My Chi Is All Messed Up  

My mother and I sometimes talk about our "chi" with varying degrees of seriousness. Example: "Your grandmother is dragging me to the casino today. Time to center my Bingo Chi." It doesn't really get more serious than that, actually.

Ha! Love it!

We just don't have much stuff anymore! No pretty coffee tables, no cool vases, no pretty glass containers filled with random breakables for decoration.. our living room is so basic! What MUST we have to survive in here? The whole house echos that motto...

I bought a sofa for my dog. Seriously. He is very short and couldn't jump onto any of the ones in my apartment without help. WHen a roommate moved, I went out and bought a low lofa and told the salesman if the dog couldn't manage to make it up without me lifting him, I'd bring it back! =)

It fit. 2 moves and 3 years later, that sofa's still in my LR.

This time around (third time's a charm, right?) we decided to not move anything. Let him mold to us we said.... I should rearrange my chi all over my house because I too am exhausted from saying DON'T TOUCH THAT all. freaking. day.

Oh My where do I begin??

We had custom made bookshelves built on either side of our window and a custom window seat that runs in between. The bench has been padded since the minute she could crawl.

Then my husband built his TV wall with more custom shelves and he tiled the fireplace and floor - more padding and we made a special pillow to go over the tile.

She is 2 now and I finally took off the pillow and I had forgotten what the tile looked like!

Still have the rest of the padding up b/c she is a crazy kid and when she stops running 90 MPH, I will consider it!

BTW I LOVE the lemon yellow in your kitchen pictures - it is so cheery and bright!

Ha ha ha! When Lil Bits was younger we got an ottoman instead of a coffee table, cleared away any knickknacks, and our house revolved around her. Well, it still does, but we've added a vase here, a coffee table there...slowly...just recently she tumbled into an arrangement on the floor.....so....it's gone now, too.
Oh, an all tables must have rounded edges and no glass for us.

"Modified baby jail" hahaha I love it!
It really doesn't look so bad and if it does the trick, then more power to ya! I just spent the afternoon with my very mobile 1 year old nephew in a very un-childproofed house yesterday and I can see how such things would be necessary.

ah yes..how the house design changes with little ones :)
we have chairs bungee-corded to the computer desk and up on tables and tipped over to prevent "climb ups" and "get intos"

Gates. Gates everywhere. DS was climbing out of his crib by 13 months so we started there. Then moved to basically every entryway that lead to danger zones...ie kitchen. The bathroom doors stay shut. Oh and the front door has top locks just in case either of the kiddos decides to go for a stroll at 2am (as DS once did at age 2).

Ah, yes, we have modified baby jails (aka couches) in our home, too...I couldn't live without them...although, Jr has certainly became a mini-Hurcules in his short 15 months of life! ;) He loves to rearrange the furniture.

"I feel like you were writing this post FOR ME. I live my life motivated by fear. At times, that's been a good thing. I was afraid my mom would find out if I did anything wrong when I was younger, so I didn't do it. But now, I don't find a new job because I'm afraid to lose the security of my current one... I don't tell a friend how what she's been saying about me really hurts my feelings because I'm afraid to hurt HER feelings... it's a vicious cycle. One I should break.

Hey, maybe THAT'S what I'll do for Lent! I'll give up being afraid!"


Yes, I wrote it for me as much as anyone else. I know exactly what you mean, all those things you described sound so much like me! Haha your last comment made me smile! :)

haha cute post! The things we do because of a baby! :)

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I feel your pain. I have crazy gate configurations all over the place. Not to mention that since we moved into the new house, I have decided not even to put out half of our furniture due to the crazy climbers.

Good luck!

Oh, if you are interested, I am doing an AVON giveaway on my blog all week long!

personally I think this makes you a GENIUS :)
a creative genius

OK- is it weird that I thought you were talking about a hair straightener and it took me a minute to figure out why I was looking at couches?

It's very, very hard to come to terms with liking things arranged 'just so', and having a kitchen chair in my living room blocking off access to my computer desk while a tipped-over jumparoo is guarding the shoes in the entryway.

I feel ya.

My bed is also facing the wrong way AND The Bottomless Pit isn't getting any but I blame that on the laundry pile. I hope he never reads any feng-sui books.

(Pssst. Ring story, please? I'm nosy. And sappy. princesshelly02@yahoo.com . Don't laugh at the email addy, it's been the same since I was 14. ;p)

Gotta love what you have to do to keep kids safe!

In our old house, we actually kept a dresser out in the hall, on the second floor landing to keep the kids from going up to the third floor. It took forever to find a gate that would fit and then the boys learned how to climb over that. So, we went with a dresser. Very stylish.

I agree - you do what you have to in order to keep yourself from going crazy! You have a choice between environmental sanity or parental sanity...choose parental sanity! That's my vote...I think you've chosen very wisely!!!!!

