Making my own teething biscuts...

Apparently you can't buy zweibeck toast at the store anymore. I've been looking but it's no where to be found. I've found a recipe that I am going to give a try. Here's hoping it works out well.

Update (1 of 2)

I realized that I've been painfully neglectful of this and the other blogs that I have. This is something that I mean to correct in the near to immediate future. My life has been rather crazy of late. Part of this is all my own damn fault, I admit and own that fact. I also have to say that part of this is because I'm still struggling with depression. A whole lot has happened since I last posted.

Hmm... Where do I begin? I suppose I should list the major highlights of the past several months. Since my last post was in June (JUNE!?! Wow! Have I been neglectful or what!?!), I should probably start with the big events of July, the biggest being the birth of the baby! We learned from my husband's employer that the economy is creating some problems for his business. I suppose it was a matter of time. It was floated about the possibility that my husband and everybody else who worked there would have to take two weeks furlough unpaid. To say the least, no one was pleased but no one was very surprised. They got a few big contracts in and things began to go more smoothly (or so it seemed) for the remainder of the month.

We had a quick visit from Beloved's girlfriend. It was really nice to see her. She's such a sweet-heart. She and I didn't get to visit as much as either of us liked, but there's a reason for that. Near the end of her visit, I started false labor. Yes, you read that right, false labor. Everybody planned around the due date and we all assumed that things would go relatively like it did with Cuddle Bear. The delivery was scheduled a week before the due date and her visit was scheduled for a week before delivery. You'd figure that meant that we'd have everything work out well, right? Oh, we were such fools. Babies don't like to wait for anything scheduled, even their arrival. Yep, he came almost a full week early and was born at the end of July. July 29th, to be precise. Labor wasn't half as long as it was with his big brother. I hope to be posting a picture or two of the baby and I, as well as both the boys together.

August was an incredibly busy month. Not only was I recovering from the cesarian section delivery of Snuggle Bug (and my goodness does that nickname fit him well!) but we had the fun of Cuddle Bear's second birthday, my parent's-in-law's wedding anniversary, and drama surrounding the resolving of the estate of my husband's late paternal grandmother. All year, we had been hearing that my husband's parents were going to be renewing their wedding vows for their 50th wedding anniversary this year. This is what Beloved's sister had been telling us and desperately trying to get us to assist in planning.

She was most disappointed when I explained that we couldn't exactly help between getting ready for the move at the end of May and getting ready for the baby. We then didn't hear anything for a few months. We assumed that plans were continuing and thus prepaired things so that we and the children were ready for such a gathering. (I had made the cutest little matching pair of light sweaters for both the boys because August evenings up here get chilly quick, even.) This, however, did not prove the case when a surprise visit from my husband's uncle (the namesake of our first born) happened.

A very casual barbecue at the parents-in-law's house happened with my husband's siblings and their family in attendance. I almost wrote families, but had to remind myself that my sister-in-law and her beau are not engaged. I have a feeling they will be soon, because things are getting quite serious between them. It really was a shame that he wasn't able to make it, but grad school had just started then and he's going to school out of state. (She tells me that this semester is going really well for him, which I think is fantastic! She also thinks that he will be able to make it up for Christmas, which will be very nice. He's a sweet guy and I like him.)

Cuddle Bear had a ball running around with his cousins. The girls cooed at Snuggle Bug and then got bored with him, thus decided that his big brother was more fun. It was cute to watch him and my brother-in-law's eldest playing cars with the Barbie (or Barbie knock offs, I'm not sure which) vehicles. It was especially amusing when the youngest tried to tell Cuddle Bear that Barbies were for girls to play with. He just ignored her and then proceeded to start playing with the little animals that were part of the Barbie playset they had brought. Everyone got a good chuckle.

Cuddle Bear's birthday did not go as I had wanted it to. I had wanted to have another party for him. No one thought to offer any assistance with it. There was just the expectation that there was going to be a party and people asking when it was. Well... That's not exactly fair of me to say. My husband's side of the family didn't demand to know when Cuddle Bear's party was. They just invaded the day before his birthday with an arm load of presents. Thank the gods that the house was relatively clean and that I actually had the motivation to get myself and the children dressed for the day. (I spent most of August exhausted because Snuggle Bug had colic. Colic is another word for nocturnal hell, by the way.)

