A Forest-Themed Toddler Room...it's a work in progress.

Butterflies

I ordered these butterflies from a shop on Etsy. Check out the collection HERE. Normally they come with magnets on the back, but I had the artist leave the magnets off so that I could stick them directly onto the wall. I already had the antique oval frame which created this whimsical look.

Storage

I wanted as many of Babe's toys as possible to be out of sight so they don't take over from the simple forest theme of the room. I started with the above unit with the pink pull out tubs from Ikea (wish it had come in plain white or green) to store most of her loose toys. I bought some pretty little labels and applied them to the front of each tote. And then I bought the shelving unit below for inside her closet to hide all her books but still keep them accessible for her. I wanted to keep her old crib rails safe in case I sell the crib later so I stashed them in the closet and am currently using them for shoe storage. I also hung hooks from her slatted closet doors for extra hanging abilities and traded out the old seventies knobs for some pretty little glass ones from Home Depot.

  

Lighting

Babe still has the old wall-mounted light that I featured in my old post on her nursery. It still fits as it has a monkeys on a vine theme. But I am loving this new squirrel lamp which was a gift from Babe's grandmother. The mushroom nightlight was purchased from Canadian Target before it closed shop and vanished from the Land of the North. It's convenient that the nightlight can plug in or run on batteries.

Here's the old lighting that we still use that was featured in the Nursery post.

Cushions

I'm still looking for the perfect forest-themed bedspread so for now we are using an inexpensive Ikea option. I might have to end up buying a fabric that I like and sewing my own. The fox and deer cushions were purchased from Home Sense.

More Forest

I have had my eye on a gorgeous, realistic forest mural wallpaper for Babe's room ever since I got pregnant. But we are always renting and I haven't wanted to commit to the cost of it or the application and eventual tear down. But last spring we grabbed this three panel forest screen at a fundraising auction. It goes great with the grass-like shag rug we got from Ikea and the adorable fawn wall decal I ordered from THIS SHOP on Etsy. The mini grand piano is from Chapters/Indigo. The carpet and screen combo create a temporary little forested corner until I can get her a room where I'm happy to commit to a full wallpaper/mural effect.

Mounted Stuffy

This was featured in our trip to Calgary post but I'm still loving it and it still fits the theme. It was purchased at the Calgary Airport.

Sky/Ceiling

Babe has one of those little stuffies that projects stars onto the ceiling at night and plays ambient noise. But I wanted a touch of nature on the ceiling in the daytime too. Enter THIS TUTORIAL VIDEO on making a cloud with lights and I thought I could do that, but with a mobile twist. It's kind of still a work in progress as I wanted to use clear fishing line instead of basic thread. But the fishing line of course has a lot of curl to it. I discovered I could get about 75 per cent of the curl out by using my hair straightener on a low heat setting and pulling the line through quickly (a hint that also works for quickly ironing your boxing hand wraps) but some of the kinks still remain. I'm hoping they will straighten out over time otherwise I guess I will re-string all the beads with plain thread. The cloud is made with paper lanterns and synthetic batting. In the video they use a glue gun to attach the batting to the lanterns but I found spray glue worked much faster. Stinks a bit though so the cloud spent a couple nights outside. The video peeps hung little curtain lights from their cloud but Babe and I wanted rain drops so I bought the blue and clear beads from Michaels. I may still put a battery-powered light inside the cloud at a later date - a nice perk to the cloud shell being made out of lanterns and not a paper mache ball or something is that you can still reach inside of it.

"But I've Told Her A Hundred Times..."

Broken snowglobe

After daycare Babe and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner. Due to a naughty moment in the car she knew a toy was going in the Disappearing Box when we got home so she was her very best Big Girl Helper in the store; trying to rescue her toy from a week of hibernation up high.

We are always rushed at the end of the day - going from work to errands and home to play, make dinner and do the bedtime routine - all before 7:30.

Babe tried her best to carry a bag in from the car - without being asked. But it was too heavy and after a few stumbles in the parkade she let me carry it in.

