megatroid's Profile

Great tips!

We store all of our cutlery "jumbled up" in a decorative vase on the counter. At mealtimes the "cutlery bucket" is placed in the middle of the table - everyone grabs what they need. Time saved: sorting as things come out of the dishwasher; putting away or needlessly washing unused items cutlery; setting the table (we just set plates and napkins, which my 2 year old does independently)

I have worn my daughter for two winters now here in Canada.

I would not recommend wearing baby in a snowsuit, in a carrier - new babies fall asleep often - and you don't want to have to worry about him/her overheating once you get where you are going.
I LOVE my babywearing coat - there are lots available depending on your style and budget -- but any coat that's too big for you would do (ie: an old men's coat). That way when baby falls asleep you can just take the coat off both of you, and baby can continue to snooze once you're indoors. My coat can accommodate both front and back carry -- which was great in baby's second winter when we were more into back carrying -- but again, just a too-big-for-you regular coat could probably do this...
The only advantage to having a carrier cover (friends of mine recommend both the Pikkolo cover and baby bjorn cover - both of which work on just about any carrier) is that someone else could also use it to carry baby (ie: dad, grandma, whomever) if you think that is an option you'd like to have -- but I think a carrier cover would never be as warm as baby being with you inside a coat.

Good luck and health to you and baby upon his/her arrival!

We also live in a small apartment. Several months ago and I bought a $30 folding (ugly, plastic) slide for my now 18-month old. She spends tons of time on it! Since it folds up when not in use (or to rotate out of sight to reinvigorate her excitement about it) I'm willing to tolerate the ugliness of it:
http://www.amazon.com/American-Plastic-Toy-Folding-Slide/dp/B00286KT1Y

Looking forward to see what suggestions others have!

We postponed a crib as we planned to co-sleep for the first few weeks/months...and I'm glad we did, as we ended up liking co-sleeping much more and for much longer than we anticipated.

Our daughter didn't start sleeping in her own bed until 16 months old, at which point she slept in a "big girl" bed.

You don't know what's going to work for your family until you try, so delaying ANY baby purchase until you need it is a good decision in my experience.

Great idea. Please post pictures if you do this!

My only thought would be: your child will WANT to sleep on the loft in the future, at which point you'll lose all that storage space unless you plan on moving the stuff down to floor level (though i imagine you'll want the floor for play or desk space later?). Living in a small apartment with my family as well, I know what a big deal it would be to all of a sudden lose that much storage after getting used to it. Perhaps something like this (http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/30098892) would offer a more long term storage solution? We have this bed in full size and are amazed by how much stuff can fit inside there...much more useful than a bed with drawers.

Similar to the Ikea ones mentioned above, we have the Dreambaby ones with a key for opening. They are near impossible to get off without the key...though it's a bit annoying to have to go searching for a key every time you need to plug something in.

http://www.dearbornbaby.com/product.php?productid=2421&cat=84&page=1

LaneC: good find! The beige fisherprice jumeroo at target is by far the least offensive of these contraptions I have seen!

After much hesitation at bringing such a big plastic thing into my house, I broke down and got a jumperoo, seeing how much my daughter loved the one at our local family drop-in centre. For the little time she spent in it each day (never more than 15 minutes without tiring of it), I think it was a waste of (physical and visual) space.

I would have much rather had a hanging doorway jumper (jolly jumper or similar) that could have been easily stowed in a drawer or closet, but our all-pocket-doors condo doesn't have the door frames to support one.

My two cents would be: get a doorway jumper, and if you think it's the flashy plastic toys that attract your child to the jumperoo/exerasaucer, get a few clip-on flashy plastic stroller toys to clip onto the jumper. If your child doesn't end up using it much, you won't have wasted the space and money, and if she does, our husband can tuck it all away in a drawer when he doesn't want to look at it.

I think it depends very much on your local community whether bottle feeding or breastfeeding is considered the "norm". I live in Toronto, Canada, and am surrounded by breastfeeding mothers and the message that "breast is best" (which is wonderful). However, as a woman who was physiologically unable to breastfeed, I appreciated this article just getting to the point about which bottles and formulas are best. I hear enough about breastfeeding to feel guilty and ashamed about my inability all on my own.
The unfortunate reality is that fewer than 20% of women breastfeed exclusively even for the first 6 months, so information about bottles and formula are the information that the other 80% need.

Beautiful! What a bright addition for a small space.

If you hang one that comes closer to the floor a tummy time/sitting/crawling child can amuse himself independently in the mirror while mom or dad puts tiny clothes away, cleans, drinks coffee etc.

We have mirrors (though none this beautiful) hung and child's height in both our play area and bathroom: for sure brightens up and enlarges the space, and keeps our little one entertained for long periods of time. At 11 months our daughter now loves combing her hair (sort of) in front of the one in the bathroom.