Room by room part duex

Let's walk through the rest of my house and decide what needs to be different. What a fun and depressing exercise!!!!

Upstairs

Bathroom
What I like: the color scheme
What I dislike: the blank walls, mismatched sconces and mirror
What I can do: hang something up! change the mirror or the sconces

Our bedroom

What I like: Most everything is finished in this room.
What I dislike: My dresser drawers aren't organized, nor is my side of the closet. The trash can is too tiny and ugly.
What I can do: Get rid of clothes that I do not wear. Put a light in the closet. Clean out the top shelves. Stop being lazy when I put away my own clothes. I put away everyone else's in some sort of order, but I stuff mine in wherever there is room.  Buy a nice trash can.

William and Elliott's room:
What I like: Everything we've done
What I dislike: William doesn't have a nice blanket or sheets. Some empty spots on the walls. The overflowing, always messy bookshelf.
What I can do: Buy William's bedding. Hang up some stuff. Scale down the books.

Hallway
What I like: Nothing.
What I dislike: Blank walls, wall color, ugly mirror that is too small for the wall, disorganized hall closet.
What I can do: Paint, hang family pictures, organize the closet and stop being lazy when I put things in there.

Basement
I can't even start on this one.

Room by room, function by function

When I imagine a comfortable home, I think one of that functional and comfortable spaces. I think our house is missing a little of that. I'm going to go room by room and figure out what could make it work better for our family.  Again, this is a brainstorm.

ROOM ONE: Living room

Our living room is an awkward shape, long and narrow. The door is placed in the middle of the room, so when you walk in you immediately see the fireplace. It wasn't easy to create a seating area.
What I like: The two couches and chair are a good enough seating arrangement. I like having a lamp in between the couches. I like having a small table by the door, and I love our mantel. I am in love with a curio wall shelf I finally bought thanks to the ladies at Ten Maple in Centerville who were gracious enough to call me when they found one. I like our bookcase well enough, although it always seems a little disproportionate with the couches. I like the framed photos above the piano.

What I don't like: I don't like the big blank spaces on the walls. We need more pictures on the wall.  I don't like that the curtains aren't hemmed. I don't like that the photos above the piano are askew. I don't like the photos on the small table by the door. I don't like that the rug shows every bit of dog hair and gets dirty very easily.  I don't like the empty space in the fireplace. I don't like that the side table is a black hole for books and magazines on the bottom shelf.

What I could do: Find art for the walls.  Get someone to hem the curtains. Vacuum and wash the rug. Get a nice basket to go inside the fireplace. Replace the side table.

ROOM TWO: Dining room
FUNCTION: Eating, storing extra plates/dishes, entertaining
What I like: The black table and chairs. The mirror. The walls.

What I don't like: The gigantic expanses of blank walls.  That drives me batty. Not having a nice tablecloth. The unhemmed curtains. Not having a buffet.

What I can do: Pick out art/ photos for the walls. Hem the curtains. Buy a table cloth.
Buy a buffet.

ROOM THREE: Kitchen
FUNCTION: Cooking, eating, working/playing at eat-in table, storing food and plates, etc.
What I like: The color scheme (even if the yellow is the wrong shade). The plate cabinet. The kids cabinet. The three hanging plates.

What I don't like: All of the other cabinet organization systems. The square table (needs to be round) The old picture in the eat-in area (we've had that cliched thing for 10 years.) The floor tile. The pantry. The mess that accumulates on the counter. The blank space above the computer.

What I can do: Reorganize the cabinets. Replace the table and chairs. Get new art for the eat-in area. Find something to hang above the computer. Get a better solution for the junk that piles up on the computer area. Start saving to replace the floor.

ROOM FOUR: The playroom/family room
FUNCTION: Watching TV, playing, reading, relaxing
What I like: The couch. Being able to store toys in the closet.

What I don't like: THE CURTAINS!!!! The disorganized messy looking entertainment center. The big leather chair. The messy closet. The side table. Having the TV visible.

What I can do: Replace the curtains. Organize and clean the closet and entertainment center. Sell the leather chair and replace it with a smaller chair. See if Ikea carries doors that would be able to cover the TV.

ROOM FOUR: Downstairs bath
What I like: The fixtures, the white beadboard, the shower curtain, the alcove

What I don't like: The blank walls, the empty alcove

What I can do: Hang up some pictures, decorate the alcove

To be continued

Sorting clothes: The brainstorm

With three boys, I have the luxury of passing down a lot of clothes.  But with that comes the difficulty of sorting and storing the clothes when they aren't in use.

In their closets/dressers, they will need

Elliott: 4T and 5T summer and fall

William: 2T and 3T summer and fall 

Henry: Newborn, 3 to 6 months fall and winter

I think I will keep the fall and winter clothes in marked containers in the closet and switch them out with the summer clothes in late September. That way it's accessible in case we need jeans and long sleeves in mid-September, but not out in the dressers until we really need it daily.