I try to get her to watch TV while I cook dinner because I know it's not safe for her to be prancing around the hot pots and pans in the kitchen. It never works though because Babe has too much energy to sit for long in front of the TV. And by the end of the day she is just desperate for my attention. So dinner time is usually a juggling act for me. There's no extra set of hands or eyes. No one who can keep her entertained while the other parent gets dinner on.

She took off her jeans because they were uncomfortable. I asked her if she wanted me to get her a pair of cozy pants but I don't think she responded. She was playing on the floor just outside the kitchen and we were chatting as I cooked.

She went to the bathroom on her own and peed on the grown up potty without help which made her proud. That's a new thing since she saw a little friend do it while they were visiting...until recently she's always used her little potty.

When she was done I asked again if she wanted cozy pants. Nothing.

I was still cooking.

I saw her fold up her bathroom stool and take it into her bedroom.

I heard her say she needed it to reach the lightswitch in her bedroom.

She pinched her fingers hard in that stool just the other day so I had a faint flash of concern that it might happen again.

She called to me from the bedroom in her growly frustrated voice because the light wasn't turning on.

It's a wall-mounted light that plugs into a socket which is controlled by the lightswitch at the doorway. But it also has a switch on the cord. Her sound machine is also plugged into the same outlet. So at night when I leave her room after tucking her in I turn the light off at the cord so the lightswitch at the wall doesn't kill the sound machine.

Usually I turn it back on in the morning but I guess I didn't this morning. So Babe couldn't figure out why flicking the lightswitch by the bedroom door wasn't working.

She was calling out, "The batteries are dead."

I put down my spatula and said "No Honey, they aren't". I went into the room and hit the switch on the cord which runs like a seam from the wall light down the wall and behind the dresser to a hidden plug. Then I went around the corner back to my cooking.

Maybe ten seconds passed.

I'm sure one of two things were going through her mind before she forgot my many, many warnings:

Her interest may have been piqued by my coming in and switching the light on at the cord, maybe she was drawn to that switch that she hadn't noticed before.

Or more likely her mind simply wandered back to my question moments before about cozy pants.

But she was still on the little stool at the lightswitch as I walked past her and back to the kitchen.

I've told her a hundred times. Over and over...

I'd only been out of the room for a few seconds.

There was a loud crash. It sounded like she'd broken her whole room in one second. Before I heard her scream I already knew exactly what it was and my stomach had already sunk.

She was screaming as I rounded the corner and into her room. I couldn't get there fast enough.

And there was my little girl buried under her heavy dresser.

She was pinned from her mid section down under the tipped frame, the three drawers and a ton of clothing. There was broken glass and sparkles in the rug from her Las Vegas snow globe.

It only took a second to get her out and into my arms but she cried in heaving sobs in my lap for a couple minutes before I could calm her just enough to really look her over. I knew she wasn't bleeding but in those moments I didn't know if there'd be a broken bone. Honestly, I didn't even care, I was just so thankful she was OK.

That dresser is so heavy. It could have been so much worse.

I had her furniture braced to the wall in our old place. I've been reminding myself over and over and over to get the guy in to do it at this place. There's not much that is tippy here anyway, just a couple of items. It's just one of those things that gets pushed down the list because everything else seems more pressing and I'm doing it all myself.

And I've told her a hundred times to never, ever open more than one drawer at a time or climb up on any furniture. I've explained, slightly graphically, what could happen if she tips heavy furniture over onto herself.

But I nannied for years so I know not to expect a three-year-old to remember any warnings. I guess part of me thought since I regularly reminded her that she would somehow remember in that split second when something catches her attention.

And Babe is usually so careful...

Someone said, "Don't blame yourself. Accidents happen".

But you know what? Ya, it was an accident. It was in the blink of an eye, it was just a stupid mistake. But it is my fault. It was negligent. It's not like I didn't know parents should brace the furniture. I know. I've known for years. I've reminded other parents to do it long before I had Babe. I kept reminding myself to do it since we moved and kept forgetting and reminding myself and forgetting. That little voice inside was telling me to get it done.

For crying out loud I just read another story about a child who was killed this way, like a week ago.

It's amazing how fast things can happen when we are juggling too many things and trusting our babies just a little too much.

