Moving from crib to big girl bed

DS slept with us until about 10 months when it stopped working for everyone. Then I moved him gently to a crib. He really liked the crib, so I was a little worried about moving him. He's just now moved to a big boy bed just shy of 2.5 years old. No real reason other than that I wanted to transition him before the baby comes so he doesn't think the baby is taking his bed in the same way.

I took him to the furniture store to pick out the bed, we ordered it and talked about it for the 2 weeks until it came. He ws pretty excited. I made him a special quilt for his bed. The day the furniture truck came, I let him watch the whole process. He doesn't speak very well, but he was still telling the assemblers "big boy" and pointing it at. That night, he slept in it with no problems. He's only gotten up a couple of times, and I just remind him that it's bedtime and tuck him back in. Two nights ago, he was sick, so he did sleep with us.

I put up a gate at his door, so when he gets up, he just calls for me. I would worry about him getting hurt in the house otherwise.

My kids transitioned between 1 and 1 1/2 yo. As soon as they started to climb I put them in a bed. In the case of the older two I had old couch cushions that I piled up beside the bed just in case...although they didn't fall out after the first couple of weeks. When they did fall out starting out they didn't even wake up . My youngest one started with a matress on the floor. I taught them at night time we stay in bed by staying with them for the first few nights and just tucking them in again when they got up. I also responded when they talked to me. I do use a gate at the bedroom door, but we go whenever called. I'm just not comfortable with the prospect of a baby wandering around the upstairs in the dark without supervision. But the gate in the doorway hasn't been a problem so far.

Noises don't wake my kids up, generally. The only exception would be if it's close to wake up time anyways. The baby is an early riser so any noise really after about 4 or 5 and he'll get up.

I've never had quiet at nap time though. I was raised in a house with 6 children and there was always noise. As a result, I can sleep through anything - cept my baby cries . Dh was raised in a very small family. His older sister is several years older and his younger brother is 15 years younger. His mom kept things pretty calm and quiet and he wakes up whenever a car drives past. He's generally pretty miserable because he gets woken up so many time a night.

When our babies came he was in the "let's keep it quiet so baby can nap" camp and I was just like "are you crazy? Let's vacuum, listen to loud music and run the blender...better yet lets do it all at the same time!!" It's not quite that loud here, but there is enough noise that my kids have learned to sleep through it.

Ds1 has shared a room with both babies so far and dd has shared a room with the baby. Neither of them will wake up even when the baby is full blown screaming and won't calm.

We just started transitioning DD this month, when she turned 14 months. We're using her (previously unused) crob which converts to a toddler bed- We put a twin mattress on the floor next to the crib, so it's about a 5-6" drop. I don't know if she could have climbed out of the crib, but I wasn't going to take any chances- She's a very good climber elsewhere in the house. Plus she needs to nurse to sleep and I couldn't figure out how to do that in the crib with all four sides!

Speaking of which, she just woke up so it's time to bring her to our bed and time for me to go to sleep!