AbbyR's Profile

This is awesomely cool!! Love it! Hope you get lots of use out of it! (wouldn't work for us personally, I prefer a good ol' fashioned sprinkler)

I also had the same issue, I couldn't find an ottoman that I liked, at a price that I liked, that would fit his toys well. I ended up picking up an ugly toy box on CL for free, made from particle board, painted blue with horses. I bought some clearance fabric and batting, and covered the entire thing one night (never did it before, not terribly hard). I also bought a safety hinge at home depot and installed it. The entire thing cost about $30-$40 (including price of staple gun). It looks great and does the trick! We can use it for other storage when the toy stage passes (does that actually happen??)

I actually have my google calendar synced with my icloud. My husband has an android - I don't think he's set it up on his phone get but we can also be "in sync" via iCloud via google calendar. If that makes sense...:p

I used to boil mulling spices on the stove in order to get that fantastic fragrance without any chemicals. MMmmmm!

Amazing - we too have the cat scratch float stairs. We wanted to get them re-done but also couldn't afford it. I look forward to reading about your process, although I worry that the wood stairs might be too slippery for our toddler.

We do not have video games in our home. Our son is 1 but early on we decided that we would not be buying any gaming system. Not because of the violence (I actually hadn't thought about that) but because of the timesuck that we feel video games are. Will he play them at his friend's house? Sure he will and that's fine. But we are hoping that at home he'll play soccer in the backyard instead of wanting to play video games. This might be idealistic, but we watched my nephew become completely consumed with video games. It was the only thing he wanted to do or talk about. While I understand that this has a lot to do with parenting, it's not something we feel good about bringing into our home. Even his current electronic toys, he can play with them at home or in the car, but not when we are out - we want him to observe and engage with his surroundings and other people.

Gosh, we sound like pretentious hippies, but I guess our lack of interest in the video games makes it an easier decision for us. Plus, kids can learn all those skills elsewhere too.

that was such a beautiful piece - too bad they covered it up like that. Normally I like the befores and afters, but this one is sad.

last year I got a lamp that I had been coveting (and I made sure to buy myself a pair of earrings) - my baby was only a few days old. This year I asked for a package of yoga classes (then I'll get weekly time to myself to unwind!) and I also bought myself 8 weeks of stroller fit. I'm tempted to get myself a necklace too - this parenting is HARD work!

We never bought any of those things and it was fine. My now 11.5 month son falls, but when he does it's usually not where a mat would be anyways. If I needed something soft for him to sit on I'd just put down a few blankets - but before he was sitting he'd be on his stomach sliding around the room. Not worth it, and as one commenter posted above - likely toxic.

Wow, this thread is frightening - I live in Toronto and have never once considered not opening my door. I don't go to the door if I'm busy with the baby (nursing or changing him) but if I'm available I always do. After reading the replies I guess I'll think twice before opening my door, but that's sad.