Room planning: combining a library and a nursery

My family and I are approaching ANOTHER move. This time, with the expecting of another little boy, we will need a third bedroom. We are going to look at a place today that sounds very promising. This got us thinking of what we will do with the extra room. Of course, I had the idea of another nursery for the littl one while my husband expected a library/computer room.

 

With our first son we tried co sleeping and it just didn't work out. This kid snored so loud we couldn't fathom spending more than the first three weeks in the same room as him. We are hoping that this one is a little quieter and that we can have him sleep in our room for the first couple of months. I will be giving breastfeeding a good go and hope to make it a lot longer than I did with our son. I think co sleeping, or at least being in the same room with baby will help.

With this we could have our first son in his room, which will most likely end up having bunk beds in it for when the next one is ready to move on up to the big kids bed. The third room will most likely be a combination of a nursery and a library. We have so many great books that have been boxed up for the past year that we would like to put on display. We also need a place for the computer. I'd love to keep the crib in this room with the same sailboat theme that we had in our first son's room being that he will have the same bedding set. I think we can make this work. I'd like it to be a tranquil place with a great comfy chair, a huge bookshelf and the crib. Here are some ideas I have in mind.

bookshelfOur crib

For the computer

Summer Days: Then and Now

I am sure all of you mothers remember the days where it was just you, yourself, and maybe a hot fling (husband) on the beach during those summer days.  Sometimes it is even hard to remember these days.  Everyone told you of the ways that your life would change the second you had a child.  Who could have really believed how much, though?  One of the things that has really hit me this summer is the beach days.  We have a pool at our apartment complex and are surrounded by multiple beaches.  When the summer was approaching all I kept dreaming about were the days that my son and I would spend our days at the beach, or in the pool.  I would bring a book, an umbrella, snacks, and some toys for him to play with.  He would love this, and I would get the much needed sun and relaxation that I needed.  Sure enough, summer came.  We took our first trip to the pool...and then our first trip to the beach.  Sure we brough all of the things that I had planned but the day did not go exactly as planned.

Instead of reading, I was putting sun block on, over and over again...instead of sunning I was chasing after a crazy little boy who wanted to play ball with the college kids; instead of me staring blissfully into the water, I was staring blissfully at a little boy who wanted NOTHING to do with the beach that day.  He was much more interested in chasing the seagulls, or going to the park across the street.

I soon realized, this summer wasn't about me...it was about him, just like everything else in life.  It's not that we can't go to the pool, or go to the beach.  It's just that it's under his rules, and that's okay.  Watching him chase the birds isn't so bad.  Instead of going to secluded beaches we go to ones that are surrounded with playgrounds and sprinklers, ones with shade and no waves.  When I look back I am pretty sure that I'd rather remember these days...I just hope I can remember that on the days that little man throws a tantrum the second I finishing unpacking all of our stuff on the sand.

Isabella Oliver 7 Day Sale

I will be posting another blog entry later on today when little man is napping, but I couldn't pass up posting this.  Isabella Oliver is doing a 7 day sale..unfortunately I missed the first day, but we still have 6 days left!  Starting yesterday sales on all items were 51 Percent off!  Each day, until Sunday, the sale will continue, but decreasing by 3 percent.  For instance, today it will be 48 percent off. 

Isabella Oliver is by far my favorite maternity store.  They also have non maternity wear.  Unfortunately I am too broke to afford her stuff...but this sale will help!

Here's the link:

Enjoy 48% off today in THE 7 DAY SPREE. The sooner you shop, the more you save. Just enter SPREE at the checkout before midnight Tuesday 22nd June to receive your discount.

Children's Sales around the Blogosphere

Here are some great finds I have found. I bought myself a Baby K'tan carrier for the new little one!  Can't wait to use it.  Happy Shopping!!

You have to be a member of these sights, but joining is free.  It's exclusive and the deals are amazing.

Zulily: Baby K'tan: Blush girls clothing 50 percent off

Baby K'tan

Blush

Gilt Groupe : bikes and trikes for your little one 50 percent off, Jaxxwear and Rock and Republic half off

Jaxxwear Organic Clothing, Half offRock and Republic Children's 50 percent off

A Look into the Waldorf Education

My playgroup has started to do some new playdates revolving around the Waldorf Education so I decided to look more into it.

