Baby Proofing

My little 8 month old daughter is now a master crawler! Has been for a couple of weeks.

I've had to pay more attention to things on ground level. I also vacuum and mop more frequently than I used to. The living room, where she plays most of the time and where I sit and watch her has been mostly baby proof for awhile. But, now she follows us, everywhere! She's getting more familiar with the Kitchen, and explored the laundry room a couple of times.

I reorganized my laundry room awhile ago, mostly because it was just a mess. And in the process I considered making sure nothing harmful was down on Baby's level.

My Kitchen though, I have been putting off. And now, I can't put it off anymore.
I'm a little frustrated.
I want functional organization. But, the majority of my storage is cupboards below the counter top. Suddenly everything seems to have a blaring hazard sign all over it.
Where do I put my glass mixing bowls, blender, food processor, aluminum foil & saran wrap? None of these things seemed particularly harmful before. Now, as a mom, I'm realizing the kitchen is a very dangerous place.

I never took the whole "baby proof" your house thing very seriously. When I was growing up I never remember a baby gate, or outlet covers, or drawer/cupboard door locks. Your child grows up, explores, is curious about their world, and you watch them closely, tell them "no" to things they may not touch, and they learn. A few bumps and bruises never harmed anyone, that's how you learn, right?

I mean, I obviously keep extremely harmful things out of reach. We have a pellet stove and have put up a baby gate around it, because it can cause serious burns, we close doors, and keep a close watch on our baby.

But, maybe there is more to this baby proofing than I originally thought.


Maybe someday I'll find a kitchen set up that I like, works well and is safe.
In the meantime, I'll be at home watching my curious baby explore and be amazed at how she grows and learns.

Garden 2014 - Starting Seeds!!

I have very ambitious plans for a home garden this year. Maybe too ambitious, because the truth is. I don't have much experience and am not 100% sure of what I'm doing. But I'm doing some research, and experimentations and hoping I'll be at least a little successful this year.

Yesterday I got some seeds started.

 I reused toilet paper tubes, plastic lettuce containers, and some wooden skewers.

Placed cardboard tubes in plastic containers and filled with organic potting soil.
Then placed seeds in each one, wrapped washi tape around the end of a wooden skewer and stuck into the dirt as a "label".
Each plant got it's own washi tape color/design.

I have a master list with the tape, which plant it labels, how many plants, and the date I planted seeds. 

Hoping to see some sprouts in the coming days and weeks!! 

A Few Little Things

It's officially Spring now. Which I really like!
The temperature warms up a little bit. Everything starts turning green and coming to life again.
It's pleasant and makes me happy.

I'm working on making seasonal wreaths for my front door. I have one for fall that I made a couple years ago. And one for Christmas/Winter. But don't have anything appropriate for the Spring/Summer months.

I had most of the supplies for this Spring Tulip wreath. I had to pick up a grapevine wreath and a few extra tulips.

Now my front door is bright and Spring-y!!

I've slowly been working on decorating my entry way. Awhile ago I got a shelf and coat rack for the wall so we had a place for coats and things. And the shelf just do display pretty things.

Wasn't really sure what I wanted up there and the things I had in mind ended up just not looking right in that space.
I decided on a monogram. And came up with this little project.
I ordered the letter L. Then had to find a way to display it.

What I did was take a cardboard shoebox lid, cover it with a scrap of fabric and secure it on the back with hot glue. I put washi tape on the letter using a collection of greys and blacks I had. Then secured it to the fabric-covered lid with hot glue.
It actually worked! I wasn't sure if the glue would hold the letter up or not. But hasn't fallen down yet!!

I really like the outcome of my faux canvas wrapped monogram!!

Now I need to do some less exciting projects around the house. Like rearranging my kitchen to make it more baby-safe.