery done.. but not sure which way to go? Anyone have any gender neutral nurseries they loved while preparing for your first little one? I have looked on Pinterest and I got a lot of greens, yellows, grays, and safari themes. (Our trim in our house is oak so that's hard to work with since every picture I see that I love is white trim and the carpet is a soft tan/beige color.)

3) kind of going off #1, but what do I buy double of? A whole new nursery is a given.. but I won't need another changing pad but will need another mattress protective... just little things like that. Again, probably won't be able to answer unless you lived through this scenario but just trying to get a list together of what needs to be done by end of January!

Thanks in advance!

OliveOyl2014 · September 2015

Congrats! We are expecting #2 in a little over a month! My DD has just now gotten used to sleeping in her crib. We had initially thought about just transitioning her to a toddler bed and using the crib for new baby. But now that she is sleeping in the crib we are having second thoughts. New baby will be in the pack n play for a while so it gives us some time. As far as nursery colors, what about using grays, then adding some color accents afterwards. We haven't even set up a second nursery. My DH seems to think that once baby 2 sleeps thru the night, both kids can room together. Yea right lol. So far we haven't gotten doubles of anything. Just some new bottles and a few gender neutral outfits for the meantime. Everything else is in perfect condition, so no need for things like a bathtub, etc. we haven't even bought a double stroller yet. Just reading over my response and I feel so unprepared lol! Good luck to you!

babayRFL · September 2015

No experience or advice on most of this, but for a gender neutral nursery idea, a friend of mine is doing sheep and it is super super cute!

mommaofmultiples · September 2015

I am in the same situation with #4 due in January and my DD will be 22 months old. I also bought a convertible crib. I plan on having #4 in a bassinet in our bedroom until he is 5 months old or so. During that time, DD will transition to a toddler bed and then a full size bed. I will definitely still have crib rails. I am nervous about DD going to a toddler bed but my twin boys went to a toddler bed around 16 months because they were too heavy to lift into the crib. They went to twin beds at 26 months so I think my DD can do it too, it will just be a much faster transition for her

I just can't see buying another crib for a few months.

Smores730 · September 2015

When #2 came for us, I refused to buy another crib. We transitioned her straight to the full size bed (my bed from childhood). We bought full size mattress protectors for diaper overflows and accidents. I had a full size body pillow that we used as her railing and the other side of the bed was against the wall. A gate will keep them in their room or you'll have one of those amazing children who just stay in their beds! (I'm fairly certain I'll be 0:3 on that one!)
We didn't do #2's nursery until after he was born even though we knew he was a boy. We knew he'd sleep in our room for 2 months and we just didn't get it done. If the decor is important to you, there's really no rush other than the maternal need of getting it ready
To prepare for another, aside from the nursery stuff we got a few extra towels and rags, a double stroller, new bibs, boy clothes!, a boy blanket and beanie for winter, another sound machine, a 2nd FP Booster seat for the kitchen table. You'll eventually need another convertible booster.

oceanlove13 · September 2015

We are expecting #2 in less than a month. I am making a second nursery. DS has a convertible crib but isn't ready to transition. He sleeps through the night and overall has a great routine so I don't want to change his environment. I bought a much cheaper, more simple crib and am buying a rocker and borrowing a dresser for 2nd nursery. DS nursery I went all out with everything. It's pretty, but not doing nearly as much this time around. We have mostly everything since the 2nd is also a boy. We did buy a double stroller, changing station, bedding, a few new clothes ( opposite seasons), etc.
One consideration that could be neutral is what I did. Painted the walls a light Pistachio color. Using navy and white as acents. DS nursery is baby blue, navy and red nautical theme. This one I may incorporate trains or just keep it a color theme, instead of adding objects. Good Luck to you!

mommaofmultiples · September 2015

@Smores730, did you have 2 under 2? How far apart were your 2 children? From your signature it looks like they were 28 months apart which is not concerning in terms of moving from a crib to a bed.

Smores730 · September 2015

Yes my oldest 2 are 28 months apart. We transitioned #1 to the full size bed at about 21 months because she started climbing out at 19. Had she still been using the crib when the baby came, I would have kicked her butt out to avoid not buying another

yellowflower15 · September 2015

My two are 26 months apart - not quite 2 under 2, but close. We decided to buy a second crib, and spent a lot less on this second one! We did move DD to a different room, but didn't want to totally disrupt her life by moving her to a new room, transitioning her out of a crib and changing her furniture on her, so we changed the room and kept her in her own crib. We transitioned the crib to a toddler bed when her little brother was about 4 months old. The reason for that transition was because she was potty trained and we wanted her to be able to access the potty in the night. We have now just transitioned her to a regular double bed one year later. This has worked for us. I'm kind of in the school of keeping them in a crib as long as possible and as long as it's working for you/them.