To say the least, I was more then a little upset but doing my best to hide it when my grandparents came to visit on Cuddle Bear's birthday. I felt horrible about not having a cake for Cuddle Bear but it was far too hot that day to bake one. I at least attempted and somewhat succeeded to have a little bit of a theme for the very small at home party (which had the surprise guests of my grandparents). I made Cuddle Bear train shaped rice cripsy treats with yellow chocolate windows and red m&m wheels. While Cuddle Bear had fun playing with the treats, he only ate the m&ms. Fortunately, Cuddle Bear's excitement over his toys turned the day around considerably for me.

His favorite new toy was his tow truck. He paraded around the room holding it up over his head and excitedly cried out "Tow truck!" over and over again. Before that, he was about to have people read him the story book that his paternal grandmother gave him a dozen times (The Very Hungry Caterpillar). The toy tow truck, however, completely trumped that. I think it was excellent that we planned it so that it was 'from' his little brother. Cuddle Bear actually has tottled up to Snuggle Bug and kissed him on the cheek for the tow truck several times now.

In early August, I was diagnosed with postpartum depression. Between the fact that the doctor put me on Lexapro (which did wonders for me, because it was getting kinda scary for a little while) and Snuggle Bug's problems latching on, we stopped with the breast feeding and dragged out the small army of bottles. Things improved significantly with feedings at that point because I wasn't in excruciating pain and Snuggle Bug was having an easier time getting nourishment. I didn't bother trying to pump or express anything for him because of the medication. Amusingly enough, Snuggle Bug is growing faster then I think Cuddle Bear did and a part of me is questioning if it's because he's been on formula.

During the time that Beloved was taking care of me as I was recovering from the delivery, he was on unpaid furlough. We were both irritated but didn't think too much of it because we were warned about this. Instead of the two weeks for me to recover that we thought it was going to be, however, it was closer to a month. I over exerted myself and pulled a few stitches which resulted in another additional week of not being able to pick up anything heavier then the baby. That was when our finances started to get interesting and, I'll admit it, I started to get really angry with my husband's employer.

Making lists & planning.

So, I'm making my lists of what we need for the new baby. First off, it's alot easier because of how much we've still got around from when the boy was a newborn. (I think I'm just going to use my nickname for him, because I can't think of a good one to use on the interwebz. Those who know me are going to be amused by this.) Cuddle-bear (AKA the boy) is not going to be very happy when his new brother shows up and starts playing with some of his old toys.

I think, however, if I finish up sorting the toys geared for little babies and put them aside now, Cuddle-bear won't notice that they're missing and assume they're new when they come out of where I've put them away. We don't need an army of new toys but a toy box is becoming a daily necessity. I'm thinking that a pair of toy boxes and a set of shelves will work well for what we need. Then I'll just need to locate a few more canvas sided bins to drop toys into.

We're either going to need a new changing table or another convertible crib for the new baby. I've talked to hubby and he's inclined to agree with the idea of another convertible crib. We're going to be doing that minor bit of repair upon Cuddle-bear's crib and putting it together in the toddler-bed configuration in the near to immediate future. I'd like to have it done by the middle of this week. I think the chance that both boys are going to be sharing the same room is fairly high right now.

This means that we should have a similar styled convertible crib to what we've got for Cuddle-bear. We have a dresser for Cuddle-bear that holds pretty much everything of his right now. The dresser has a drawer that needs fixed but aside from that it's in good condition. It's pretty awesome for something that was second hand and a free find. I'm hoping to have a similar find for the new baby because the dresser attachment to the style of crib that we're thinking of is not that spacious.

Something else that I've been thinking about is how to approach the way toys are going to be put away in the living room and how the books for the children are going to be put away. Right now, we don't have anything even remotely resembling organization for the toys down stairs. I'm thinking that a toy-box is a need but I don't know how we'd fit it in here. I've several cardboard boxes that we've been using to hold Cuddle-bear's toy trucks and his blocks. I don't think they're going to last very much longer, however. I was using a wicker basket at one point to hold all of his toys and that... that didn't work out very well.

So, I need to determine a few different things for the future. First off is what we need for the bedroom/nursery. I think we are going to find that we need to differentiate between the diapering supplies for Cuddle-bear and his new brother. I don't want to have to use a label maker and stick labels on everything. I also think that we are going to need some way to keep the different bedding required for each crib separated. I'm inclined to locate wicker baskets that are the right size for the sheets, pads, and blankets for each crib.

