Playing Dress Up

 

Zara Coat (old), Loft Dress (Alicia's) & Zara Pumps

I like to call this look 'I stole a dress out of my cousin's closet because I hate everything I own and love everything she owns but I don't want to buy anything new'. The name is still a work in progress but I stand by it. I fell in love with this dress when Alicia wore it this past September so when I saw it hanging in her closet I grabbed and held on for dear life. Luckily she understands my crazy and let me borrow it for a dinner date. I recently did a closet clean out and while I love the more streamlined wardrobe I have right now, I have a few holes in wardrobe that I need to fill. I'm not in any rush to fill them and in the meantime I appreciate that I have such a stylish cousin who is willing to let me play dress up in her wardrobe.

How I'm Preventing Baby Stuff From Taking Over Our Home

Right now the two topics I chat the most about with my mom friends are sleep (which I refuse to talk about just yet haha) and our homes. Why our homes you ask? Because it's shocking how quickly a home can fill with stuff and you can feel like you're being held hostage by your belongings. Heck, that happens to my non-mom friends as well. We live in a townhouse at the moment so while we feel very fortunate for our home, between our furniture and all of Thomas' things, it didn't take long after moving in a year ago to feel our living area getting crowded. We made a few decisions that we've been really happy with on our main floor so I wanted to share them with you in case you're feeling like your child's stuff is starting to overtake your home!

A few disclaimers, because it wouldn't be the internet if I didn't feel the need to have disclaimers.

I know I only have one child. I get told "just wait until you have more kids" anytime I feel remotely like I have something under control haha. So yes, I know that having more than one child is difficult and it means more stuff but I will cross that clutter filled bridge if I get to it!

We feel very fortunate to have our home. The real estate market in Vancouver and it's surrounding areas is crazy at the moment so we don't take for granted that we have a nice home to live in. It was a battle to get our home and we know that a townhouse is more space than a lot of people have at the moment.

Now back to the post!

When we moved into our home Thomas was 3 months old so we knew to keep our furniture inexpensive and baby friendly. We purchased some furniture for our new home but we knew that we wanted to keep it to a minimum. We wanted to try to keep as much free space open as possible because in our old home we felt like we had furniture or "stuff" in every nook and cranny. It felt crowded and visually a little stressful. We technically have space for another chair and a little storage cabinet in our current living area but we said nah, we wanted as much empty space as possible to give a more open feel.  Shortly after we moved in we set up Thomas' jolly jumper and that's when we knew we needed a little space for Thomas' things. We purchased a playmat and placed it next to our little living area. The mat we chose is adjustable in size so when we first put it together we made it a little bigger since Thomas wasn't mobile yet and he spent a lot of his time playing on the mat. Now that he's running all over the place we have made the mat smaller and while he doesn't spend all of his time playing on it, at the end of the day it's the place his toys go when we clean up. The mat is where his bigger toys live and where the soft toy box with all of his little toys is kept.

At daycare they practice putting all their toys away and while he definitely is not cleaning up just yet we like the idea that his bigger toys stay on the mat and when he's done with his smaller toys they go in the toy box. He can have fun and pull out as many toys as he wants because regardless of how messy things get while he's playing it doesn't take long to put all of his toys away and for things to feel organized again. Ultimately I'm just a huge believer that everything in a home (not just baby toys) needs to have a place to go because that allows for quick clean ups... and I'm all about getting house work done quickly.

 

We don't keep all of Thomas' toys in the toy box though! We store some in a bin in his room and we swap them out. He has his favourite go-to toys but since pulling all of the toys out of the toy box is the best game ever, he will often pull out extra toys and leave them around. So we just keep the toys he's loving at the moment in the box and the rest are in his room. For example, he has a basketball/soccer net toy that we rotate between his room and our living area and every time we bring it down it feels new again. He's so happy with the toys we keep downstairs and let's be honest, he has way too much stuff anyways so he's not exactly missing out haha. We have also let family know that if they are ever going to purchase a gift for Thomas, they need to respect the size of our home and the size of the area we are keeping his toys in.