Things I bought for baby #2: double stroller, boy clothes (we knew he was a boy), things that I had wanted for baby #1 but hadn't ever got like more hooded towels, another carrier that didn't just anger me trying to get it on, cute drool bibs, nicer bedding. We didn't need much, it was more things that I had kind of wanted with my first since I felt like it was okay since we weren't buying everything new. I have also been buying a lot of things used the second time around because I now know that they are used for so little time.

bootsiebabe · September 2015

We bought a second crib, got a dresser for DS1 and moved the changing table to DS2's room. Bought a changing pad, a few extra crib sheets, a second inexpensive PnP (for travel, etc), new pacifiers, a second diaper genie, and a couple of outfits (mostly matching ones for both boys). You definitely need a huge diaper bag and a double stroller too. I was iffy on the double stroller, but it's a must-have.

maelic · September 2015

I'm due in March, so my kids will be 23 months apart. There is no way that my daughter will be ready for a toddler bed by then, she'd be all over her room in the middle of the night. I wasn't planning on buying a new crib, but c'est la vie. I'll buy another crib with a toddler bed conversion kit and be done with it.

I'm hoping this new kid will take to the carrier (any carrier!). I tried three with my daughter and she hated every single one of them. I don't want to get a double stroller if I can help it, one is bulky enough.

As far as nursery decor goes, I didn't find out with my daughter and her room is soft orange and gray. I think it's real pretty, but I am not a fan of pink and purple.

bubblybeks · October 2015

I have 2 under 2 currently. I have a daughter that was born in April 2014 and a daughter that was just born in August 2015 so they're 16 months apart. Our oldest is in a room by herself currently and still sleeps in a crib. I figured why move her or change her bed if she isn't climbing out yet. Our newest sleeps in a crib in our room but the plan is to eventually convert her over to them sharing a room as we live in a 2 bedroom place.

LolaX2 · November 2015

My two are just 26 months apart so not quite 2U2 but close. DS turned 2 the end of January 2014 and for his birthday we set up a whole new room for him and moved him out of the nursery. We went straight to a twin bed with rails on the sides and got him all new furniture. He loved the movie Toy Story so we got him special Toy Story bedding, and some wall decals. We also got a mattress protector. He loved his new room and big boy bed. It was a bit of a process getting him to stay in bed at bedtime to begin with though. In reality we could have waited and let him stay in the crib as DD came 2 months later and slept in a bassinet next to our bed until around 6 months.

New things that we got were some new nursing tops, and other nursing gear, double stroller, some girl decor for the nursery as it was light blue with a fire truck boarder. We just took down the fire truck border and put up a light pink one, and switched out the curtains and a few other things. Got some new girl clothes, new nipples for bottles, and diapers. We really didn't need much as we saved all DS stuff and most of that was gender neutral. I really don't remember buying/needing much else.

smushi · December 2015

@Soon2bStaff How are things going? I'm with Maelic in the March due date (but more than likely baby #2 will arrive in February). We're working on what will be DS's room right now. We plan to buy a transitional crib for him but keep his mattress the same, so when he is ready, we can convert it to the toddler bed, and new LO will have DS's old crib but new mattress. DS is a mover and groover in his sleep so there's no way we could make the bed convert right now. His room should be done in a week or so, though, and we're going to go ahead and transition him to his new room now.

Soon2bStaff · January 2016

@smushi Congrats on #2!! Things are going well! 7 weeks from today we will welcome our LO if he/she doesn't come earlier!

We decided to keep DD in her room and even keep her in her crib for now. The last thing we need is a nighttime mobile baby and a newborn! She still has never tried climbing out so I'm thinking the crib isn't hurting her by any means right now. I'm going to move it down to the very last hole this weekend and then think about transitioning it to the toddler bed (front rail out with toddler rail on one side to where she can get in and out but hopefully won't fall out while sleeping) in the summer. I'm not in a rush though so we will see!

We painted the nursery over winter break. It took forever to decide the color. 9503480342 paint strips and 5 samples later, and it's done! Not in love with the color since, like I thought, it didn't come out like it was supposed to look even though the store promised I didn't need to prime beforehand. Lesson learned... not redoing it!

We set up LO's new crib last month and that's about all I'm doing. I need to wait to see what we are having to decorate.

Good luck with the transition and big boy room!

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