Babe is perfectly fine. But when I think of what could've happened I feel sick and the tears come on.

I'm sending all my love to whatever angel was watching over my little one as her attention innocently turned to the dresser in her room.




Please anchor your furniture if your wee ones are exploring now.

Even if they are a bit older and you've told them a hundred times...

Even if they are usually so careful.

Saying Goodbye to 139.

OK everyone:

Big changes. For the time being this blog is no longer going to be about a single mom in Vancouver. That's right. There's still plenty of single moms in Vancouver but I'm not one of them.

After a long, brutal job search I finally settled on a position as the new radio news reporter for a station called The Peak in Smithers B.C.

We had less than two weeks to find a new place and new daycare, pack and move. And I'll tell you right now, we just barely pulled it off. Starting a whole new adventure is one thing when you're 22 and single, it's another thing entirely when you have a toddler. 

The final week was go, go, go, from morning until night (not like it isn't always with a baby). A lot of packing and last-minute errands punctuated by tearful goodbyes.

It was actually a lot sadder than I thought it would be to leave our apartment. It was after all the place where I went into labour, where we brought Babe home from the hospital. Her first bedroom, all her firsts pretty much were there. I was really sad to dismantle her room. 

On the last day after the guys had taken apart Babe's crib I found a little surprise on the wall. Obviously some dirty little toes had found their way through the bars and left a printbehind. I left it there. I couldn't bare to wipe it off. Let the next tenants do it.

These are pics from the very last time we left the apartment. I'm not usually so sentimental but the two years we lived there were filled with so many milestones. The pregnancy. Bringing Babe home from the hospital. J moving out and Babe and I starting a life on our own. It was my kitty Sprout's final home (and that cat moved with me A LOT). Babe crawled home in that hallway. She walked home in that hallway. She learned how to point out the 1-3-9 on our door. It was sad to think we can never go back there.  

But we are here in Smithers now. It's been over a week and we are settling in. My parents came up with us and stayed for a few days. And since they left it's been just the two of us, figuring out a new life. This last couple weeks have been really hard, I'm not gonna lie. But I can't wait to share this next adventure with you all. Stay tuned as a West Coast mommy turns into a Northern one. Is this north? It feels north?

Babe looking a little shellshocked. It's been a lot of change for her.

She's a Girl.

When we were in Auckland E's daughter had a little play stove in the kitchen which Babe just loved. She played with it every day that we were there and littered the house with the pots and pans that went with it. She loved it so much that I made a mental note to try to find something similar here in Vancouver.

Then the other day we were in Walmart and I remembered the stove and decided to check the toy isle to see if I could find one.

Of course the one E's kid has was found in a second hand store and it's way cooler than any of the crap you'd buy at Walmart. It's plastic too, but not the China-lead-paint-cheap-ass-Walmart plastic. It's the hard plastic that snaps into dangerous shards not the soft plastic that bends forever like silly putty. And E's stove makes cooking sounds and the burners light up and it's actually the colours you'd find on a real stove. It's not a pink stove with purple burners and a sparkly flower oven door with a fucking Disney princess on it or something. And it's super small and compact and fits nicely in a real kitchen. But nevertheless, I wanted to get something...

But of course all the Walmart kitchens were huge and completely unnecessary for a one year old. I know I'll have to purchase one of them later but I'm not yet at the place in my parent-life where I'm willing to buy toys that come in refrigerator-sized boxes. But then just as we were about to leave we came upon a stack of mini-kitchens on sale for $20. The kids pictured with it on the box were Babe's age and the thing wasn't too big. And better yet, it was cheap, so I wouldn't feel bad about donating it to the thrift store in six months.

So I bought it and Babe seemed to know what it was by looking at the box and she seemed excited.

But when I was looking for the kitchens we passed a row of plastic tool benches. And the first thought in my head was, "Well here's all the tool benches, where the hell are the girl's kitchens?" And that thought bugged me on the drive home. Why did I so eagerly dismiss the tool benches as being for boys? Was I already falling victim to society's gender roles and guiding my daughter more towards Barbies and fairy dresses and away from Transformers and army men? It bugged me.

