I Built My Son’s Dream Bed and It Changed Our Family Nights Forever

First thing we got to do is print off the instructions that the beautiful one has so kindly nudged me with. In this video, I'm building my son's dream bed from scratch, and I'll show you how co-sleeping snuck up on us and how now our family nights are changed forever. Ever. Behind every woman's glorious vision is a worn-out husband.

Stop it.

You've seen all of Jonah's builds. Well, as much as Jonah's naturally talented at it, I'm not so talented, but I do build. Remember Homestead Builds? And I did build this king-size bed. Now, I may not have Jonah's natural talent to build, but I definitely got the heart, and I would rather build another dang thing as opposed to buy another dang thing. Plans incoming. But this isn't working out, just a bed on the floor. And we need not just any old bed, but a bed that's at least almost to the height of this mattress. I'm thinking we'll build the bed to here. We'll have his mattress, so there'll be a little bit of discrepancy. Yeah, Henry's 5 and he's in our bed. We've been co-sleeping for 18 years. But we didn't necessarily intend to. Rebecca, tell the story how when we had just had Jonah and we were struggling, you had just given birth, you had a C-section, he was over in a separate crib. Then what happened?

He just cried.

Let me—

he cried all the time.

What did the nurse do?

What did that special nurse do? She came in and she said, he can just lay in the bed with you, you don't have to put him in there. We thought we had to put him in there, and I was like, oh, okay.

So how did it play out after the nurse laid that baby on your chest?

Uh, he pretty much just stayed there.

It just felt right to keep the young child close.

After he was born, I think there was just— it was just different. Like, before, when you are just having your first child, you have no idea what is gonna happen with anything. Like, you have no idea what it's gonna be like, how it's gonna be. So then when you actually have the baby and the baby is in your arms and maternal instincts are kicking in that you never realized you had, I guess, um, then you're just like, yeah, it makes 100% sense to co-sleep because this child just grew inside of me for 9 months. All he wants is me.

And notice these plans do not print Pictures 1 through 5. I kind of need the pictures. I noticed that was from 2012. Do you have another one?

I do.

She's been looking for another one.

The one that I— except, uh-oh.

Does it have pictures?

I'm looking to make sure. Yeah, it does.

We don't see any toddler bed plans, so we're gonna stick with the Anna White ones. That's an Anna White bed in there, but this I'll have to— I'll have to custom— customize it. We have these plans. But we're extra. There's 3 different plans inside this, a small, medium, and large bed. We need a micro. Shorter, narrower, and not as long. I put it into Groq and said I needed these dimensions. Give me the new plans. Let's see if it did it. I told it to update the cut list. I told it to update the shopping list, each step including their— but saving the original pictures so I can I'm a visual guy. So far it's done the cutlass. So we co-slept from then on, but every time another child came— and we tried the family bed thing, but that, we quickly knew that was not going to work out. So the new child would inadvertently kick out the old child, but there was no one to boot Henry out.

It's just he moves around a lot, he wakes me up. And I'm like, I'm getting in my 40s. I need sleep, man. I need to be able to function.

So late 40s?

Not late, mid, mid-40s.

But it's time. That's why we're building this bed. We're going to transition them out of our bed and eventually out of our room. Now let's see how much of this lumber we have left. We have everything but except 1x4s. Before we get started, and anybody see this, we have got to clean this shop. The homestead store. Can you name a more frequented store than Lowe's for homesteading supplies?

The damn boat.

Hey, don't wear out the sandpaper. We're gonna need that. We are on a mission to cut and start painting these boards today.

That's all.

Don't do it too much though. Yeah, that's good. Only that little pile passed inspection. We gotta go back. What do you guys have there? Got another builder in the family. Make a horse.

No, not him.

Okay, then make a chair. I thought you would like a horse more. Do I pass the inspection?

Yes.

Second inspection, I passed with flying colors. We got them all on cardboard. You're gonna paint one side and then the other. How many coats?

I'm probably gonna do two. It says one, but I want this to be nice.

We're extra. It's a new day, and Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we should be able to assemble this quite easily. We'll see. Henry, are you filming? Yeah, let's get it going. We got our tools. We've got about an hour and 10 minutes before lunch. You think we guys can do it?

Yes, I think we can do it.

Grot gave us the correct cuts because we're gonna— we've already painted these and we're about to put this together. Beautiful one's vacuuming, getting the room ready for putting this bed down. So let's just do a musical montage of putting this together.

Maybe let's get the ladder. And then that way we can do it in pieces.

Alright, we're gonna go by the instructions, okay? Lily just asked if we'd put it together in the sunroom. Listen, if I want my daughter to have a great husband one day, I have to show her what a great man looks like. How you're supposed to treat a woman. She asked me to put this together in the sunroom. Let's do it.

I just feel like it's falling apart.

Hey honey, you do what you need to do, baby.

I'd rather have a nice ride.

Okay, we can put it upstairs in the loft because it won't be tracked on a lot. In my office.