Baby jail!!! I wish i had one of those sometimes. You just gotta do what you gotta do to keep it sane. Good for you ;O)

oh my gosh that totally threw my chi off!!! But I so hear ya about blocking the kitchen and it looks like you'd need a small fence to block that entrance!

Awesome... Just hope G is not a climber, as J just goes over the couch to get where he wants to go these days.

In particular, the counter. Ugh!

And I LOL at you actually putting a word to your off feeling... Waaayyy more ambitious than I. :)

Other than typical baby proofing with outlet covers and safety latches we have moved all breakables into our china hutch for now. We also gate off our kitchen, keep all bathroom doors shut with safety doorknob covers and covers on the PC tower and dh's PS3 and Wii. OUr little guy is into pushing buttons right now.

My whole house is a testament to the fact that I have children, not a nice or breakable knick knack in sight.

We have had to remove everything off of tables that Amelia can reach which makes me so sad! We also have had to find ways to block doorways. My favorite is the hamper on it's side, which is coincidentally Amelia's least favorite obstacle.

Amelia isn't even walking yet, who knows what will happen once she learns how to do that!

We live in an apartment, so it's not like she can get far without me knowing what she's doing...however, when she first started crawling, we lived in a much bigger apartment...and I tried everything to keep that child in one spot. She always succeeded!

We just made all of the things in my little guy's reach ok for him to play with. My husband works late and I often have to have dinner started before he gets home so we actually eat at a decent time and my son has to be in the kitchen with me, so he has to have things to entertain him. It's easier for us to just have the whole house baby friendly, with one cabinet lock on the chemicals.

We have a gate that blocks the entrance from our kitchen/living room area. You can buy it at walmart. It's the one that can go in a circle. I'm having an "off" day today with my brain so I can't think of the exact name.

Baby jails... we tried them with our youngest, but the "Engineer" could figure out any lock by just looking at you open it. We still tried, but Houdini got past everything. I ended up just praying at night for his welfare and my sanity.

I must say, it's with a little sadness I read this today as my youngest child just turned 6.

We've already purged the house of any and all toddler relics such as sippy cups, baby utensils, bibs, and baby safe toys.

In fact, now our home is littered with a gagillion Polly in the Pocket shoes, clothes and accessories.

After stepping on a tiny plastic coat rack, I kind of miss the chunky lego blocks that were way easier to see.

Wow! I could go on forever about this one!!!

I have 1 plant left.
The dog has timed intervals for drinking & eating so they don't take a bath in her waterbowl.
ALL cabinets in house have locks.
I lock my bedroom door during naptime & when kids are sleeping and we are not fo fear of what they will do in my bathroom!
Living room has been completely rearranged.
Their closet doors have locks on them.

My 3yo is going to be an engineer or something. She loves to explore anywhere & everywhere! Her sister is following in her footsteps!

Aaaahhhhhh!!!!!

Funny! I have a post I've been working on in regards to a room that my hubby actually rushed to finish for me with a wonderful bench and beautiful windows...and, yeah you get the point...well, the door to that room is always closed unless I'm sneaking out there to grab a book from my custom made bookshelf...DH always says, you should go out there more! Yeah, I should...I guess I could just close the door and leave the kiddos on the other side...

Drink a Chai Tea...maybe you'll get some chi back...oh wait..that's chee not chy..oye..I'm confused now.
Good luck!

My 7 year old still drinks out of a cup with a lid (a modified sippy). Not exactly a change in my furniture, but an adjustment to help prevent spillage on the furniture.

Ask and you shall receive ;)
A story of our little Hoodini.
At age 2 DS could climb over anything his height, and he loved to explore. We kept a gate up at his doorway at night, but he could get over it if he wanted to. We once woke up to find grey paint all over the dining room and living room furniture (I had left a plastic cup filled with paint for detailing in a cabinet - the cabinet that didn't yet have a child lock).We had just moved to a new house and within a week he had figured out the deadbolt on the front door. We started closing his door at night and locking it (I hated this, but we had to keep him safe), and observing him through a video baby monitor. This lasted about 4 nights...and he figured out the lock on his door. How did we find out? We heard footsteps on the front porch. We were freaking out at who could be out there at 2am...then we saw that the front door was wide open! DS was happy as a clam sitting on the steps, looking out over the dark yard, and talking about "birds"-fireflies. The next morning we bought a slide lock to put at the top of the door, and an extra gate to put at his door. He occasionally still climbed over the double gate at his door, but I think the fall down the other side scared him enough that all the escaping soon stopped. Those were the days I prayed he'd make it to age 5, and we're at 7 (WooHoo) so I think we're GTG ;)

When buggy was little i had the hardest time keeping that kid in site...I had a strage layout in my Town home when he was born anyways and then we had stuff everywhere trying to keep him in one place...our house looked like a random starage shed =)

I will take the bad chi please. GRANDE!

thanks for the backup on the butt crack :)

UGH. I hate the way the house looks during the toddler years. Locks on all the cabinets, gates on all the stairs, locks on all the doors, no real plants, no nice furniture, messes everywhere! There is certainly no "chi" happening here.

