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2/24/2012

Toy Takeover! What happened to my living room?

Now that Easton is 5 months old he loves to play!  He is learning to use his hands and his coordination is quite entertaining to watch.   He often looks at his own hands as he opens and closes them, scratches at things and tries to shove his entire fist into his mouth- Delicious!

For Christmas he got loaded up with new toys.  I thought, "how cute" and bought and assembled a special shelf for his room to display the toys on (true Carly fashion right there!).  What I didn't take into account is that lugging the toys from the "cute shelf" out to the living room every five minutes is super annoying.  Thus the toy takeover has begun!

I remember 5 months ago when my living room was spotless (if my own mom is reading this she probably is picking her jaw off the ground, shaking her head and thinking ya right, it's only spotless if she cleans it, but hey I have a "selective" memory lol).   Now every nook and cranny is packed with toys.   It started off innocently enough.  I would bring out A (singular) toy for Easton to play with.  Then I would put it back.  Then it grew into a small toy area on the fireplace next to the box of doggie toys.  Shockingly Otis knows the difference between his toys and the baby toys.

Next, I was able to get rid of the swing but swapped it for a bouncy seat.  Then Easton grew into his walker toy, so that gets parked next to the bouncy seat, across from the fireplace toybox.   Then we moved his pack and play into the living room which is squeezed next to the tv, next to the bouncy seat.   Did I mention he also has a little baby playmat jungle gym too?!  Ahhhh! 

In addition to all of his "gear"- we often store the baby carrier on the dining room table next to the high chair which is home to several bibs and toys to occupy his during dinner.  My favorite is when I'm laying on the couch and am like, "ooh what's stabbing me from under the cushions?!"  Oh of course a set of baby keys! LOL

Every night I have to do an entire sweep of the house to help with the toy takeover.   Clear the coffee table of bottles, pacifiers, a bib or two, check the cushions, push the walker and bouncer back to it's corner parking lot and shove the basket of clean baby laundry to it's hiding spot next to the couch.  AND of course put all of the doggie toys away.  They love the "Baby Stuff" (see pic below!)



 Funny thing is- though I miss my "aspiring pottery barn" style living room I can't imagine it any other way than littered with Easton stuff.  I mean look at him?!  Hugging his little moose toy- god he is so cute!  I'm sure in 20 years when I get my living room back, I'll be wishing it was still covered in his baby things :-)

2/08/2012

Meet the Modern Day Mommy

I got the chance to sit down with the hosts of eightWest to talk about my baby boy, my blog and my new role on WOTV 4 Women as the Baby Expert.


2/07/2012

Blog Confessional: Mommy Mistakes- Whoops!

I'm learning that little "Mommy Mishaps" simply happen.  A good mommy friend and I just had a vent session over how easy it is to feel like the worst mom in the world.  So in order to clear my conscious I'm going to have a little blog-confessional. Here goes:

MOMMY MISTAKE: Over-achiever attitude

I'm rushing out the door for work.  I've got the stupid heavy baby carrier in one hand with my laptop bag slung over my shoulder and my purse in the other hand.   Right on cue the over-excited bulldog shoves his way past my feet and tries to escape out the backdoor.  As I yell at him and try to use the baby carrier as a barrier my laptop bag slides off of my shoulder and lands (you guessed it) directly on the baby's lap.    I scream a blur of cuss words and drop to the ground to make sure little man is ok.  I think the swearing scared him more than anything because he looked startled but thank god- unhurt.

MOMMY LESSON LEARNED: Make two trips.   Always ignore the dumb dog.

MOMMY MISTAKE: Bundling blunder

I wasn't so crazy about bundling up the baby at first until my mom finally sternly looked at me and said, it's cold and this kid needs to be in his snowsuit/blanket ect.  I think I may have taken it too far.   I started putting Easton in his fuzzy bear suit (hooded snow suit type thing),  a winter hat AND covering him in a blanket. (writing this now I think I sound like a crazy Eskimo mother!)  I take him to the Dr. for his checkup and they are like- he has a fever!   What?!  Come to find out they recheck him again and I had bundled him soooo much that his temperature temporarily spiked.  


MOMMY LESSON LEARNED: It's west Michigan, not Antarctica.  A coat and hat is suffice.

MOMMY MISTAKE: Hydration Overload

So when Easton got his first cold the Doctor recommended keeping him warm (see "bundling blunder") and hydrated.  Since he only drinks to begin with I thought my best bet was to give him a little bit of a bottle every hour or two instead of a few larger feedings every three hours. But Easton was a little piggy and kept trying to chug way more than he should have.   To say the least the poor little guy got sick 2 times in the night.


MOMMY LESSON LEARNED: Don't put 4 ounces in a bottle when you only want him to eat 1-2.