While I feel incredibly guilty for the following, I have deemed it absolutely necessary for the safety of my babies! I fought the urgent need to put them in this "playpen" as long as I possibly could. It was only after the third time of doing the heimlich on Aubrey that I felt I could resist no more. I hate that they have to spend their "down" time in this contraption, so I bought as many panels as I felt we could fit to make it big and enticing. I really thought that they wouldn't even notice that they were "pinned in". I researched all kinds of gates and read what other moms have done and I bought the only "good" one that fit into our budget. Despite my best efforts, it still looks like a dog pen and Aubrey hates it! Inevitably within five minutes of being in there Aubrey has this face:
Annie has acclimated and seems to be quite content.
But for Aubrey, there is nothing worse. She finds the side closest to me, and stands up with her little face over the edge and cries. How could she not love it? It takes over our whole living room.
We are going to have to try it for a little while longer to see if we can't develop a love for the gate. I have to keep these babies safe. Overnight they went from sitting up to crawling, eating everything they can find, trying to climb up the stairs, shoving things in the VCR, chewing on cords, etc. I swear with my others, we worked up to those things. Not these two, they are 100% into everything and I can't keep up. And so it is. We'll see how it goes!
And for the next desperate maneuver. Lainey has most definitely outgrown her toddler bed. She falls out everynight and climbs in bed with Hallie or Maggie. With a limited budget and one bedroom to work with, we got creative. We put their beds together and with a little ingenuity, we created the most giant king bed you could imagine. Aaron doubted me the whole way, but alas, it is perfect and the girls love it! But like Aaron says, our living space is ever evolving to meet the needs of our growing and changing family, so we'll see what is in store for next week!