Fast Forward

Here's a bit of an update to get y'all up to speed on what's been going on down here!  I ran in to some trouble with the amount of memory that my photos were taking up on my blog, so I had to come up with another solution...which took some time amongst everything else I (try to) do on a weekly basis!  So, blogging has taken a back seat for the past couple of weeks, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of a daily routine before we all lose our minds!

Kira has become quite the babysitter.  She keeps her eyes on Maks at all times.

And she teaches him the best ways to play with toys!

"Just like this?"

"Oh, now I get it!"

"Check this out, Mama!  I'm just like our girl, Kira!"

We've been spending some time finally putting together a "real" room for Maksim.  The 12" deep queen mattress that he's been sleeping on (which we moved to the floor after he was able to scoot/crawl) is just a little too high for my liking.  Although he's mastered the art of gracefully dismounting (ahem, yes, this took time to accomplish...thus, the padding on all sides of the bed in the photos), getting back into bed once he's out is still an obstacle.  He'll stay in bed throughout most nights, but during daytime naps, I'll often find him in conspicuous locations.  I've failed to capture the majority of these on film, but here are a few that I have managed to catch:

1st nap of the day.  "Geez Mom, I'm getting a little old for this queen size bed!  Time for an upgrade!" 

2nd nap of the day.  Still not digging the whole 'stay on the mattress' idea.

Cute as a bug though, right?

Another day, same story...with a surprise!  Look who sat himself up on his own!  Mind you, this is about 35 minutes after he was put down for a nap.  He wasn't making a peep; I just happened to need to go upstairs and found him like this on my trek down the hall.

"Napping is for babies!"

After researching our options for a natural mattress, we finally made our decision and patiently waited for it to arrive via FedEx.  It still baffles me how you can go through the trouble of purchasing a non-toxic product and then they wrap it in plastic!  We let it off-gas for a night before moving it into Maks' room.  He doesn't seem too concerned with the downgrade from a queen to a twin bed (probably the only time in his life we'll be able to pull that off!).

How I wish we lived in a community that supported non-toxic/natural products!  Online shopping is not something I'm fond of when I don't exactly know what I'm searching for.  When it comes to all natural decorating, designs/styles are limited!  And, even online, the pickings get slim quickly when it comes to eliminating toxins.  I mean, we found boatloads of organic cotton mattress protectors, but they were backed with PVC to prevent ALL leakage.  Don't worry; after digging deeper into the www, we found ourselves an 100% organic merino wool puddle pad.  We just always seem to end up paying a pretty penny once we finally find what we're looking for!  But we're working towards something we believe in for the first years of Maks' life, and hopefully these items can be reused with any more children we (might) have in the future.

We're still waiting for the other miscellaneous items for his room to arrive.  (Holiday backorders are becoming my worst enemy!)  A 100% wool area rug, a real sheepskin throw rug, photos I had developed for a wall display, and a rocking chair - to name a few.  It's a work in progress, which is especially frustrating because we only have 10 months left in this home.  I'm guessing that as soon as we finally finish, it'll be time to pack our bags and move on to our next adventure!

For now, playtime is calling my name!  As soon as the bulk of the items arrive, I'll be sure to show some photos and provide links to any of the useful items we found for making a safe bedroom environment for our boy.  In the meantime, if anybody has any suggestions, I'm all ears!