For the past six months or so, Nathan has been sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor, sharing a room with Nicole. We moved them in together so Annie could have a room to herself while she is still a crying machine. When Nathan switched rooms, we moved him out of his daybed (crib) and onto a real, big-boy mattress. He was so excited. We looked and looked for a bed that we liked, but could not find one. We wanted something that was made out of wood, stained rather than painted, and with a low or no footboard. He is going to be a tall boy when he reaches full height and I don't plan on getting him a bigger bed. Without a footboard, his feet can hang over the end. What good planning, eh?

I finally decided to make a bed. My mom had made all our beds when I was a kid. I know what is involved -- really not much. A headboard, two rails, a footboard, and a platform. Shortly after I made the decision to make the bed, cherry went on sale at our local Rockler and I bought a bunch. It turns out that I underestimated and had to go back for some more, but I had a start. Darren and I started making the bed the first weekend in January. We only worked on Saturdays and even had to skip a couple. So all told, it took about 8 weekends (of about 4-5 hours each) to build and then about 6 hours to finish. This comes to a total of 42 hours. Multiply by $60/hour (two people at $30/hour), add in the $450 of materials and we are the proud new owners of a $2950 twin bed. What am I doing giving this to a 4-year old? Honestly, it pains me to proffer up my labors to the wrecking machine, but I find a lot of solace in the fact that he absolutely loves the bed. It is all part of the branding, much like the Daddy brand bread and pizza are better than all others, Daddy brand beds are on a whole new plane.