natalie Daily's Profile

Twins can not be trusted! It's so different from having one at a time.

One more thought...even though I err on the side of letting the kids live and play freely throughout the house, I do notice that after we have a big clean-up session every other day or so, all of the toys seem even more fun, and they get more creative with them. I think that kids' minds (just like ours) can get cluttered and overwhelmed when they are in a messy space. When things are neat and tidy, they are nicer to each other and have more fun (but, then they just make more mess). And the beat goes on...

My husband and I live with our kids who are 4, 2, and 2 in a 960 square foot house. Thankfully, we have a big yard in a mild climate. We've made an outdoor playroom and have moved many of the more obnoxious toys outside. My house looks like a disaster after an hour of free play time while I cook dinner. Having a place for everything helps things get cleaned up when it's time (realistically not every day). When it is time to pick up, I try to have an incentive (going outside, a show, going on a outing), which helps a TON. I give each a focused task (all the cars, all the legos, all the dress-up clothes, all the books, etc.), which really helps. My 4 year-old is getting really good at it (especially if I ask her to "organize"), so I have a lot of hope that in a couple of years, our house may have a nice balance of fun and order. Right now, the balance is a lot more fun (I hope!), and I know that it is just a season. I LOVE having art supplies outside in their huge homemade playhouse. They are free to create, and I can relax knowing that little hands covered in paint aren't touching the walls and furniture!

Also, if you're going to expand your CL area a bit, I would offer to take payment via Paypal. You won't have to worry about bounced checks, and the buyer will have a little bit of piece of mind as well. I use Paypal all the time for CL purchases locally if I can't get out to pick something up until the weekend and down't want to miss out on it.

I don't know if she did this, but you could easily add a shelf or two behind the curtain to add storage.

I had preemie twins as well. What they need most are things to make their lives easier. If they live far from the hospital, gas can add up, so gas cards are nice (as long as you google to find out which ones are close to her home/the hospital). Gift cards to restaurants and take out near the hospital are helpful as she might tire of hospital food. If she has other children, special toys to keep them occupied in the waiting room are nice. You could also set up an account for them on takethemameal.com, get email addresses of local friends/family that might be able to contribute to it and set up help and meals for her locally. Preemie clothes were nice to get (once they were big enough to wear them). Sometimes it is nice to have a voice recorder so that parents can record them singing songs, books, etc. for the babies to hear when they can't be there. We needed a digital camera to be left bedside so that nurses could take pictures of cute cuddling when we were gone (we have an older daughter, so we needed to keep ours with us to document her as well). I would definitely consider going to visit her (TO HELP WITH THE HOUSE!) if you can manage it, too, she has no idea how hard it's going to be to manage the house when they come (you should definitely make sure you get a flu shot, though). Also, she's going to have it pretty tough for the next year or so. Don't forget about her.

Toothpaste! Not the gel kind or anything fancy...just the most basic paste. I leave it on for a little while, and it always gives me relief.

I've been making homemade "Larabars," which are just sticky dried fruit and nuts ground in a food processor, for my kids. I coat the pan with cooking spray, cut them, and wrap them in parchment sealed with a fun sticker. Parchment is amazing!

I just bought a cherry pitter that does six cherries at once. It was the best $12 I've spent in a long time.

paint the border. get some paint for ceramics at an art store and paint a design on the tiles. you could even just do dot painting if you're not comfortable with line painting. you can use transfer paper (from a fabric store notions section) to sketch out a design to follow that you can wipe away after the paint dries.