I'm starting to feel like this post is going to make me look like a super uptight mom but I can assure you, I am hilarious and a great time and YOU ALL WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME. JK, but in all seriousness having some sort of resemblance of organization in our living area makes it a lot easier for me to have fun with Thomas without worrying about the clean up after. Besides, Thomas has no idea that we have taken these few steps to make sure our home feels like adults actually live here as well and that we aren't buried in kids toys haha. We have so much fun playing and laughing and it's just a bonus for mom and dad that we can clean up really quickly and at the end of the day our home feels like a home for all three of us.
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I'm sure this is nothing brand new but if you're living in a home with littles and you don't have an extra room to make a play room, or your kids are still smaller and need to be in the room you're in most of the time, maybe this will help? Maybe not? Who knows really but I'm going to post this anyways because I've already typed all of this up and I need to feel a sense of purpose in my life.

If you have any tips for living in a "smaller" (smaller is relative, let's be honest) space with kids please let me know. Thomas is only going to get bigger which means his stuff will only get bigger.

5 Fashion Trends That Just Aren't For Me

I definitely wouldn't consider myself a trendy person but sometimes you'll find me dabbling in a trend once it's been around for a little while. Is it even considered a trend if it's been around for a while? There are just some trends that I have tried but can't make work for me and then there are those trends that just really aren't for me. However, It doesn't mean I'll never embrace them. It took me forever to accept that I could pull off pointed toe pumps or skinny jeans and it took me quite a while to build up the confidence to wear a red lip. I also took an embarrassingly long time to accept the idea of a digital camera (I liked developing film, okay? *shrug*) and I refused to get rid of my VCR and fully embrace the DVD for way too long.

So, now that we've come to terms with the fact that I spent most of my 20's refusing to update my technology, let's get back to the topic at hand. Trends. I may have finally accepted the iPhone, digital cameras and Netflix but I'm struggling with accepting certain fashion trends. Let's talk about them, shall we?

I'd like to start off by saying I am not putting down anyone who loves these trends. Deep down I wish I was cool enough to be able to pull them off. If you are someone who loves them, you are way cooler than I am and I probably stalk your instagram in envy.

The 90's: I was in high school from '95 - '00 and seeing the 90's trend come back gives me flashbacks of the bad striped t-shirts and terrible florals we had to choose from in Mariposa. I know a lot of people are really embracing this trend but I just can't. I'm sorry. I would wear a choker if they looked nice on me (I have a short neck... chokers aren't a good look for me) and I don't mind a little brown hued lipstick here and there but other then that I can't bring myself to wear the same trends I wore during my awkward years in high school. Hair straighteners weren't a thing yet. HIGH SCHOOL IN THE 90'S WAS A DIFFICULT TIME FOR FASHION AND HAIR.

Sock Shoes: Shoes with socks built in to them. I just can't wrap my had around them. If you're someone who loves this trend please explain it to me (I'm not being sarcastic here... I want to understand). I saw this pair (link) and this pair (link) and it made me sad. Help me understand.

Highlighter: This isn't a fashion trend but I'm going to mention it anyways. I follow some amazing beauty YouTubers and it's quite obvious that applying a lot of highlighter is now a thing. I have tried applying a tiny bit of highlighter and I've tried applying a lot of highligher (beauty guru style) and I end up looking dirty. I would fully embrace the highlighter trend if I knew how to do it properly but I don't know how so out of embarrassment I'm rejecting it and pretending it's by choice.

Distressed T-Shirts or Sweaters: AKA, tops that come with little holes already in them. I'm going to sound old here but I just don't get it. I wish I was cooler so I could understand this trend but alas, I can't. Instead I'm going to sit on the sidelines with the other old ladies talking about how I don't understand the youth of today.

Last but not least because it's the one I really wish I could pull off...

Hats: I own hats and I put them on regularly hoping that it'll be the day I finally wear one out of the house... and I never do. I'm not sure why but I can't bring myself to accept that I can pull off hats. I don't even know if I can call hats a trend but different hat style trends change from season to season and I can't pull ANY of them off. This is obviously a deep rooted issue I'm trying to work through but as of now I don't wear hats out of the house.

You know the women on What Not to Wear that were rocking their 80's clothes and hair because they couldn't accept change and updated clothing styles? Sometimes I worry that will be me. But I will be stuck in 2010.

So that's my list of trends. Also known as my list of reminders that I'm now old and really uncool.

If you're someone who loves one of these trends... help me. If you're someone who has a trend they can't get on board with I'd love to hear about it!