Gates Galore

I do not love baby gates. I mean, I love that they allow me to take a shower with the kids safely contained in their play room and keep the baby from falling down the stairs, but they are not pretty. And they rarely fit at the bottom of the stairs. And the good ones are $60 each and they still break quickly. Only two of my gates survived the move-plastic parts broke and I had to salvage parts from two gates to rebuild the gate at the top of the stairs. Boo. I decided to build something a bit more fun (and stylish and cheap) for the first floor gates.

Any Given Weekday

You know those home tours and makeover reveals where everything is pretty and nice. Well, this ain't one of them.

I recently posted a kitchen update, mostly because it was clean. But today I am going to give you the "Average Weekday" house tour. Let's start in the kitchen.

Kitchen update

The mighty mighty Hubster cleaned the kitchen and polished the countertops this weekend. Didn't he do a great job? I figured that this was the perfect time to snap a few progress shots (even though not too much has changed).

No TV

I am aware that the American Association of Pediatrics has some rather prudent guidelines about TV, media, and screen time. Apparently, two hours a day is too much. Kids should be playing, reading, engaging with their environment. I'm cool with the first two, but I could do with a lot less engagement with the environment.

My Personal Assistant's behavior yesterday was so horrible that he has lost TV privileges for an indeterminate period of time. Basically, he can't watch tv or have tech time until he stops asking for it-constantly-at a screaming volume-using phraseology he has not been exposed to under this roof. I am so upset. I really do not know how I will cope.

The following is a true story of what happens when we loose TV privileges. It is not for the faint of heart. You have been warned.

Kitchen Renovation

Ever get to that point with a project where the finishing touches are taking forever and annoying you, and the pictures need to come off your device to make room for the new ios update? I hit that point this week with the kitchen.

I was promising my self that I would wait to do one big kitchen reveal post, but it's time to remind myself just how far we've come before I get too annoyed at how far we still need to go.

Behold the before in all it's water damaged 1950's glory:

You can't see the water damage, but I assure you, it is there.

Quick Fix: Baby Food

We make most of our own baby food here. It's easy, fresh and cheap, but I think the main benefit is knowing exactly what your baby is eating. Not because I don't trust baby food companies, but because it's just easier when you are introducing new foods. (Also because CSID. But that's a whole other conversation.)

At Christmas the Hubster gave me a Black & Decker smoothie blender. At the time I was all "oh, gee...thanks?" But later I figured out all that it could do and thanked him properly. The best feature of this blender is that it fits on mason jars-which is great for so many reasons. Especially baby food.

 

Sweets for my Sweeties: CSID Valentines Marshmallows

This Friday is Mr. Baby's first birthday. It is also my Personal Assistant's very first school party. I asked him what snack he wanted to take and he asked for his favorite-marshmallows. After some discussion, we decided they should be strawberry heart shaped with sprinkles. Yum!

(And since these are sucrose and starch free, as well as peanut, egg, dairy and gluten free, they are a great option for safe sharing at school parties!)