It was still bugging me two hours later when the Walmart kitchen was built and Babe was happily putting cups and saucers inside the oven.

Then I realized something cool.

I paid for the toy and hauled it in from the truck. I spent almost two hours with 500 parts scattered in a pokey puddle at my feet. Seriously, for $20 they don't get you started on fucking anything. For $20 you get 500 pieces swept off the factory floor and some generic instructions that apply to various models of similar toys.

My tool box was out and my screwdrivers were spread all over the place. Sharp tools that I had to continuously confiscate from Babe who would snatch one as soon as she sensed my focus was elsewhere.

Babe watched me sift through a hundred little pieces to find the right one. She saw me drop screws and bump my head on the table looking for them. She heard me swear more than once. She probably noticed my butt crack.

She quizzically listened while I explained what I was doing. She played in a poopy diaper for longer than is acceptable because I was too focussed on what I was doing to stop and change her. She saw her mom do all of that. And that's pretty manly shit I was doing.

So who cares if the end result is a kitchen set instead of a tool bench - we used tools to make it. Babe is gonna grow up in a house where it's her mommy that does the blue jobs and the pink jobs. And she wouldn't be lying if she told her baby-friends that her mommy can drive a forklift in high heels. (She'd be a genius - but not a liar).

Single moms do it all. So I guess being a single mom gets me off worrying if I'm stereotyping my daughter.

P.S. While building the toy I also had dinner cooking and the laundry on.

Review: Jeep Liberty Stroller.

OK, as promised but way later than anticipated, here is my review of the Jeep Liberty stroller by Kolcraft.

When Babe and I went to D.C. back in June I used my friend's Jeep stroller for most of the week. And by the end of our visit I decided to buy one and fly it home.

The stroller has most of the features that I was looking for in a jogger:
*note: Jeep says this is NOT a jogger

Parent and baby trays.
Locking and swivel front wheel.
Air inflated tires with decent tread.
Reclining seat.
Large storage basket.
Five point harness.

Most importantly I wanted a jogger with both a locking and swivel front wheel. I couldn't handle the idea of having a stationary front wheel because I also wanted to use the stroller for walks, shopping and errands. But I did want the locking option for running or rollerblading (not recommended uses).

At 30 lbs the stroller is rather heavy for a jogger, which is probably why Kolcraft says it's not a jogger. But it works just fine for my light mommy jogs on even ground. There are times when I'm really tired and I wish it was lighter but usually I don't notice the weight difference between it and other joggers.

It is a little on the heavy side when lifting it in and out of the truck but after a long day with the kids what stroller doesn't feel too heavy? And be prepared; it's still pretty big when folded so if you have a small trunk it's not going to fit (the folded dimensions are apx. 20x26x35). The one-handed fold down is great.

The 12" tires are decent. I've had it for over three months now and I haven't had to inflate them once. And when Babe and I were on Hornby Island I used the stroller at Helliwell Provincial Park and it did a decent job on the uneven trails of gravel and roots. I do wish they were a little bigger and the locking mechanism on the front wheel is a little flimsy.

I like the colour combos of the Jeep strollers. Mine is light grey, dark grey and teal blue. My girlfriend has a black and lime green one which is also cool. I think the colours are nicer than some of the other strollers out there which only come in reds or oranges.

I also like the oversized storage basket. It can easily fit our diaper bag and extra toys, a blanket etc...One great feature of the basket is that it extends out under the feet so when Babe drops a toy or kicks off a shoe it (usually) falls right down into the basket. There are also two saddle bags for extra storage. 

It's a small thing but I like that the stroller has reflectors on the sides. Our last stroller didn't and I had to attach bike reflectors to it because we are often walking in the dark, especially in the winter.

The speaker is a fun bonus. It is removable if you are worried about getting it stolen or if you want to take your tunes with you. Of course it's not great quality (we aren't talking Bang and Olufsen here) and it doesn't go very loud but that's probably to protect delicate baby ears and other people from having to hear your music. It's also a little odd that the speaker faces out towards the baby rather then towards you.

I loved that it was compatible with our Graco car seat (see the website for a list of compatible car seats). It made it easy to transport a sleeping Babe from the car to the stroller and vise versa.

