The encroaching mess...

And the never ending battle with it. My daughter is slowly taking over the house inch by inch. She started off just taking over our bedroom. We only have a two bedroom right now and in the beginning we felt more comfortable having her in our room rather than in the second bedroom. So, our bedroom has a crib, a changing table, her dresser (ours is now in our closet), and various blankets lying about. Now that she's crawling around we can add toys on the floor in our living room. They start out each day up on shelves and in fabric bins; and we end the day with them spread from one end to the other. She's learning to walk too. I can only imagine that the mess is going to get worse before it gets better. She can't quite walk yet; she's pulling herself up on EVERYTHING and everyone she can get her hands on and she's starting to transfer from one object to another. Nothing is safe or sacred. Eek!

I finally broke down today and get another diaper bag; third one's a charm! I had one that was really comfortable to wear but didn't really have the right amount of space. So, I got a second one that had a ton of space. Unfortunately, it isn't the most comfortable or easy to carry around. Since we are still traveling all over the place I really wanted one that would be easy to get around with. So, I got a back-pack one. I used it today on a walk and I've already decided that I should have gotten a backpack one the first time and forgotten about all the 'bags'. My advice to new parents: get a backpack diaper bag. Especially if you are planning on traveling with your little one. It's also Dad friendly. I should have listened to my friends in Alaska when I was thinking of getting the second one. Oh well, live and learn! I also picked up a "PeaPod" packable baby bed. It folds up into a small enough package to pack in a suit case, has an air mattress and sleeping pad (that also pack into the same container), and has a side open zipper. I really like the side zipper since my daughter is the queen of waking up the second she senses a downward motion. It is also supposed to be good for taking to the beach or spending some time outdoors as it has a UV shield. Whoohoo! I'm taking it for a test run in the near future and I will get back to how well it works later. And...onto cleaning up the mess for the evening...