Heavenly days . . . .I feel like I’m drowning in baby crap.
(Not literally — no, don’t worry. I’m speaking metaphorically here.)
Every (seriously EVERY) room in our house has something baby or kid related in it. Every bedroom. Every bathroom. Every hallway. And the entire downstairs area.
If I’m not bumping into the pack-n-play, I’m tripping over baby dolls, sippy cups, or the bumbo seat. Last night, as Mr. Boy and I navigated our way to bed in the dark, I stumbled on something and was startled when bright red and blue lights started swirling around us. Hubby, hearing the noise in his sleep, rose in the bed and groggily mumbled, asking if I’d gotten pulled over.
Nope, dear Hubby, go back to sleep; those lights were just courtesy of the Little Lady’s light up sandals (which some Daddy didn’t put away after he let her clomp, clomp, clomp all over the hallway). No biggie. I’m just carrying our infant son. Who cares if I trip and fall?
Sigh. I’m over all of the baby equipment and little toys that seem to constantly scatter across our house — despite the multiple times a day I put everything away. I try to remind myself that “this too shall pass;” that one day (hopefully very, very soon), Mr. Boy won’t need all of his accouterments and the Little Lady will be old enough to be responsible for picking up her own toys . . . without having to be directed to do so.
Actually, she is starting to get the hang of. Whenever she wants to change her baby’s “tinky dipah” and gets into the my diaper stash (a supposedly forbidden zone, but, yeah, whatever), she does make sure she puts back the ones she doesn’t need. She has even begun taking her sippy cups to the sink for me. Of course, this usually happens after she has spilled the contents on the floor and seen my reaction. “Don’t worry, Mommy. I fix it,” she brightly says as she takes one of Mr. Boy’s blankets and mops up the mess.
The sad thing is — we HAVE a playroom. Well, a playroom of sorts. Let’s just say that we have a room designated for toys. . . and our bookcase . . . and our saltwater fish tanks . . . the clean laundry that is waiting to be folded . . . and the extra chairs that don’t fit in the living room (thanks to the pack-n-play and exersaucer). Hmmm — maybe a better name would be the Junk Room. That’s a bit of a better description.
That ugly room is at the top of my “to-do list” right now. I’m sooooo over its ugliness, lack of function, and the cluttered look it has. I want the Little Lady and Mr. Boy to be able to use and enjoy it. MAMA wants to be able to enjoy it. In my daydreams, it would be painted, clean, and ORGANIZED . . . with appropriate, kid-friendly organizational furniture.
I stole a copy of Parents magazine from my mother-in-law this past weekend — just because it had a great article on making playrooms organized and usable. I adore the playroom in the article, written by a mom who also was fed up with toys in her living room. Her children’s playroom was bright. Cheery. Clean. And that chick’s kids LOVED it. . . .USED it . . . and CLEANED up their toys when they finished playing!!!!!!
Now I’m on a mission to research what works in a playroom and find an affordable way to implement those ideas here in our home.
Anyone want to share their ideas? Pics? Blog posts? ANYTHING? ? ? ? ?