So that means that in the closets, I will need containers marked

For Elliott: Winter 4T/5T

For William: Winter 2T/3T

For Henry: Winter 3 to 6 months

I will need containers waiting and labeled 

Summer 4T/5T

Summer 2T/3T

Right now, many of those clothes are either in containers in the attic or strewn about in the closet floor. 

Make room for baby: Winter gear

I am 21 weeks pregnant. I can feel the little guy moving around in there right now. I look around and see a house that is so far from ready to handle the chaos of a newborn. So what to do? Clean, fold clothes, declutter a closet? 

No way! 

BLOG ABOUT IT INSTEAD!!!!!!

One thing that is keeping me up at night is thinking about all the winter accessories that we go crazy trying to keep track of - gloves, socks, hats - they disappear on the coldest days of the year. It's particularly frustrating for Tim. I might just wrap a kid's hand in a warm sock in a pinch, but he prefers the actual glove.  Gotta give him credit for desiring some sense of normalcy. 

So, with a baby due in mid-November, I am thinking about how to get all of the winter gear in place before Nov. 1.  Tonight I made a list of what each boy needs for winter.  I'll start shopping our own closets as well as stores to try to get these items in place sooner than later.  I'm thinking about creating a zip bag for each child with hats, gloves, extra socks, and long underwear and attaching it to the hanger with their winter coat. 

The baby will need his own set of winter gear: hats and gloves and a warm cover for the car seat (which I think we have). 

Other winter essentials to have in place. Ready. go.

* Car ice/snow scraper

* Salt for the driveway

* Warm throw blankets for the downstairs

* Hot chocolate mix (duh)

Next up: Christmas planning in July

Basketball q&a

Elliott keeps an old basketball trophy of mine in his room. He sometimes sleeps with it. Tonight he got it down from his shelf and put it in his bed. Just as I was about to pray with him, he said "Let me do it." I thought he meant pray. "No, I just want to talk about it." He meant the trophy. This ensued:

Why do you jump when you shoot? Why do you bend your knees to shoot? Why do you wear those shoes? Why do you shoot the basketball into the basketball hoop? Why did you win this? What did you say when you won the game? What did you say before you won the game? Why did Daddy get me this bed? I don't like beds. I want to sleep on the floor. How fast did you go when you dribbled the ball? Where is the blanket with you playing basketball on it? Why did we stay in the place with no stairs last night? (a hotel room)

He might be on his way to being a reporter ...

The first time we met

William is going through some separation anxiety issues, so he is crying at bedtime. Tonight Elliott came downstairs from his bedroom and said "Mommy, William needs you!" I knew Elliott wouldn't be able to go to sleep with William still crying, so I just brought E. up into my lap to wait with me. We were sitting at the computer, so we pulled up the pictures of his birth (not his actual entry, rest assured!) We have an iPhoto album of pictures of the two of us together for the first time, minutes after his birth, as well as him with various family members later that day. He loves hearing me tell him about the first time we met. He also loves looking at himself as a newborn and seeing who all came to see him when he was born.

What a joy to look at these pictures with him. I'm finding more and more as a parent that the best moments are spontaneous. These childhood years are fleeting, and we often have to steal moments when we can get them. Sure, he should have stayed in his room, but had I forced him back upstairs, I would have missed out on a very sweet 10 minutes with him looking back at those newborn pictures and reinforcing to him, in many ways, of how loved he has been from his first minutes on the planet. (William stopped crying in 10 minutes, by the way. He used to be such an easy sleeper, now he is fighting tooth and nail to stay up).

I certainly value routine and schedules, but I delight in the moments that come when I can just focus on the child and not worry about the time or what I think I "should" be doing. I've had to remind myself that no parenting police are going to come barging in at 8 p.m. asking why my children aren't asleep yet.

(Is it ironic that I am writing about this in the context of another child crying it out alone in his bedroom? Let's not spend too much time thinking about that one ...)

Random kid quotes I don't want to forget

Elliott, sitting on the toilet before bed but acting disobedient. Tim threatens to spank him if he doesn't stop.

Elliott: "You can't. My butt is hidden."

Before bed discussing our sleeping arrangements when we visit my family:

Elliott: Don't leave me in the room alone at Granny's.

Me: What if William is there with you?

Elliott: No, I need a grown up.

Me: Why?

Elliott: That's what friends are for.

Random variation of William's constant declaration of himself as our "baby."

Me: You're my buddy, William

William: No, I'm rabbit's baby.

Me: Who is rabbit?

William: Daddy.

Another William conversation, oft-repeated:

Me: Who is your mommy?

William: Tracy

Me: Who is your daddy?

William: Boo Boo