Yeah, I like that.

All right, garden of peace, y'all. Whatever she wants, whatever she wants. Why are you fighting battles? You guys are afraid of that. Are you afraid of this? All right, yeah, we need to do pilot holes. Hey, don't scuff it up with that. We want this to be 3 1/2. All the way. Do it a little tighter. See how it's not flush? I'm wondering if we put it together, will it fit through the door? Or do we need to put it together in the room? It's gonna have to be sideways. Wait, wait, it won't both go like that. Come here. It's gonna have to go like this. Okay. Alright, yep. Now let's see if there's anything in our way over here to the bedroom. So it's gonna have to go— could it go up like this? It could be up.

And then when they come in, and then when they go like this.

Look how tight that is. Hang on, hang on, hang on. We could put it on a roll. We have a roller, don't we?

Yeah, I think we have a roller, and then we have one downstairs that we can use.

Yeah, and a towel we could use. All right, come on. Wish I would have used pilot drills all along. Dang. Remember, I'm not building a Chick Shaw here.

How's the mattress gonna fit in here?

We got a trick, it's coming right up. How do you guys like this so far?

It's nice.

This is classic Anna White. I like it, just so simple. 2x4s and 2x6s. Hey, do you think we need the ladder?

Where's the other one? Where's the other one?

I don't think we need the ladder. Why would he use a ladder? I don't think he'd do Maybe he would.

I would. I don't want to step high.

Because if we do the ladder, it's just going to not be as roomy in that little tiny area. Instead of the 2-rung ladder, we're just going to put in 1. We're just going to do it to where it doesn't stick out anymore. Brilliant. See, this sticks out another 2x4. I later decided, why don't I tune it from the back? It looks much better from the back.

See if I can climb up it.

Yeah, you can. Is that better? Yeah. Okay. We have another 18-incher if Mom wants me to redo it. Only a few more steps. It's fun at this part when you're almost done and just cruising along. It's fun. And the crock modification plans saved me half an hour, an hour, I figure. Dad? Frame, installing, or assembly?

Go.

Okay, they're all consistently a hair off. Whoa, can you grab the tape too, or you need me to get it? All right, good boy. Okay, did you get out of your clothes? We wanted you having your normal clothes for this presentation.

I'm not gonna be in it.

Yeah, you are. You're gonna crawl in the bed. Now you're gonna be in a shark outfit. You had the tape?

Yeah.

Where is it? Oh, okay, okay, I believe you. Lily's on lunch. We're about out of time, boys. Whoops. Wait, wait, wait, wait, put them down. Come on, spread them out even.

What is this?

You need to get out. I don't know, we gotta get him out of his shark hat though for the reveal. Okay, you want it to be down this way so you can open your drawers?

Yes, I would like that.

Look, it's gonna have to fit.

Uh-oh, it fits.

Hey, hey, that was really tight.

That's all right.

I thought we were gonna have an inch on either side. It fit just right. Show her how you climb into Mama's bed at night.

But then how are you gonna get into my bed?

Yep, but you're gonna start in this bed. There you go.

So we can hold hands.

Show how you're gonna have to sneak over her.

You're gonna have to go here.

Without waking her up. Be quiet.

Did that last night.

Be quiet and stealthy. There you go. Real quiet. Okay. That's it.

Wee!

Rebecca and I are back next to each other in the bed. I know by now having parented this long that we were married before these children came and we'll be married after. We're in this for the long haul. So these child, young child years are investment years, and we'll, we'll have a return on the investment. They'll have a return on it. Okay, again, Henry, get in the bed. All right, you're gonna sleep in there tonight. He doesn't want covers. You gonna sleep in there tonight? What's the chances you're gonna stay in this bed all night?

Just—

how many? How long? 15. 15 what?

15 hours.

Oh, that'll work. All right, we got it on tape, y'all. I noticed the first night you slept in there a few hours, and then the second night— yeah, in your bed. And then the second night, a little longer. And then the third night, more fight, more fight to get in it, but you would stay longer and longer, and Mom and I could cuddle. And then last night, can you believe it? Is it true? It was like he stayed all night. He stayed all night. You know that?

And then I got in Mama's bed.

I could even cuddle Mom this morning. Then you got in Mama's bed. Yeah. You did. Hey, you're growing up.

Good job, buddy. Good job.

Oh yeah, what doesn't almost fit you? The pants. Oh yeah, you're growing up.

That's funny, his pants don't almost fit him, but these are raggedy.

Look what he's having her repair. You want your rainbow pants?

See, these would be— this would Yeah, and you had definitely outgrown that shark outfit from earlier.

Oh, it's sad that our last child losing all independencies. So he can wipe his own butt, he can eat, he can feed himself, he can now sleep by himself, he can talk, he can walk himself. We're closing that chapter in our life. And it's weird and it's sad, but on the other hand, it's also exciting. We're going to see what chapter is next. Hopefully it's son-in-laws and daughters-in-laws growing this family that way. La la la la la, let me be free.