And I also like that the baby tray is removable because it is kind of in Babe's line of sight when attached. The steering wheel feature is fun too but is definitely designed for bigger kids. There is no way Babe could play with it comfortably until she is at least a year and a half - probably older. I took it off until then because it's just in the way.

I also like that the front wheel has a foot rest/shield over it - this prevents bigger kids from having their feet hanging down around the turning tire, an oversight on some three-wheeled strollers.

There are some cons to the Jeep Liberty stroller though. The sunshade could be a lot better, it doesn't go forward enough for my liking. But it does have a peek-a-boo window in the top, which is a bonus.

When you fold the stroller the seat has to be in a recline position. This isn't a big deal, just a little annoying because I always forget and then can't get it to close properly.

The seat is roomy and pretty comfortable but the sides have no padding. Unfortunately the side bars are right at Babe's head level. So whenever we go over bumps or the stroller shakes a bit Babe bangs her head on the bars. This has led to tears more times than I can count. I've finally resorted to folding a tea towel over the bars to protect her head until she is taller.

There is also no hand brake which is an important feature of a jogging stroller. This is probably another reason why Kolcraft doesn't advertise this one as a jogger. That missing feature was the one thing that made me hesitate in buying it because I would like to use it for rollerblading in the future but without hand brake I'm a little uncomfortable about using it at higher speeds. 

The stroller definitely isn't high quality. It's mostly plastic and I can tell it won't last forever. But considering my next best choice was a BOB stroller that cost almost $500 the Jeep was a pretty safe bet. At $175 US I could buy a new one when Babe is two and it would still be cheaper than the BOB.

It's also important to note that Kolcraft was excellent in sending replacement parts. Toys R Us sold me an open box with three missing parts and then I had to call the stroller company to get the parts replaced. I was mad that I had to get the parts mailed out instead of replaced at the store but one call to Kolcraft and the parts were in the mail. They arrived at my Canadian address a few days later. Also construction of the stroller was super easy, took only about 15 minutes and I don't think even required any tools. 

Flowers, Bows and Pom Poms!

It's no secret that I like DIY projects, arts and crafts. I'm always making something. I haven't had as much time to be creative since Babe came along (I did get three Christmas eggs made this year) but I have had enough time to make the odd thing.

I was seeing adorable baby headbands everywhere but I never came across any. I found a couple of cute ones at Target in the states but I wanted more, more, MORE! But when I got home I couldn't find them here and I'm too impatient to wait for orders from Etsy - but FYI there are adorable baby headbands on Etsy - so I did what I usually do when I want something that I can't find or afford. I make it. If it's makable. By me. That's how I ended up with my kitchen table, cat scratching post, sock monkeys, wall art etc...

So here are some pics of what I have so far. I'm not going to include how-to's here because there are a million places online that you can go to if you want to make these yourself. There are tutorials on YouTube, blogs and websites. I just googled "how to make..." and whatever I was looking for and then scrolled through everything until I saw something I liked.

Anyway, here are some of the highlights:

I started with these pom pom headbands.

I made two different kinds. One kind with fabric and one kind with felt.

Then I moved on to these rolled fabric flowers (top black and white and lower peach).

Then I tried this weird fabric flower which involves twisting and pinning (top multi-coloured) but it took a realllly long time. So I only made the one.

Next I moved onto felt roses. You can see a few others in above pics.

Then I decided that I wanted to make bows. So I started with fabric because I really liked the anchor material above.

But then I found a tutorial on these felt bows and I've been addicted to making them ever since.  

Cream.

White, blue, black. I can't stop.

 Bows without bands yet.

Babe and her pretty little roses.

Every night after Babe goes to bed I have been sitting on the floor in front of the TV with a glass of wine and my sewing kit.

Every baby girl I know is getting one.

The Sleep Standoff.

This is a rare sleeping Babe shot taken months ago.

Babe doesn't sleep. EVER!

OK obviously that is an exaggeration. She sleeps, just not as much as I would like her too. In fact, there is a deep echo-ey valley of difference between the amount that she does sleep and the amount I would like to have her sleep. And as far as I can tell there is no rope bridge or other means of connecting the gap between the two sides. So Babe and I are at an impasse.