We are right there with you! Mine is 17 months and into EVERYTHING. We have designated certain drawers and cabinets in the kitchen that are hers, the others are NO-NO's and she sits in time out if she gets into them. It's worked pretty good for the most part, she gets into her cabinet when I'm cooking and pulls out her plastic bowls, etc...might be worth a shot.

LOL! I am going to send a TwitPic or 2 your way - will make you feel better. Look out for it. ;-)

And we have similar colors in our house on the walls. But really, does this surprise you? :-)

Tamara
www.theunexperiencedmom.com

Don't be so hard on yourself! Kick back and read Wallpaper online! You'll love it. Also, I found your blog through Twittermoms. Sign up. On Twitter follow me @BeOraQuelSmart. Thanks!

That's www.Wallpaper.com

I can relate as our furniture has one purpose--to keep little ones in check. Our youngest twin can make a gymnastics obstacle course out of any object though...

My mom freaks if we have anything lined up around the house or on a shelf (which she calls "a shooting gallery"). But when I had little ones that needed trapped I would do the same, use whatever I could to save my mind from going crazy from escape babies!! Love your wall color!

oh I love it, haha. The things we do to our house to make our lives easier :) yes, I've done many things like this in the past too. We do what works right.
I like your headline idea by the way. That is so cool!

My CHI has been really wacked too! Okay well it is Monday and well I did have a long weekend that was way to jammed packed. That could be the result.

I have made so many changes in my home to accommodate my children from stage to stage that I can't recall a specific thing.

My house was baby proofed up until two years ago when we moved into our brand new house.

My kids are 9 years or older! Ummm...lazyness might have something to do with it!

My 20 month-old just discovered what was in the crystal candy jar... that bad boy is put away for good. Probably a good thing for me.

My 7 month old is getting mobile - I just unbaby proofed my home since the others a 4 and 5 and I got tired of fighting the cabinets open and hurdling doorways - but I see this in my future again --soon.

A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

hold the phone! For a minute I thought you were talking about your flat iron, you know, for your hair. THAT would have been a CRISIS!!

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This is just too funny. My daughter will NOT stay out of our kitchen drawers/cabinets either! We have those cheap plastic locks on the ones that haven't broke. Which is probably only like 2. I would totally do what you have done, but our house is too open. I have moved our cat food and water bowl down in our entryway to our house. She can't get to it b/c of a baby gate. I have to keep the bathroom doors shut at all times too. Otherwise she gets into the toilet paper or tries to get in the bath tub.

Oh this post made me chuckle!!!! I am here to tell you...it gets better!!! Well, some of it does...Sam still likes to try and open the kitchen cupboards...and if you plan on having more kids, I'd strongly suggest investing in some child locks...you get used to them after a while!

Good luck!

I would choose (and have chosen)broken chi for SURE!!

None yet...but I am sure we will have to! Either that or I'll just make a tape recording of me saying "NO!" and keep pushing play!

I never had Chi to begin with...with or without children. I am totally lost in decorating.

I love watching HGTV though. That's gotta count for something.

I did just move my only living plant to the empty third bedroom. My two year Greyhound decided it was waaay fun to play with. The plant thought it was not way fun.

I gave it it's own room. I bet it has Chi now.

:-)

What changes haven't we made to accommodate these little people?

I have a huge Radio Flyer horse in my living room for one.

P.S. I emailed Margo, and haven't heard back. Could you check with her by chance? :)

I think all of us go through this at some point or another. When hubby deployed last year we were living in a 2 story house & it drove me crazy to have to chase the kids up & down the stairs sometimes. The staircase at that house was so wide that a normal gate just wasn't long enough. So instead....I took all the dining room chairs & put them in front of the stairs & used bungee cords to keep the kids from being able to move them lol It looked horrible but it worked

I'd almost forgotten the days of plastic gates across every doorway and stairwell! Thanks for the memories - but I have to tell you, my kid's 12 and I STILL don't have it right. It's hard to have good feng shui when sporting goods and shoes are prominent decor. Ahhh...maybe someday!

LOL! We don't even have furniture in our living room. It started out that way when we moved into our new house and I banished our old living room furniture to the basement. Then we had so much going on with Jack medically that there was no time or money to go buy new living room furniture. Then as he got bigger and we let him ride his ride on toys through the open floor plan we just didn't want furniture to clutter up the space. One day we'll get new furniture but the really open plan is working for us now. :)