This type of learning is based on the understanding that, a young infant will learn not through a formal educational process, but rather through just being, how to walk, how to talk, how to interact.  All of this learning takes place through imitation and watching those around him.  The Waldorf curriculum is based on this process.  The child learns through exploring  The arts, literature, music, and other subjects are not learned through a formal education but rather through experimenting with it.  Instead of reading books about specific artists, you listen to their music.  Instead of reading about nature, you go out and find it.  I think this is so very important, especially in the first few years of life.  The main purpose behind this way of teaching is to inspire a desire and love for learning in the child that will span through out their life.

The curriculum is different depending on the age range.  For young toddlers and preschool children the teaching may consist of:

•storytelling, puppetry, creative play


•singing, eurythmy (movement)

•games and finger plays

•painting, drawing and beeswax modeling

•baking and cooking, nature walks

•foreign language and circle time for festival and seasonal celebrations
 
A Waldorf Education does not hold a child back from fitting in with "normalized" society as some may think.  Although the schools are different in many respects, children are still learning to read, math, science, history, and writing.  In addition, these children are also exposed to playing instruments, woodworking, the arts, drama.  It inspires individual talents within each child.  The thing I like best is the interaction between the teacher and student.  One teacher may continue on with children all through their elementary years.
 
TV is something that is not appreciated in the Waldorf schools.  It is believed that such electronics hamper the imagination of the child to learn through experimentation and exploring.  That is why a lot of the toys used are all natural, or even just things that you can find in one's own home.
 
To find out more, visit: http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/
 
I don't know if we would put my son into a full Waldorf school after first grade, but I would love to find one for preschool and kindergarden and see how it goes.  It seems like it is limited though in the state of Connecticut.

The Truth About Cloth Diapering: Q & A

It has been a few weeks since we have started CD'ing exclusively, I have had to ask A LOT of questions and to find a lot of answers.  I also noticed from posting about our new experience we had some eyebrow raises...so, why not do a Q & A?  I am happy to say that as of now I am one hundred percent happy with the switch that we made.  I truly believe I am doing what is right, and loving it in the process.  It is even easier than I have anticipated and I would love to share some of my initial experiences.

First and Foremost:  Let's tackle the germ questions.  Won't there be germs and bacteria sitting around my house with cloth diapers?  Why wouldn't you just want to throw that stuff out?!

For starters, no matter how you look at it, when you change a stinky diaper, you will be exposed to poop.  Many wonder why anyone would ever want to leave it lingering around rather then just throwing it out with the trash.  Well, I think this was part of my husband's concern.  The smell especially.  First of all, poop isn't supposed to be thrown into the trash.  Even with disposables, law requires that you throw the poop down the toilet before discarding of the diaper.  No one does this, or no one I know for that matter.  If you have a diaper genie, or even just throw your diapers into the trash...you WILL have poop and urine sitting around.  it will smell, and it's going to be in your house.  With cloth you actually are forced to throw the poop down the toilet!  You flush, and voila.  It is literally gone.  This is actually a plus for me.  Sure, you will have to throw the dirty diaper in a pail, but the poop will not invade your house with odor.  I can honestly say, we haven't had one odor issue yet.  The pail we use, simply a garbage can with a lid, has kept any, if any, odors inside.  I have yet to be exposed to, or touch poop!

What's the point?  Weren't disposables working just fine?

Sure they were.  I wasn't struggling with them, it was simple.  The amount of garbage that was leaving our house on a daily basis was beginning to get to me.   We definitely have less now, and with the new baby coming...I could not fathom how much trash we would have to take out in a day.  On top of that, we have had a few diaper explosions in the past, and to see what is inside of those disposables, I began to think.

There are definite health risks with using disposables.  If you would like to read more about this, check out The truth about Cloth.  I was astonished to find out that an ingredient in cloth diapers is actually something that has been linked to toxic shock syndrome in tampons.  It's not okay for us, but it is okay for our children?  I don't think so.

Isn't it a pain in the butt to do so much extra laundry?

This was also a concern of mine.  Once I got our whole diaper stash though, I am only doing 2-3 extra loads a week. I really don't mind it.  It really is so simple.  I'll take you through the process.  I change a diaper, if it is a number two, it goes in the toilet, the insert comes out, and both the outer part of the diaper and the insert go into a diaper pail that we have with a liner.  Once diaper wash day comes around, I dump everything, including the liner, into the wash.  I do one cold rinse, then a hot wash, and possibly another rinse.  I then either throw everything into the dryer, or line dry.  I use pocket diapers, so when everything is dry, it takes about three minutes to stuff the diapers and then we are ready to go for 2-3 more days!  The water bill may be a little higher, but very very little..and in the long run the savings will be worth it.

I hope this has given you a little of an insight and that I can come back and answer more questions next time!