If we get another one like Cuddle-bear's crib, I think that will be the best solution to organizing it all. And then we have the matter of everything for feeding. We're going to need a way to separate which bib goes with which boy. This is also going to get into things like baby food and such. I may need a label maker after all. *sigh* I do think that a laundry bag dedicated just to bibs, burp cloths, and washcloths is a need. Thankfully, I have some fabric kicking around. I believe I'm going to make something that fits onto a hanger that I can just put up in the kitchen.

The more I think about that idea, the more I like it. If I look about, I may even be able to find some blue and white gingham to match what we have in the kitchen decor. I have a few other things that I'm debating if I should make. I've seen an interesting pattern for a crochet diaper bag. Cuddle-bear's diaper bag is beginning to have the lining tear out of it. I think instead of crocheting another bag, however, I'll be replacing the lining.

I had something else I was going to talk about but I can't remember it. I suppose this means it's time to end this blog entry and go do dishes or something.

Cesarian section = Questions.

I'm sitting here reading the pre-admission paperwork for the hospital where I'm going to be delivering this new baby. I have to admit, I am a little confused about a few things. When I delivered the boy, (I'm going to need to come up with a new nickname for him) it was two days before my due date. Well, I suppose technically one.

I sit here and I'm trying to figure out when would be a good date to schedule the c-section delivery. I'm due on the second Sunday of August and according to the hospital's website, I can expect my stay to be roughly three days. As I looked at the calender from when my first child was born, it shows that my stay was almost a week. At the time, however, I had preeclampsia. That created some complications and makes planing based on past events rather difficult.

In talking with my doctor, it's been a learning experience. They don't know if I'll develop preeclampsia with this pregnancy or not. None of the studies show anything conclusive except that preeclampsia is bad and if left untreated can be lethal. I still find myself concerned that I'm going to have to deal with it this pregnancy. I've been attempting to learn if I'm more at risk to develop it because I had it the first pregnancy but nothing is really being shown conclusively. It's more then a little alarming to discover how poorly understood this disorder is.

I've been reading stuff and trying to make the best decision. It's not proving easy. I think I need to talk to the doctor and have her help me plan when to deliver. I also think I need to ask her again to explain preeclampsia to me. I've been having more headaches and dizzy spells over the last few months. The headaches have been more intense and the nausea has been a relatively constant companion the whole time.

As I've been reading and trying to make sense of my symptoms (and maybe even find some decent remedies to help cope) I'm stumbling on to finding out that I might be showing some of the early symptoms of preeclampsia. It rather scares the hell out of me. I'm not looking forward to that doctor appointment next week.

Been feeling exhausted.

I have been incredibly tired. I'm pretty sure it's because of the pregnancy. Nausea is easing up but I'm starting to have some difficulty sleeping again. This time it's because of leg spasms, the baby kicking my bladder, and cravings. Last night, I woke up at about 2 AM craving tomatoes, bananas, and Corn Pops. Thankfully it wasn't all together in one bowl but rather first the tomatoes, then the bananas, and finally the cereal. While I didn't have bananas or the Corn Pops, I at least had some tomatoes and a bowl of cereal.

I really hope that I don't have that storied craving for ice cream and pickles. The concept has always revolted me.

Well, I feel... crushed.

My dreams of a house to move into kinda went poof in the last 15 minutes. I spoke to the mortgage guy who was recommended to us by the Realtor who is a friend of the family. We might have qualified if we didn't have the issue with the student loans and we did things in my husband's name. My problems with the damn credit card company has made me ... well... definately not a candidate in any fashion at all for a mortgage, even one of these nifty ones that the government has set up for people with low credit ratings and such.

The fact that our student loans are in forbearance... Well, that pretty much was the kiss of death. We're welcome to get a hold of the mortgage guy after we get our student loans out of forbearance and paid on for a year. The mortgage guy told me that it would be a functionally insurmountable strike against us on applying.

I want to cry right now. 90% of the places listed for rent and roughly the size we need we can't afford. I don't know what to do. We can't stay in this place that we're living in right now. We can't afford the new rent they're going to charge us. We simply can't afford that.

I don't know if I should plan on going back to work or not right now. I don't know if we're going to afford to feed ourselves after this new baby is born. I... I thought we were going to be able to do so. But now... Now I don't know. If we have to move into a place that we have to pay rent that is 100 to 200 dollars more a month then what we are paying now, that makes finances really difficult. Adding my son into the picture added roughly two hundred dollars a month in expenses to our bills before he was born. I figure the new baby is going to do about the same thing.

