Old Crib Mattress
Put one of these in front of your couch and let the kids go nuts. Ours started as a safety net when the twins were babies. Now they jump off the couch on purpose. It's a trampoline, a nest, the roof of a fort. Our 6 yr old comes home from school and heads right to the mattress to jump out all his pent up energy.
We added an old ottoman/storage bench and this place is better than Gymboree. It's great for parents who find taking toddler twins to the playground both mentally draining and mortally dangerous.
Note: Target sells cheap crib sheets in colors like "cream" and "chocolate" to match your living room decor. "Chocolate", more commonly know as brown, doesn't show dirt.
Bringing you the nitty gritty on raising [happy, healthy] children
Friday, August 15, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Kitchen Sink
My friend humorously refers to our home as a gated community, referring to the number of safety gates we have placed strategically throughout the house in order to keep our children alive and also to maintain a shred of sanity. Last night we experimented with removing the gate to the kitchen, in hopes that our toddler twins had matured to the point of handling themselves amongst the knives and burners.
However, Saturday morning I left all three kids with my husband in order to attend a very indulgent and necessary exercise class. As the story goes, he had left them alone for exactly two minutes when he heard the kitchen faucet running. Strange, as they are 18 months old and all of two feet tall. Yet, he entered the kitchen to find that Alfie had climbed into the sink and was happily running water and standing in a pan of dirty dish water. As far as we can tell, he and Bea shoved a kiddie chair up to the counter, and Alfie climbed the back of it like a latter and heaved himself into the sink.
Seeing as this incident was in addition to Alfie turning on the gas and opening the oven door, we have since replaced the safety gates and the kitchen remains off limits for an undetermined amount of time.
However, Saturday morning I left all three kids with my husband in order to attend a very indulgent and necessary exercise class. As the story goes, he had left them alone for exactly two minutes when he heard the kitchen faucet running. Strange, as they are 18 months old and all of two feet tall. Yet, he entered the kitchen to find that Alfie had climbed into the sink and was happily running water and standing in a pan of dirty dish water. As far as we can tell, he and Bea shoved a kiddie chair up to the counter, and Alfie climbed the back of it like a latter and heaved himself into the sink.
Seeing as this incident was in addition to Alfie turning on the gas and opening the oven door, we have since replaced the safety gates and the kitchen remains off limits for an undetermined amount of time.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Sunday, March 9, 2014
The Power Nap Head Pillow
Available at Hammacher Schlemmer for $99.95
I haven't figured it out yet but there must be a parental use for this product.
IFriday, March 7, 2014
New Guy
OH NO! There's a new waiter at one of our favorite family restaurants and he is not patient, efficient or humorous!
This is terrible!
This is devastating!
This is screwing with our relief fund (otherwise known as the money we spend eating out in order to avoid marriage counseling.)
Don't get me wrong - my husband and I love to cook which is exactly why, with twin toddlers and a six-year-old, we don't. If Eric cooks, he produces a delicious meal that some of us get to eat before bed and others eat standing up over the sink. Not to mention the mountain of pots and pans we face after everyone is tucked in for the night and we are nearly comatose. Did I mention that we do not own a dishwasher?
If I cook, everything goes well until it's almost cooked then I get distracted changing explosive diapers or saving someone from imminent danger. By the time everyone is safe and clean, dinner is burned.
So, for now, we enjoy a lot of take-out or frequent a handful of family friendly restaurants that specialize in excellent beer.
The great thing about a seven o'clock bedtime is that you almost always make the Happy Hour at your favorite restaurant/beer garden. Thanks, kids!
But tonight everything went wrong. Bea decided to jump on her bed for an hour instead of take her nap, Joe Frank chose to fast for most of the day causing extreme grumpiness, and Alfie got jarred from his peaceful afternoon slumber in order to make Happy Hour at favorite restaurant/ beer garden.
Seeking sweet relief via beer and table service, we arrived at favorite restaurant/ beer garden only to discover a replacement for our usual beloved waiter. I would say we were "greeted" by a new waiter but this New Guy did not greet us in any sense of the word. Instead, he demanded to see our IDs.
What!? We are 38, have three kids climbing all over us, AND WE COME HERE TWICE A WEEK!
That's okay, that's okay..... he's new and he doesn't want to get in trouble.
After verifying our obvious maturity, he takes our drink order.
This is incorrect protocol. First, he should have brought some highchairs.
Instead of bringing high chairs, he ignores us for fifteen minutes.
This is also incorrect. I can understand why he would shy away from a table full of kids but the better strategy is get-em-fed-and-get-em-out.
Mistake number three is bringing the big bowl of fries before the big bowl of salad, specifically requested in a particular order because our kids will not eat salad after fries. They have to be a little bit starved to eat the salad, which is what they are when they get to the restaurant. SO BRING THE SALAD FIRST, NEW GUY, LIKE I ASKED!
By the time the main food arrives with no forks or plates, the kids had O.D.ed on fries and it is time to get outta there.
Don't get me wrong, I'm fully sympathetic to people starting new jobs but my advice is be friendly and don't avoid the table with all the kids. They tip really well!
Good luck New Guy.
This is terrible!
This is devastating!
This is screwing with our relief fund (otherwise known as the money we spend eating out in order to avoid marriage counseling.)
Don't get me wrong - my husband and I love to cook which is exactly why, with twin toddlers and a six-year-old, we don't. If Eric cooks, he produces a delicious meal that some of us get to eat before bed and others eat standing up over the sink. Not to mention the mountain of pots and pans we face after everyone is tucked in for the night and we are nearly comatose. Did I mention that we do not own a dishwasher?
If I cook, everything goes well until it's almost cooked then I get distracted changing explosive diapers or saving someone from imminent danger. By the time everyone is safe and clean, dinner is burned.
So, for now, we enjoy a lot of take-out or frequent a handful of family friendly restaurants that specialize in excellent beer.
The great thing about a seven o'clock bedtime is that you almost always make the Happy Hour at your favorite restaurant/beer garden. Thanks, kids!
But tonight everything went wrong. Bea decided to jump on her bed for an hour instead of take her nap, Joe Frank chose to fast for most of the day causing extreme grumpiness, and Alfie got jarred from his peaceful afternoon slumber in order to make Happy Hour at favorite restaurant/ beer garden.
Seeking sweet relief via beer and table service, we arrived at favorite restaurant/ beer garden only to discover a replacement for our usual beloved waiter. I would say we were "greeted" by a new waiter but this New Guy did not greet us in any sense of the word. Instead, he demanded to see our IDs.
What!? We are 38, have three kids climbing all over us, AND WE COME HERE TWICE A WEEK!
That's okay, that's okay..... he's new and he doesn't want to get in trouble.
After verifying our obvious maturity, he takes our drink order.
This is incorrect protocol. First, he should have brought some highchairs.
Instead of bringing high chairs, he ignores us for fifteen minutes.
This is also incorrect. I can understand why he would shy away from a table full of kids but the better strategy is get-em-fed-and-get-em-out.
Mistake number three is bringing the big bowl of fries before the big bowl of salad, specifically requested in a particular order because our kids will not eat salad after fries. They have to be a little bit starved to eat the salad, which is what they are when they get to the restaurant. SO BRING THE SALAD FIRST, NEW GUY, LIKE I ASKED!
By the time the main food arrives with no forks or plates, the kids had O.D.ed on fries and it is time to get outta there.
Don't get me wrong, I'm fully sympathetic to people starting new jobs but my advice is be friendly and don't avoid the table with all the kids. They tip really well!
Good luck New Guy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)