Oh God. I don't even know what I'm rambling about. Something about a rope bridge? I really am that tired.

I read in one of my fairly useless baby books that a newborn baby can sleep for up to 23 hours a day. Ba hahahahaha ha - for all you future moms out there; that's crap! My newborn didn't sleep more than eight hours (total, not consecutive) a day in the early weeks.

Currently Babe is sleeping in an Arm's Reach Co-sleeper beside our bed. Correction: my bed. J abandoned this noisy little creature a long time ago and has taken up residence on a foamy in the nursery. I resent this greatly. Sometimes at four o'clock in the morning when I am feeding Babe for the fifth time since she went "down for the night" and J is snoring in the other room I lay there and think up new reasons to hate him. Some are legitimate; he leaves all the cupboards in the kitchen open so that every time I walk into the room it looks like a poltergeist has been there. Other reasons are not good reasons to hate someone; he puts the soap on the tub ledge instead of the little seashell soap dish on the wall. Actually, neither of these are good reasons to hate someone but he's not losing any sleep so F him.

Anyway...Babe usually goes to sleep between nine and 10 at night (this is a vast improvement from two months ago when she usually went to sleep between two and four am). It usually takes me at least half an hour of nursing to get her to doze off. This wouldn't be a big deal if I could nurse her in the rocking chair and lay her down once she was asleep. But that's not how my baby rolls. She needs to be already in her bed and then be nursed to sleep. This is the real shitty part. In order for her to be in her bed while nursing I have to lay on my side and stretch my tit like silly putty into her open beak. I'm not sure, but my guess is that this won't play out real well for the appearance of my boobies later on. Especially since her co-sleeper is forever on the same side of my bed so it's the same tit that gets stretched night after night.

All this effort and booby sacrifice on my end only to achieve a state of perpetual light dozing in Babe. She must have some ailment that keeps her from ever falling into a deep sleep. I don't know what it is but if I find out what's causing it I'll post the name of it here and I'd encourage you to donate money to the cause. Personally I think there's a little troll inside her with a zapper and when she shifts into REM he shocks her awake. If this is in fact the cause of her wakefulness I suppose I could try to flush him out with some sort of baby enema. But the baby books say nothing about the safety of baby irrigation. It's also possible that it's gas and not a troll with a zapper.

She's been to a pediatrician. He knows about the gas - even saw it on an x-ray. He referred her to a gastroenterologist but that was a month ago and she still doesn't have an appointment. I tried being the squeaky wheel and calling his office but I still didn't get an appointment. The secretary told me that he has the file and will basically make the appointment whenever he bloody well feels like it - only she said it politely.

So the sleep standoff continues. I try and try to get her to go down. It takes forever. She finally falls asleep. I lay down and close my eyes and hers pop open and she gives me an adorable but absolutely infuriating grin as if to say - now what?

It's been four months. At what point do you shift from really, really tired to throwing feces at the walls of your padded cell? I'd like to nip this in the bud before I get there.

Seashell Slide Decoration.

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is low tide walks on Hornby Island. I like finding Moon Snail shells at the edge of the water. The broken ones are cool because the inside spiral is so smooth and shiny. I imagine they are tiny slides for tiny sea creatures. When I was pregnant I put one aside to make an ornament for Babe.

I was originally going to use Guatemalan Worry Dolls for the children on the ornament but while hunting for some in my favorite antique/junk store I also found these little white angels.

I had envisioned a mexican style ornament with the worry dolls. But I couldn't find any dolls that had outfits that resembled bathing suits so I decided to just paint the angels. And rip off their wings. I hope breaking the wings off plastic angels isn't terrible karma.

I painted bathing suits on the no-longer-angels and painted water down the middle of the slide (inside of the shell).

I then painted some flat toothpicks brown and broke them into tiny pieces to make the ladder, which I glued on the side.

I finished it up by threading some string through the center, gluing the children onto the slide and hanging a teardrop bead off the bottom.

It's a cute ornament for Babe's bedroom, Christmas tree or whatever and it was super easy to make.