Kaybee212's Profile

We love Dear Zoo, Cowboy Small, anything by Sandra Boynton, I Love You Because You're You (will make you cry), Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and Babies Everywhere.

We have the Joovy Nook. For our second we gave away our old Chicco, which was too bulky and honestly scared me when I slid the tray in. The Joovy Nook folds in half with the flip of a switch and has a handle to carry. It's lightweight (yet still sturdy). We hang it on a wall hook in the garage now that our son is in a booster at the table. But if we need his chair for company, we just pull the Nook right out of the garage. When we go on vacation to the beach, it goes with us to the condo. It's so easy to carry and store, we just love it. Plus, at $150, it's reasonably priced. Also, love how easy it is to wipe down. Our old Chicco had many folds in the seat cushion. It made cleaning a chore. The Nook is pretty simple, which makes things much easier. My son is a big 2 year old and still fits in it. And I wouldn't make a habit of it, but my average-sized 4 1/2 year old can also fit in it (when he likes to pretend he's a baby).

Mine are 2 1/2 years apart and both boys. I wanted them to share a room but didn't plan to do so until the little one was in the toddler bed we had used for the older one. He has bunk beds in his room, and I'm not ready to put a 4 year old on the top bunk. So for now, he sleeps on the bottom. My baby has NEVER been a good sleeper, so I held out as long as I could to help out the big boy. But at 20 months, the baby started climbing out of his crib, so I had no choice. They've been sleeping in the same room now for about 6 weeks, and it has been WONDERFUL! My 4 year-old doesn't nap anymore and crashes at 7:30 or so. The baby still takes a nap in the crib (in the nursery) in the afternoon (he doesn't climb out at naptime for some reason). While he would often chat for an hour or more when put down in his crib at 7, he goes to sleep within 15-20 minutes in the shared room. I credit positive peer pressure. I think he actually knows he doesn't want to keep his brother up. They do climb in bed together around 6:30am and proceed to giggle for 30 minutes before they get up for the day. But that's just too adorable to worry about. So I say (long story short), it can work, but you may have to wait until it's right for each kid. Or in our case, you do it because you have to, and it actually turns a bad situationi into a great one!

Our playscape is nice but not gigantic. It has a slide, an upper deck with a ship's wheel. There'e a ladder on one side to get up and a fake rock wall on the other. There's a bar to swing on and spots for 3 swings. Under the upper platform is a tire swing. My kids love it (at 4 and 17 months). But it sure cost a lot more than we expected (thank goodness for generous grandparents). The quality is excellent, and the guys who assembled it were true professionals. They tried out everything to ensure it could handle adult weight. I believe the total coset was somewhere in the neighborhood of $3000. Of course, our yard was already set for it. Good luck with all the other obstacles.

We have this table from Buy Buy Baby but in espresso. We also have the matching easel from the same place. We love them. They actually coordinate with all of our other furniture. We keep them out in a play area that's visible to all who come in our home. My son also has a small square table and chairs from IKEA in his own room. But this one looks good enough to be out in the rest of our house!
http://www.buybuybaby.com/product.asp?SKU=15010274&RN=7004&