Toddler Proofing...

...the Creative Way...

The Little is into everything these days, and as i've said before, nothing is sacred.
This has created many challenges for us in keeping him (and our stuff) safe.
Being the creative types that we are however, we have come up with a few unique was to keep
the knives in the drawer, the garbage out of reach, prevent a tumble down the stairs, and keep the groceries frozen...

Spatula cupboard keeper-closer.

Drawer pulls reversed on the inside - useless to all, but safe!

Spoon key to unlock basement door.  Who chose these stupid latches again?!  Oh yeah, me : (

Wood shims to keep freezer closed.  Carpenter magic.

There are more too - like the piece of baseboard that now rests on my dresser, creating a wall that little fingers cannot reach over, and thus saving little eyes from hairspray accidents.
And there's even a few real child locks on things, but most of them are junk and have broken.
( How are they allowed to sell plug covers that are so easy to pull out, or cupboard latches that snap?! )

Hey, if nobody moves no one gets hurt.

What a Difference...

...a year makes....

Then:

Now:

sigh. 

This or That Thursday

Artsy is NOT Fartsy v.3

Tales from the Baby's Room.....

Seeing as a lot of our baby stuff was borrowed and has recently been returned for the new baby 

(have I mentioned how excited I am for them?!) we had to make a few changes around here, 

although I use the term 'we' loosely... 

These changes included a new car seat which is awesome

because I was sooo sick of lugging that infant one around, talk about heavy!
19 lb. baby + 25 lb. car seat = mega arm muscles.
Sheesh, a man must have designed those things!  But I digress....

We also returned the changing table that was in the babe's room,
and being the type that always used it, I was left in need of a replacement.
Some women might panic, some might go out and buy one.
I, on the other hand, have Dr. Nails.
He rocks my world.

This is what we came up with:

I wish I could claim this idea as my own,
but I totally saw it somewhere, I'm not going to lie to you...
'We' (again used very loosely)  painted the mouse-hole with chalk board paint,
which I have been dying to use on something, finally!

And when we don't need the change table anymore the front trim comes off

and voila! a built in shelf in the closet.

Frickin' genius if I do say so.

And a big thank you to everyone who keeps voting for us on the top baby blogs,

we've moved up sooooo far because of you!

x's and o's!

Tales from the baby's room

And er, the dining room, and the living room, and the master bedroom....

I remember b.b. (before babe),

when I had myself fully convinced that I would not be one of THOSE.

You know, those people who allow their children to take over the entire house.

You see them on tv, in movies and hey, maybe you even see it at your friends' houses:

Toys and baby gear strewn haphazardly throughout the entire house,

piles of dirty laundry stashed behind closed closet doors,
dishes in the sink and dirty floors.

 Oh no, that sorry state of affairs would not happen to me,

not in this little shack on the shore, no ways,

not with this here chick in charge. 

I was totally convinced that I would not become one of THOSE.

Well, I was totally wrong.

It's everywhere.

You know, I always equated it with a hostile takeover.

A coup d' état where we the parents are being overthrown,

 and the worst part is that the sweet little thing can't even crawl yet!

But the thing is, I like it, a lot.
I simply love the fact that he has a place to be no matter which part of the house we're in,
so we can always hang out.

After all, he is still just so little.

Tales from the Baby's Room:

There are certain things in life that are just too damn precious to keep to yourself:

Funny the things that make me happy these days,

if nothing else, at least I am still easy to please.

I think this is one of my favourite rooms in the house.

It's fun to just go in there and look.

Yes, look.  I don't even have to touch a thing. 

Although I did have fun playing with all the little laundry.

I am probably the only person in the world who would look forward to this:

Folding all those teeny tiny baby clothes and hats and socks is the best.

Someone please remind me of that in a few months!

Ready or Not....

There, I think this is as ready as we're going to get.

The baby will never know, right?

As long as none of you tell...

Keep you guessing

I present to you the question of the year, this year that I am calling the year of the bump, or maybe i should just call it a bump year, the bump year.  Anyways, that is neither here nor there.  

The real question is..... (drumroll please) ..............

OR

Now, my lovely and handsome boyfriend - to be henceforth know at his request as "Dr. Nails" -  and I have made the decision to break many hearts and not find out the answer to said question.   

Instead we choose the surprise of a lifetime, and hope that it is just the beginning of the many amazing surprises to come.  I love surprises. Dr. Nails surprises me everyday, and so does my belly button.

November seems so far away!