I have 3 kids - my 2 girls are ages 4 and 6, so we have washed lots of bedding in the last few years! I would suggest a quilt or coverlet instead of a comforter. The Company Store, JC Penney or Target quilts have all held up as well as I have needed them to. Keep in mind when your daughter is elementary age, she may wish to make some changes in her room, and the bedding is often the easiest to change, so whatever you pick does not have to last forever. Avoid white or light colors for staining reasons and if you can find a subtle pattern, it may camouflage even further. Your MIL can certainly make some accent pillows to go on the bed - my kids love their bolster style pillows. On other thing that you may consider is adding a row of heavy-duty hooks somewhere that your daughter can reach (or can reach in a couple of years). This would be handy for hanging the PJ's that she takes off in the am and puts back on in the pm or bags with her "activity" stuff like dance shoes and leotards, karate uniform, soccer shoes, etc. Depending on your closet and/or mudroom set up this may not need to be in her room, but regardless, little girls collect lots of bags and love a place to put them. Your room is adorable now. You made great choices with paint and fabric already! Have fun with the little one. Here some unsolicited advice - take it or leave it: Also, don't fret over her moving to a big girl bed - lots of fun things are to come. It is much easier to potty train, get rid of pacis, etc, when they are in "big" beds. One other suggestion to lessen the trauma for her moving to a different bed is to set her bed up in her room and leave the crib in there. Talk up the big girl bed but keep putting her in the crib until she asks to sleep or nap in the big bed. After a few successful naps/nights, then move the crib out. With a new baby on the way, she needs to have some "Choices" and this will increase the likelihood of success. Best wishes!

nivea, I'm sorry you had a bad experience in your life but a child can be (and a lot of them are) manipulative at age 6-8. My SD, when she was 6, came up to me and said 'my daddy was kissing deanna' and stood there waiting for me to react. She has glared at me when he isn't looking. and she would be a totally different child the minute he walked through the door. A lot of this was happening when we were dating and he never saw any of it. He didn't believe me until I pointed it out and he saw it. Perhaps the difference is that I knew what she was doing and I had been through raising several kids before so I knew how to handle it. My DH's ex (whom my SD referred to as 'horrible Elizabeth') probably reacted to it by taking it personally. She was younger & had three small kids and not everyone can rise above it when you are stressed out. That may not be a good reason or excuse to blame them, but humans are not perfect. Anyone that believes children cannot be manipulative has their head stuck in the sand. It is natural for them to angle things so they get their way. My kids do it all the time. (and nivea, is it possible that you behaved normally as a child, which can be seen as manipulative if you didn't like your step mom? Were you happy they broke up?) Some kids just react like normal kids and their actions can seem the are being manipulative, and other kids 'know' they will get a reaction. I think my SD knew that telling me DH 'kissed' his friend would get a reaction. She was only 6 but had already learned how to get rid of daddy's GF's. (the situation was that his friend deanna had given him a ride home after his car broke down and she always gives a hug/kiss on the cheek. I knew about it and wasn't in any way concerned.) btw, My son came into my room a couple of days ago and we were talking. He told me 'mom, you just like to argue.' and I said 'no I don't' and he said 'yes you do' so I repeated 'no. I don't.' and he repeated 'yes you do' and then I realized that he was pushing my buttons and it was a game to him, to get me to argue with him. I just said, okay and it took the wind out of his sail, I took the fun out of it by not playing.

I think it's wrong for him to make such a drastic financial decision without your vote too. i think it's wrong for him to make such a life changing decision without you feeling comfortable with it. I think him being a clean freak and not putting his foot down on her disgusting habits is absolutely disrespectful towards you.. especially since you are the one cleaning it up. If he is the absolute love of your life and you think you can't live without him, then i would suggest (and maybe this is crazy) getting a house with a connected inlaw suite situation and putting her in it!Maybe then you can have "family time" when it is right for you. i know i will get criticized on that one.. ok it does sound crazy lol..but this child doesn't seem too concerned with anyone else, does she? Kids aren't stupid. They know what they're doing.If you can afford it, get her counseling and keep her busy with summer programs. In the long run, kids like a little discipline and order, whether they realize it or not. You've got to start all over with this girl and decide to make her new upbringing a project you both agree to or.. well.. RUN!!! The only reason i'm not starting my input out with "RUN!!!" is because i live with my boyfriend and he is the sweetest, warmest, kindest boyfriend ever. However, when his girls disrespect me he puts his foot down because he knows i'm taking on alot. They are over every other weekend and the only reason i am taking on this situation (not wanting kids AT ALL)is because he deserves my love and attention. He is all the things most women crave in a boyfriend and i love him dearly. We have a great relationship, so i put up with life being not what i planned on. Having said that, if we were to break up, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I WOULD DATE SOMEONE WHO HAD KIDS, unless they were adults and out of the house and normal and excessively kind to me. i stopped mid way through your story and said a prayer for you.. and i'm not even religious. If he can't make this situation easier for you, and you still want to see him, then do so, from the luxury of your own clean, dreamy place. If he can't compromise, let him clean up his own mess. We've got to stop supporting men who can't support the things we hold dear.

She doesn't have to love you, but I would ABSO-FRICKING-LUTELY insist that she be civil to you. Tell him that his allowing her to do this crap is not showing you any respect ... abuse and insult by proxy. He's also not helping his daughter any by not having standards for her. He's letting her develop some self-destructive habits that will bite her in the butt in a year or two. One of my uncles married an older woman with 2 daughters. He was all of 22, and they were about 12 or 13 ... one of them sassed her mom and he corrected her. She said "you aren't our dad, you can't tell me what to do" so he picked her up, raised her to his 6'6" eye level, looked her straight in the eye and said "I am not your father, but your mother is now my WIFE, and I will not allow anyone to treat my WIFE with disrespect". Then he lowered her to the floor and walked out of the room.