I just want to cry. I'm so psychologically fucked up with other shit that I can't manage to get my head screwed on right to work from home. I'm barely managing to keep things running relatively smoothly here. I'm scared and feeling a little ... a little desperate. I don't know what to do.

My little man is walking! WALKING!

So, the boy is walking now. Yep, he walked across the living room entirely on his own today. He's done it about four times today. He's having a ball. I'm excited for him but I'm also a little apprehensive now. What on Earth are my husband and I going to do about things like my boxes of fabric that he's definately going to be getting into now? I suppose it's no different from when he was just crawling yesterday, when I think about it, but I still have that mild bit of apprehension.

[10 min later...]

My little man had interrupted my posting here for some play time. This child loves to be turned upside down. So, I was picking him up and doing so. He started laughing quite a bit with that infectious giggle of his. It's wonderful that it is so easy to make him laugh at times. There are other times when I think it'd be easier to stop sunrise then to make him laugh. I've been told that I was just like him as a young child.

This means that he'll be fine. After all, I have a sense of humor it's just different from most people. I generally don't find slap-stick that funny but witty sarcasm can have me in stitches. It'll be interesting to see how his sense of humor develops as time goes on.

Ah, musical toys. How I love and yet hate them! My boy has a favorite toy from his cousins on his father's side of the family that he is currently playing with. He loves hitting the 'piano keys' on it and making it play little songs. It is one of the absolute favorites and it's adorable to watch him play with it. And then there is the musical toy that my maternal grandmother sent him for Christmas.

I swear, if I have to listen to that thing one more time, I'm going to scream. There's a reason why it's put into the music toy box and comes out once a week with the other really noisy music toys. I don't know why, but this is his absolute favorite of the music toys (with the exception of his drum). It may be as my sister-in-law is right and the children in our lives gravitate to the toys that are the most obnoxiously irritating to us for their favorites, especially when they're toddlers.

On one hand, I'm glad that my son loves music. I'm glad that he's fascinated by his toys that are of a musical nature. He enjoys them as much as he does his trucks. Just recently, the boy has figured out how to say the word 'tuba' thanks to the Baby Einstein video that we were given for Christmas by my brother-in-law and his wife.

A quick aside, I have to say, the more I see with these Baby Einstein toys, the more I love them. The toys are educational, fun (for the grown-ups and the kids), and just beautiful to look at. It's hard to say just what I think is the best about them. I was first introduced to them when I was working at the daycare. I decided that I wanted to get some of them for my children when I had them. I was impressed by how these toys engaged the children when they were playing with them.

Toddlers have a relatively short attention span. When they come back to toys its because they're favorites. It was rather awesome to see how quickly the Baby Einstein toys became preferred ones. The DVDs are just gorgeous. The 'Meet the Orchestra' one is a favorite of the boy's as is the 'Language Nursery' one. We own the orchestra one but we borrow the language one from the library. We definately need to purchase that one at some point. He loves the language one even more then the orchestra one. For some reason, my son loves listening to people count in different languages and he absolutely *loves* listening to nursery rhymes in German.

We listen to a lot of music. We have some music that includes songs in foregin languages. He really enjoys the ones in Spanish. Between the lively beat and the rapid language, I think he really delights in the tones and syncopation of the songs. We now have a story book that includes the number one to ten in Spanish. I think I need to re-learn Spanish and learn German. It's my opinion that if I raise my children with a basic grasp of another language it'll help them in the future. But, I'll talk about it later.

Right now, I must run and work on dinner for the apple of my eye. :)

Thoughts on kids rooms & furniture stuff.

I woke up a little early today. I got some time to sit and write in one of my journals that I have been neglecting almost as badly as I have been neglecting this blog. :P As I did so, I started writing about some of the things we're going to need to consider moving forward after the new baby is born.

The two kids are probably going to need their own rooms. Doug is going to be *alot* more active then the infant for a while. I'm realizing this as he sits at his high chair and gleefully munches on his cheddar-chicken nuggets. (Oh, to any other parents out there wondering what on Earth they should feed their children, I've got to say we're having amazing success with chicken nuggets. Specifically, the baked ones that you do at home. The fried commercial ones get a lukewarm reception, unless they're Burger King's chicken fries. Those Doug just about inhales!)

