Wiesje's Profile

Having lived on the 5 and 6th floor of a narrow, tall, 1680 canal house in Amsterdam, whilst pregnant, then with baby, then toddler, and without a car, I learned a few things. (i) It's awesome: you can quit your gym membership! (ii) Invest in a good carrier and only bring basics when going on outings (fully agree with above list, except maybe add a change of clothes for accidents) (iii) Become besties with your neighbours so they'll let you hang your Bugaboo or whichever stroller you use, on a hook in the corridor on the ground or first floor. (iv) Teach your baby to crawl up stairs at the earliest opportunity. Mine could confidently scoot up stairs loooooong before she could walk. (v) Pay for supermarkets to deliver heavy goods or bulky items such as water/other bottles, to your house. (Ensure the small print clearly states delivery is to your kitchen, not your front door, or it could get messy / be a big dissapointment). (vi) Whatever you do, do NOT leave your keys in the front door and only find out when you've finally made it to your own door....

I had to comment on this - our daughter is also called Eva, also two years of age and her favourite play things are her teepee (which was my very first sewing project, as a gift for her second birthday) and her play kitchen. Living in Hong Kong in a small apartment, we have done pretty much the same: the teepee is cute and sufficiently unobtrusive that it can be up in our living room (actually, I love reading books in it too :-)) and her kitchen used to be in another corner of our LR. We have recently moved it to her own bedroom in exchange for a small arts & crafts table but could see it moving back into the LR as it gets played with less in her bedroom, it seems, and it never bothered me as it's super cute - a wooden toaster, anyone?
Anyhow, yeay for living with toddlers in small apartments and making it all work!!

With a foreign husband who missed his family and friends a lot, we have entertained a lot of people in our small, one bedroom apartment. Other then the things mentioned above, we had done one very simple, but superuseful thing that made their stays better for everyone: we put a few small hooks in the (beams of the) ceiling of our living room (in the same colour as the the beams so you wouldn't normally notice them), and then when guests came to stay, at bedtime we'd hang pre-made IKEA curtains on those hooks. In the morning we'd simply fold up the curtains and put them back in the drawer. That way, although they were staying in our living room, at least for the night and especially in the morning, they felt like they had a bit more privacy. Most of our guests could easily afford hotels, but often chose to stay with us instead, even when they were on work trips! I guess my excellent cappuccinos - I am a coffee snob - in the morning also helped :-)