transitioning to a big kid bed

This was fun!
We transitioned our older daughter to a big kid bed for her 3rd birthday. She had been sleeping in her crib that had transitioned into a toddler bed by taking off one of the sides essentially. She didn't seem to miss it once we transitioned her. Here are some things that I liked about the entire process and the final product:

we involved her in the process,
so as we were setting up the mattress and the bed, she was part of it

we surprised her with the set up and a new special blanket, sheets, and more

the mattress we bought is a natural latex foam mattress, similar to her crib mattress
Pure Green Latex Mattress, from Sleeponlatex.com
I searched around a lot and this is the best deal I could find while trusting that is was actually 100% natural latex, and not synthetic, it comes rolled up, so you just need to unroll it, then manage to move it into place, it is like a very heavy pasta noodle. 
We bought the twin firm mattress, because of it being for a kid, per their recommendation. It is quite firm, but she seems to like it. I also figured we could purchase a mattress pad in the future if we wanted to soften it a bit.

The quality of the cotton quilts from Pottery Barn Kids is really nice and they also sometimes have great sales of older models. The same goes for their sheets, these were a great organic cotton find. I liked the style of Pottery Barn Kids because it was soft and simple, but not too minimal so that it was fun and kid-like too. 

We had to get a waterproof mattress cover/pad, the latex mattress is not protected in that way. I have used and love Sleep and Beyond wool products, and they sent me a waterproof mattress protector to try out, myProtector. It has been a great mattress protector. It is easy to wash and we hardly have had to wash it. I love that it has a little natural wool padding because the mattress we have is so firm. For those that would like to know the details about this mattress cover, myProctector consists of following components: 
-Top fabric: 100% natural cotton percale, 270TC
-Filling: 100% washable wool
-Bottom fabric: 100% natural cotton
-Waterproof barrier: 100% polyester microfiber with TPU* coating (underneath the bottom cotton fabric) 
-Skirts: 100% stretchy waterproof polyester with TPU* coating. 

*TPU is the agent that provides the waterproof, stain proof coating and is FDA approved and used in food packaging as well as diaper industry. It does not off-gas any harsh chemicals as the other protectors in the industry.