DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Recomendations

Some background info to this post: My wife and I were blessed with healthy twin babies last year. Those 2, along with our 2-year-old son, keep us very busy. It can be exhausting at times, but we are doing well.

The twins are getting to the stage were they are starting to sleep through the night, and we are planning to transition them to their own room soon. Because of this, I told my wife that when they finally move out, we are getting a new mattress, sheets, covers, etc. to replace our current ones that have been abused with milk, spit-up, and all other kinds of baby mishaps

My question to the board is what kind of mattress should we get? I want to try memory-foam, but I like being cool when I sleep, and I heard some of those can retain heat. Does anyone have experience or recommendations for brands?

2nd question: With Covid and being busy with twins, we haven't really done anything for our anniversary the last 2 years. This year, we want to do something big, because we need it after all we've gone through the last year. Our anniversary is is November, so we have some time. Usually, we are ones to take an active vacation (we've hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, hiked/kayaked/bicycled in New Zealand), but for this trip, we just want to relax on a beach with some drinks. I'm thinking some sort of all inclusive resort in the Caribbean.

Does anyone have any recommendations for that? Where to go? How long to stay? When to book?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Recommend the Purple mattress.

My wife and I stayed here in St. Lucia and absolutely loved it. The best beach vacation her and I have done. Had one of the villas with a pool. The resort is situated right between the pitons. Climb the pitons for added adventure.

https://www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/sugar-beach/accommodations

I went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for the first time this past spring/summer and loved it. The further south you go down the coast, the quieter vacation experience you'll have.

Outer Banks would have my vote as well. It’s a chill place and you can get a house on the beach that’s pretty private

Oh and another thing: I’d avoid going in July if possible. That’s the height of their season. If you could book ASAP or May-June that’s ideal

I have a Sleep Number bed and it is great. You can set the firmness to your liking on each side.

Dude. If you want to try memory foam, I would definitely give this one a shot.

Vibe Gel Memory Foam 12-Inch Mattress | CertiPUR-US Certified | Bed-in-a-Box, King $392
https://www.amazon.com/Vibe-12-Inch...RJX4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Background info: When we moved to St Louis for work, it was in a rush. We were also keeping our house in Ohio so we basically packed our clothes and left with a huge shopping list lol. We went to Sams and bought a Serta Perfect Sleeper, dropped right around 1k, IIRC. It wasn't 'til later that we had to shop for something for our guest bedroom. My wife mentioned something to a friend who raved about this "inexpensive" option (we didn't want to drop another thousand in the guest bedroom of our apartment when we weren't sure how many guests we would be having so far from "home"). They had bought this one for a guest bed and actually pilfered it for their own bedroom.

We slept in it a few times and was amazed, actually considered switching it out to the master but the Serta was amazingly comfortable as well. When our son came to STL, he slept in it for two weeks and fell in love. When we moved to Fort Wayne, we slept in it for a full week during the moving process, again, just an incredible night's sleep. "Switching" at this point though was a no-go as my wife's mom and dad had visited a few times and were in love with it -- and they would be visiting a lot more often in Fort Wayne, now only four hours from "home" in Ohio.

Long story short, now that our apartment is closer to Ohio, we've had many guests sleep in this bed and wake up raving about it, no one has ever complained. Sometimes when I ask I even raise an eyebrow as if I'm implying that they should be complaining. "Are you kidding me? I slept like a baby!"


As far as the "memory foam gets to hot"... this mattress has four layers, the top five inches are gel infused, which diffuses all the heat and allows it to breath. Read the reviews, there are a few complaints, as there would be about anything as subjective as a mattress, but I don't recall reading any complaining about heat.


As a disclaimer, because we didn't realize this at the time: This mattress does not require box springs and is very deep (high) at 12". You put it on a box spring and you need a trampoline to get into bed, you remove the springs and it's too low. For that reason, I would recommend a slat-support base, which will run you another buck-thirty-five, although these prices and links are based on the king size we purchased.

ZINUS Yelena 14 Inch Metal Platform Bed Frame / Steel Slat Support / No Box Spring Needed / Easy Assembly, King $135

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071CWBBN2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1


EDIT: To clarify, The bed is perfectly fine on a normal frame if you use box springs... it is too low if you don't. The trampoline comment was based on the fact that we tried it on the higher base with the box springs and it was way to high, so we scrapped the box springs. In other words, just buy the higher base and you don't need to buy box springs. If you already have box springs, you can put it on a normal base with no added expense.

I also vouch for memory foam.

Get a sleep number

1st question, middle of the scale serta.

This is the most disappointing answer to a question on this message board ever.

First of all, congrats on the twins.

My wife and I also had twins last year, they'll be 10-months here in a little over a week. (Both boys).

I can't help with your mattress question BUT I can suggest a vacation getaway.

Destin FL is wonderful, especially during the off-season.

My wife and I needed an affordable honeymoon (as we had to pay for it ourselves) and Destin was excellent.

We went in October so nothing was overly crowded and the weather was still nice enough to lounge around by the pools.

You can find a lot of nice beach front properties at an affordable price, especially if you're looking in November.

If you've never done downtown Indy, that can be fun just for a quick weekend getaway.

Tons of nice hotels, restaurants and bars if you're the type that can make a weekend out of just eating/drinking.

Good luck!

I have the sleep number as well.

Do not get the split mattress. It looks good on paper, but in practice, there is "the grand canyon" between you and your wife. We wound up strapping them together and putting a mattress topper on top to correct the situation.

We have the sleep number bed as well. We love it. She sets hers, I set mine. Good to go.

I was going to go the Sleep Number route, but to get both the adjustable head and feet, it would be over $5000. (significantly over) I went to Sleepy Hollow Shop, and bought a nice Stearns and Foster mattress, and an adjustable platform, and spent less than half. I didn't need a split base though.

Love that area ! would fly into Fort Walton then head through Destin up to Panama City...

As for a mattress, you are on your own there. Everybody is different. I'd take a couple of oak planks over a soft mattress.

As for vacation...I assume you are leaving the kids. At their age I wouldn't plan much/

Some years ago my wife and I went to a Sandals resort in Jamaica and had a great time. I wouldn't recommend Jamaica itself. The country itself sucks, but the resorts are very nice.

Thank you everyone for the recommendations! You have all been very helpful, even those that sent PMs.

Yes, we will definitely be leaving the kids behind for this vacation (another reason for not going last year, we didn't want to stick the Grandparents with having to watch 5 month old twins for an extended period).

Congratulations on the twins to you as well, Kelso! Are they your only children? We were blessed with a boy and a girl to go along with their older brother.

Yes Crush, our only children.

Got a very unexpected 2-for-1 deal, heh heh.

Some mattresses are better than others, I think putting too much into a mattress at the family time of having 3 children under 5 is a philosophy on spending priorities. spoiler v