Busy Bryn & Claiming my Family Room back!

WHAT in the world am I going to do this time next year when I have a 1 year old and a 2 year old?! Lose my mind.. that's what! Vivian has been a super easy addition to this family.. yeah, we get less sleep. Yeah, Jake and I don't get to spend as much time together because we DO sleep when we can. But honestly.. she's easy. Bryn.. is BUSY. She really is good. She was super fussy for a week and I thought.. oh, Lordy.. here we go! But! She had a double ear infection and is back to her sweet self.. sweet, but BUSY.

Seriously! I'm crazy. Bryn spent the night at Jake's parents Saturday night with her big cousins.. you know what I did?! Read. Sleep. Wake up early and SCRUB my kitchen. Why? Because there is NO way to get that done with Bryn around.

I was trying to feed Vivi.. and I was watching Bryn across the room.. ish. She was surrounded by books.. so she's obviously reading.. right?!

WRONG! She ran over to me, so excited.. to show me a book. This picture doesn't even do it justice.. she was COVERED in baby powder.  "Oh, Bryn! What's on your face?" (Then it hits me) "OH BRYN!!! WHAT. IS. ON. YOUR. FACE?!"

 YOU GUYS, I had only fed Vivian 2 oz. TWO OUNCES. and this happened. The footprints.. they kill me!

 "Bryn.. WHO made this mess!?" And, what happened to your hair? I mean seriously, I try to keep this girl dressed to the nines. But.. toddler-hood hit.. and she isn't having it lately.

 THAT HAIR!

Lesson learned. But this is just an example of my new life. I clean the kitchen, thinking she's quietly playing in her room.. and she is.. but with socks... Allll of her socks and shoes thrown all over the room. Well, at least my kitchen is clean.. now.. clean up Bryn's room so she can knock all of her books of her bookshelf in the living room. NEVER. ENDING. CYCLE.

So back to my original question. WHAT am I going to do when I have TWO little toddlers running around!? Lordy.


Last week (or maybe two weeks ago?).. I decided to claim back my family room. Every time I would look at the tv.. there was toys lying EVERYWHERE underneath it. I know I have kids.. and I in no way plan to have a super clean house.. I get it. But.. for my sanity, I needed to have the toys out of my direct vision.. and get the play pen out of my family room. Don't judge me.. but here is the before.. playpen in front of the fireplace (what you can't see is that I used my mantle to keep baby powder, desitin, lotion, etc. Hot mess express).. toys kept under the mounted tv.. oy.

 Ahhhhh!!!!! SO MUCH BETTER!!!! I used a string to close up the fireplace. Bryn has tried to touch it a couple times.. but pretty much has given up. The big oversized chair covers the cords that hung down from the tv.. Perfect! Why didn't we do this sooner?!

 Bryn has always loved this little seat.. and I love watching her lay on there to read..

SO where did my millions of toys go?! This little dining room off of this main living room was just wasted space. We sit there occasionally.. but it is perfect to put the toys.. So.. that's what we did! :-) Hey Katie! ;-) She totally helped me. I complained about my family room.. and she said Hey! Let's do something about it. Done and Done. I just love her!

Eeeek! I love it!

 

There is a 4th chair for the kitchen table.. but.. it's in Bryn's room. Why? Well, because prior to sweeping.. she decided it belonged in there.. that's why! ;-)

I just LOVE that recliner. Now, I think we might move our nice couch from the basement upstairs. It's one of the L-shaped couches. We love it. We thought we would spend more time in the basement.. but it's just easier to be upstairs.

I also organized my pantry a little bit. I used those baskets from the $1 area of Target to help organize it so I could find things easier. Cans of food tended to be EVERYWHERE. Like, anywhere we could find a spot. Now I can find them easier. I want to get some jars for my counters to put flour, sugar, brown sugar.. etc instead of having them in there. It seems like flour just gets EVERYWHERE! But.. haven't gotten that far. SOON! :-)

Well, Bryn's morning quiet time is over. (sometimes it's a nap.. sometimes it's just sitting in her room reading books for 45 minutes.. today, it's the latter). She's yelling for her "maaaaa... maaaaa".. and "Allllll donnneeee" Haha Love that stinker. ;-)