It once happened that Doug would sit still and focus quite seriously on the task of eating. Now, he plays and eats at the same time. So, putting him in the same room as an infant isn't going to work very well. And Doug should get some time to play in his room during the day. Naptime is going to become challeging. I can just feel it. As of right now (roughly 10 minutes after the comment about how wonderful chicken nuggets are) he is eating his last chicken nugget and discovered the wonder of cheese sticks as thrown projectiles. To say the least, before I laydown for my afternoon nap I'm going to be cleaning food off of the floor. And a sippy cup, which just hit the ground.

Well, I'd add more but Doug has decided he's finished eating and is now fussing to be set free from his prison... erm, high chair. :P

Recent nightmares and thoughts.

So, there's the strange dreams that go with pregnancy. There is the strange dreams that go with the stress of dealing with idiot landlords, crazy family, and too many bills. Then there are the nightmares and strange dreams that go with being harassed by a person who had assaulted you.

Maybe it's just me but I think it'd be easier if N- was harassing me. N- wasn't quite smart enough to be the insidious bastard that C- is. Mind you C- isn't a smart man either. That said, I have been starting to have nightmares and I wasn't entirely sure why I wasn't sleeping well.

I wasn't sure, that is, until today. I woke up from a series of dreams where I was getting into a screaming argument with C- at LARP, with each dream tending closer to a physical altercation between him and I. C- may insist that his recent bullshit has been directed at my characters in the game where he and I both play in, but he's been making me uncomfortable for the past month with his attention becoming focused upon me.

I recognize part of the issue is the fact that I am pregnant with my second child and he is envious. I was briefly involved with C- about five years ago. He was my first foray into having a relationship with a man outside of my relationship with my husband. At that time, C- actively attempted to destroy my relationship with my husband and manipulated my PTSD related issues to cause me distress and get away with sexually assaulting me multiple times.

That came to an end fairly quickly when I very calmly told him to stop or I was going to break his neck when he was attempting to pin me down to have his way with me. I was dissociated but not entirely separate from myself to the extent that I was semi-catatonic. He left a few minutes later and never darkened my doorstep again. In the midst of that four month relationship, aside from the emotional and psychological havoc he created with his bullshit, he did rape me twice.

I'm not sure if C- impregnated me or if my husband did, because I didn't know I was pregnant until the miscarriage about a month after I told C- to get off of me or I'd kill him. Also, at the time that it would have happened, I was having a great deal of problems with dissociating and I can't recall fairly significant portions of time. It makes me suspect that I was raped more then twice, because only two times do I remember clearly. And the clarity of those recollections is rather startling.

Anyways, C- started with his mild efforts to antagonize me essentially right after I told friends of mine and my husband's at LARP as soon as we knew I was pregnant. I remember when I was pregnant with my son, C- was somewhat antagonizing but he didn't really show the effort that he is now. I think it is because he felt that he couldn't get away with it. Unfortunately, I've started having nightmares featuring C- again.

I'm thinking that I need to confront C- and tell him to leave me the fuck alone. I'm afraid, however, that confrontation will turn violent and C- will delibertately attempt to induce a miscarriage via hitting my abdomen. I don't know what to do, but I'm torn between a fear that he is going to try to hurt my baby and seething rage at his audacity to harass me. At least with N-, I wouldn't blink twice at the thought of tearing his throat out.

C-... Well, I don't think N- would try to batter me in a fashion to cause a miscarriage, because he wouldn't know that I'm pregnant. C-, on the other hand, knows and hates it. He desperately wants to have a child to carry on his family name. May the Gods deny him this desperate yearning and protect other women and girls from his attempt to answer it. I do, I admit, curse the day that I invited C- into my home and into my life in any type of relationship closer then a casual acquaintance.

Baby Books.

So, I decided that I was going to give my son books. I firmly believe that a grasp of language, and written counts as much as oral, as well as a grasp of basic mathematics are needed for children to succeed as adults. I recognize that giving him books when he's a baby is probably a bit over ambitious and maybe even a little silly. Still, I've been getting him books and I read to him everyday.

I plan on teaching him to read with these books and some flashcards when he's around three. Sure, some people may say that it's a bit much to be teaching a three year old how to read, but that was what my parents did with my brothers and I. We turned out not half bad, so I'm going to be doing it with my boy. As I've been getting him books, I found that I really wanted him to have the Little Golden Books that I loved as a kid.

