nicole_gt's Profile

We have a 4 room apartment and my children are definitely not allowed to go and play in our room. Its true that they are occasionally invited in for a cuddle or a story, especially on a Sunday morning or in order to look in the 'big' mirror, but I draw the line on them using it as one of their play areas. I want to be able to go into my room at night and find it clean and orderly, I don't want to have to worry about them getting white bedding dirty or accidently ruining expensive clothing. I also feel pretty strongly that it is MY personal space and this is especially valuable in such a small living space. I would like to think that, conversely, I am respectful of their space and let them have their toy 'towns' set up for long periods of time without disturbing them, I let them tape their special drawings to the wall and generally arrange the room as they see fit. Its about being respectful of one another. Its a very important lesson in respecting other people's things.

Love!!! So creative, just full of the kind of inspiration that I look for on Ohdeedoh.

My girls, 3 and 7, asked for bunkbeds a few months ago and since I was looking for a way to make room for a piano, this seemed like a good way to gain some floor space. So far, so good. No one has fallen out, there has been no fighting over top and bottom bunk (big girl gets the top, little one stays below), and it is amazing how much more room we have now, with one bed out of the way.
Its true that bunkbeds- especially the top one- can be impossible to make. Our solution was to cut a twin comforter to the EXACT width of the mattress, then we took the twin duvet covers and basically sewed a pocket in them, the exact width of the bed and the newly cropped comforter. The edges of the duvet are just double layers of cotten fabric so they can be tucked in easily and this way the comforter stays in place and the kids can make their beds by just smoothing everything down. Sometimes I come and do a bit of extra tucking when I want things to look especially nice but otherwise, I find that this has been the perfect solution for us. You do need a sewing machine but not much skill, since you are just sewing straight lines.

Magic Erasers are not banned in Europe; they sell them at every grocery store in Paris and I've got a box in my cupboard right now. And I would strongly disagree that a microfiber cloth could take magic marker scribbles off my walls and furniture. I actually love to use them a couple times a year for just a general clean up of the walls and doors where dirty hands have left their mark. It makes the whole room look like its been freshly painted!

I do not have a car, since I live in the city center, so I have the bottom of my stroller filled with weird and wonderful things that come in handy (mittens and hats, kleenexs, small toys, a fleece blanket). I also keep three small see-through pouches in rotation for when we leave the house. They each have a few diapers, one of those small packs of handwipes, a wash cloth, a change of clothes, and a pacifier. If I glance at it and see something missing, I just grab for another or get a replacement for what I see missing if there is time. The small pouch then goes in my purse. I admit to always having a few small snacks stashed in my purse, along with crayons and paper, and I add a fresh bottle/sippy cup as we are getting ready to go. When Dad takes the kids, everything just goes in the bottom of the stroller. Basically, after one kid, I realized that its better to limit what we drag around and, in the case of real disaster, just buy what we need rather than lug around a ginormous bag. Whats the worse that could happen? You end up with an extra bag of diapers (you'll use them up in a week)?

In France, they only sell this type of nose-cleaner! I was disgusted when I first saw it, but when you see how well it works, you can't help but be converted. It makes a huge difference for a congested baby. Follow this up with a little saline spray and you have a few hours of easy breathing for your child.
My little one liked it so much that she used to sit still and sort of 'give me' her nose to clean out. My older daughter wasn't such a fan so I would sit her in my lap, facing away from me, then hold her chin/head with one hand while using the other hand to put the sucker gently in her nose. I could keep her from wiggling too much and be sure to not push the sucker in too far.
Oh- in a pinch, when we were on vacation and were out of the snot blockers, we just stuffed some loosely balled up Kleenex in the sucker. It let enough air pass to keep working and was easy to keep in place.

also, I've found that my biggest storage problem is toys and my under-crib drawers weren't terribly useful as they were poorly made. The bottom fell out as soon as I put something heavy in (a stack of board books was all it took). But they were also really shallow, which wasn't terribly useful. I ended up taking out the entire drawer unit and replacing them with baskets that were easier to use for toys and books.

I need two to three weeks notice or I have to say no. If its something that we can reschedule, I don't mind doing that to allow my kids to go to a party but I would never cancel plans that had been made with someone else in order to attend another event. In any case, I've found that once kids are in school, you have to give parents that much notice just so that they can stay on top of things. Its hards to be spontaneous when you are juggling the schedules of a few kids.

I can't get behind weird names like California (its seriously like fingernails on a chalkboard), but the room is really cute and they got my vote. I love the wild pink and orange color combination on a neutral background and the really effective use of decals. Well done!

Love the color combo- used the same in my daughters room :-)