The Great Change...

At least for us.

Now our living room looks like this! Hardly any toys at all and looking oddly mature and neat after being a play room for so long. I did almost the entire move alone and now I'm pretty tired, but it was worth it and a lot easier with just one child to "help." We have a load to take to a thrift store, and we threw away a bunch of stuff. I'm still doing some organizing--mostly closet and cupboard work. I still need to organize all of Lily's old clothes too for Renna's coming. (Lily got a princess crown for her birthday and thought it looked good on her pony... upside down.)

Lily's room is now where our room was. She takes her naps in there and is easier to keep an eye on when she plays (without being in the living room.) So far, she likes to play with her toys more because there's more room and everything. It's so nice to have all her stuff in its own place!

This is the little room off of her bedroom. When we first moved here it was an office, then it was a nursery, then a toy cupboard, and now it's sort of the craft/office. An office because there are filing cabinets which you can't see, and craft because I have my spinning stuff (wool/wheels/books etc.) and sewing machine (and dress form) in there. The theory is that I can set up my sewing table in there and leave it up if I want to (rather than trashing the dinning room every time I need to alter some clothing.) You also can't see the baby gate that is ready to be put up if need be. Lily can climb over it now, but it will be nice when more kids are hear just to set the limit.

Our room is now in the back room of the house which we never really used before. When we were first here it was going to be Lily's room, but I found that it was just too far away from the main part of the house to work well that way. Then it was Youssef's office when he was working from home. Then it was a craft/junk room that I didn't really use because it was just too far away to make watching a toddler convenient. Now we are actually using it well--even if it is just to sleep in. Lily has a little mattress by my side of the bed as she's still pretty clingy. When I tried to get her to sleep farther away I only succeeded in helping her be more afraid of the dark. And after buying several different night lights to help her not be afraid (which were all too stimulating to sleep), we are just going to let her move at her own pace.

(The picture is of Lily playing with her new twin babies. Lily still brings her toys into the living room, but it's nice to have just a few at a time.)

I feel like I'm talking a lot, but I think after you've been sick you kind of want to get out and do things and talk to people. It's super cold outside, but it's been so sunny lately that I want to go somewhere! :)