I didn't expect it to be quite so much effort. Now, I have not, mind you, been looking at garage sales and such. I thought I could just walk into a book store or a used book store and grab a few copies easily. That has not proven the case. The older books are collectors items and can be quite expensive if I'm getting them in good condition. I, of course, feel that I need to have the books in good condition to help my boy learn how to read and to have them for when he grows up.

I rather regret giving away my favorite picture books when I turned 13. Since then, I've been having a devil of a time replacing them. My favorite rendition of Sleeping Beauty has been the hardest to replace. I suppose that should have warned me that I'd have a hard time finding the Little Golden Books that I wanted, but I thought that those were more popular and should be easy to locate. As a result of my search, I've found some of them. I'm still looking for the rest.



This was my second most favorite book from my childhood. The illustrations are ones that I absolutely adore and I can't help but smile everytime I see them. I think the one that is my favorite in this book is the illustration depicting Scuffy with the cows and the washer-women. It's just barely ahead of the image of saw-mill and the rainbow. Those two pictures are just burned into my brain and filled with warm and happy feelings for me.



The story of the puppies always charmed me. It also reminds me of my brothers and I sneaking out of the backyard to run around the farm. It was at about this time in our lives that we read this little book countless times. When I hold this book, among the memories that come to mind is the feeling of climbing over the wire fence and jumping into the long grass on the other side, with that wild rush of freedom and excitement that came from the landing. It's a feeling like nothing else and a part of me wishes there was some way for my adult self to recapture that feeling
again.



Another book that I love for the illustrations, I think this is my number three favorite of the Little Golden Books that my paternal Grandparents had read to us. (They still have these books, which are enjoyed by a third generation. These books were read to my father as a boy, myself as a girl, and now to my nieces. I'm surprised the bindings haven't fallen off.) The story here is such an uplifting one. I'm glad that I found it again because when I have days that I feel badly about my appearance, I can now read it again and feel better. The message in this charming story has always warmed my heart and done wonders for my self-esteem.

I'm still looking for the other books, but I hope that my little boy grows up to find these books as heart warming as I did.

In a mood, perhaps it's the full moon?

My little man's been in an odd mood today. He alternates between fussy and happily playing. He's been all about the bottles, but he then decides he's done with 'em after a little bit. The biggest bit of exasperation that I feel right now, however, is his behavior over food.

I love the fact that he wants to feed himself. It's messy, but he's learning and he's doing an ok job (who knows, maybe he'll decide to use the spoon at some point too!). Some of his food, however, is too 'mushy' for him to pick up and put into his mouth. So, he gets fed by spoon by Momma, because he refuses to put the spoon in his mouth himself. (No, I'm not pushing it. I don't want to deal with roughly a week of temper-tantrums. I'll wait until we're in our new place.) He is getting mad about that spoon business, though.

He hasn't cut his teeth yet, but he wants food to chew up and eat. That right there makes things a little difficult to begin with. On top of that, he refused his nap this morning and then took an extra long nap this afternoon. I don't know what to make of this. He needs to eat but he doesn't want to eat unless it's a thing he can chew. What on earth do I do? I can't just give him zweibeck toast and cheerios for his meals until those teeth come in! It's not nutritious or healthy.

Hmm... so what do I do in the baby's room? (2)

I think I will put the circus/jungle/rain forest/zoo animal theme around his bed. We may as well work the fish concept in, as one of his new favorite toys is a fish themed thing for in his crib. It's kind of like a kick-n-play, it's the Ocean Wonders Musical Activity Mirror. At his crib, we've also got the rain forest themed mobile and a beautiful baby quilt with safari animals. I think we may need to surrender to the rain forest concept here, because that's the only way I see to work in the fish. After all, fish live in the rivers that are in the rain-forest, right?

If we were able to do murals or some other wall art, like the really nifty stencils out there, I'd put a little 'river' with palm trees on either side of it in the part of the room we are going to be putting the crib. As it stands, however, I need to think of something different to do there. I don't think I'm going to be making a wall hanging. I will be framing a little printed picture (well, actually an adorable gift bag) with a bunch of zoo animals on it and putting it up on the wall. I may draw or paint a large rain forest picture with the elements of the animals and fish together in it. This can then go up in that area. Perhaps I'll locate a little throw rug to put down beside the crib with the animals on it. I don't know.

We've got a small problem, however, with the teddy bear army. The teddy bears are of pretty much every size, shape, and about three different colors. There also is a blanket that I embroidered with teddy bears of all colors on it. Confining them to a basket isn't exactly the best idea because it doesn't do much for the beautification of the room. This said, I'm not entirely enthusiastic with the idea of making it difficult for him to access his toys either. My mother and my sister-in-law have both suggested rotating what toys are available. I really do like that concept. But how do I do this with the teddy bears?

I suppose the toy hammock is my friend in this case. We can put the toys he is not using in the hammock and put the toys that he would be using in the baskets on the baker's rack. I'd be remiss in saying that we have several baby blankets. There's quite a few beautiful handmade or other wise sentimental blankets that have been given to our little boy. He can't possibly use them all. I'm at a loss, however, for what to do with them. I suspect that they'll either be stacked in a neatly folded pile on the rack or put into a box in the closet. The embroidered teddy bear blanket and the crochet blanket that I made for him I don't exactly want to put into storage. But I don't really want to put the other blankets into storage. I suppose the baker's rack with them it is.

I've several wicker baskets that I can use on that baker's rack. I realize that I need to secure the rack to the wall so it doesn't get pulled down on top of my little darling, but I have a fleeting worry about the baskets I'll be putting on the rack. The lowest level of the rack is a large open space. I'll be putting the largest baskets there with his toys in them. The middle rack is about hip height on me and won't be entirely out of reach once this child starts walking. On there, I think I'll want to do something for holding some of his shoes and hats, as well as perhaps some of his books. If I make a fabric cushion that ties to the rack, perhaps it would work to keep things from falling thru the openings in it, and then I could store his books on there. I've got to admit, it would make life alot easier to do it that way.

I really like the shoe bags and the little canvas sweater holders that people have in their closets. It's had me considering making one of these for additional storage space in the closet. I think it could make keeping his diapers and the refills for the diaper wipes easier to deal with. We purchase those things in bulk and tend to have quite a few of them kicking around here at any given time. At the same time, I love the appeal of having those sturdy shelves that you can put up with those 'storage systems'. It's a tough debate. I suppose I should look at what the budget says we can do on that front and look at the space we've got to work with a bit better.

Hmm... so what do I do in the baby's room? (1)

Themes, themes, themes. The devil truly is in the details on this one. We've got a lot of stuff so far with just about every imaginable kind of animal (or so it feels). We tried for a somewhat unified theme of zoo animals but the split is between circus animals, jungle/rain-forest animals, and fish. We've got a pretty healthy representation of the Winnie-The-Pooh inspired toys and teddy bears as well.

There's a little Winnie-The-Pooh music box contraption that the boy loves to look at while he's getting changed. If we make the changing table area a Winnie-The-Pooh area, I think it will work somewhat well to contain some of that pastel and confectionery sugared material. We can hope, at least. Now, if the management at the apartment complex we're moving into says ok, I think I want to put up a few shelves on the wall above the changing table. I've a few reasons for this idea. First, I would really love to have a place to store some of this boy's toys that he doesn't use. Secondly, I'd be a lot more comfortable with the stuff for giving him a bath and all of that were in one location. As we will be a little bit pressed for space still in the bathroom, I know that we can't store all of it in there.

I've been having the thought of hanging his Winnie-The-Pooh blanket on the side of the changing table tickle at my brain for a little while now. I really don't know, however. If we orient the changing table so that the part that's not cosmeticly pleasing is against the wall, it opens up the shelves for him to ransack at any time. If the blanket is hung on the changing table, however, it makes for something he can grab and possibly pull the whole thing down on himself. Not good would be an understatement for that one, folks. So, what am I going to do with this? It's too nice of a blankie and it would really be inconsiderate of the meaning to it for me to turn it into a mat to be on the floor where I'd stand when I change him. Sure, it's theoretically possible, but it's a waste of a beautiful plush blankie.

We've got fantastic jungle/rain-forest/circus themed toys. This was the orginal theme that I wanted for the boy's room. His father just asked that it not be hideous and shared my distaste for the "baby = pastel" trend. So, I'd like to take the majority of the room and use this brightly colored theme. At the same time, however, we've got a small army of teddy bears to contend with. I am planning on using a wire baker's rack in the room for some storage space. I've some muslin lined wicker baskets that I think would make fantastic containers for holding some of his toys and books. I also think that it would be a wonderful way to put away his shoes and hats.

If it were possible, I'd use all of the potential themes as we have them. I don't know, however, if the room would look good with it being divided up by the different themes. As I consider it, I suppose it could be alright. The room is fairly large.