a room for the boys: creating a shared space.

upstairs renovation: part two// shared boys room.

With the birth of their sister fast approaching, Kevin and I have been working on turning our 2 year old's bedroom into a room to share with his 16 month old (nearly) brother.  

This project has been all fun for me, other than moving everything out of the room for new carpet (see upstairs reno part one here) and anticipating the actual process of getting our now baby to sleep in a big boy bed and have both the boys adjust to sharing their sleeping space with someone else (a process we haven't actually tried to tackle yet, baby is a tricky sleeper). 

We knew that a room for 2 toddlers had to be sturdy, practical and tough so there is nothing fragile within reach of little fingers in this space. We also tried to leave as much open play space as possible and have easy access places for toys, blankets and clothes.

We (like most) are always trying to minimize costs as much as possible so much of what you see in this room is handmade, made-over or the cheapest (that is still very hardy) that money can buy.  It amazes me how much you can do yourself. 

Luckily we both love creating, in our own ways, so this would probably fit the bill even if we had a bigger budget. (links/sources at bottom of the post)

It also helps us to plan way ahead for two main reasons; 

First, we can build or buy over a period of time and budget accordingly.

Second, it gives us time to do lots of searching and research for the very best deals and options as well as allowing time to look for items or paint or whatever to go on sale.

I'm all about rooms growing with kids, so nothing in this room (or the nursery for that matter) is innately babyish. Along this same line we chose to have full twin size beds instead of toddler sized beds that would necessitate the purchase of bigger beds down the road.

I really hope that getting these boys used to sleeping in each other's space goes as smoothly as creating a space for them to share did...suggestions or success stories welcome. :)

dresser: ikea// tarva five drawer

dresser knobs: home depot// liberty model#P65015C-SN-C

dresser stain: home depot
bed frames: kevin

art work/quotes: me, kevin and lee

pom pom garland: me (tutorial here)

duvet covers: h&m (both sold out but this would be awesome for a little guy)

storage unit (between beds): ikea// besta tv unit

baskets in storage unit: home goods

legs: home depot

stuffed animals on beds: amazon

quilts: grandma :)

bike hooks: hobby lobby

I'm a survivor: my new cross country travel musts for young ones.

The end of this summer we made the 24 hour drive TO and FROM Utah to see family when my sister Annie returned from serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
We drove straight through both ways and needless to say I was pretty anxious about how my 28 month old and 14 month old were going to handle SUCH long drives.  

almost there: "peace out car".

I asked around a lot for advice and researched tips online and came up with my own plan of attack.  Some things worked better than I'd hoped, some flopped and some were in between. (pretty typical)

So having made a trek myself I've come up with my own list of FOUR suggestions as well as a list of some of the things that worked best to entertain the boys.

SURVIVING THE DRIVE:

1. Get NEW things for the time spent traveling and make sure you wait until you're on the trip to show them to your kids for the first time. 
(My mom did this with us back when I was little and we trekked from Texas to Utah and we were old enough that she even wrapped ours up as gifts, my boys aren't old enough to care about that part)

If you are traveling for more than one day, save some new things for each day. Or if you're like me and going straight through, try and space new things out so you don't run out in the first few hours.  

I would also suggest getting/having a few different things for the ride back. I ended up making a last minute run to the dollar bins at Target and the Dollar store before we left Utah to come back home just to be safe. 
**MY LIST OF MY FAVORITE TOYS IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.**

2. Go into restaurants to order food and take the whole family.  We always got our food to go so we still ate in the car but the boys got to run around for a bit while we ordered and waited for our food.  Also the perfect diaper change time. We got the boys out every time we stopped for gas too. It worked really well to get the wiggles out. 

3. Get exciting or special treats/snacks for the car.  It was really nice to have some of the things that Lee and Drew LOVE that we don't have very often in the car.  Having plenty of healthy snacks that don't make everyone feel gross is important too.
*have good snacks to keep the drivers alert too.  :)

4. Have a few shows or movies for the kids to watch and new apps for them to play, technology today can be SO nice and such an amazing tool.  We only had 3 shows and 2 movies but it was plenty for Lee.  Be prepared to get REALLY sick of theme songs though. :)  Shows/apps were my last resort and they really saved us a few times with Lee.

(We didn't have anything to hold our iPad in the car like a tv screen but we really liked the one we got through Amazon Prime, it's $25.99 now.) 
*It isn't annoying, sticky or itchy for the person sitting in the seat in front of the screen AND you can access the power button and volume controls without ever taking the iPad out.

These were the shows we had (all but Curious George were free and CG was one of the cheapest kid shows to buy) and we only have digital files for these two movies but it was PLENTY for Lee:

Finley the Fire Engine.

TRAVEL TOYS FOR TODDLERS:  
(I'll list what we used in order from MOST to LEAST successful, though I'd imagine this varies a bit with personality types.)
One of the things I love about all of these toys is that now they are used as church toys for Sundays, so we just keep getting our money's worth out of them. Which is a big deal for me, especially since some of them were not super cheap.

1. Magnet travel tin.  
Lee played with this for hours and hours and hours, he requested it ALL THE TIME. There are tons of different themes but I designed on Disney's CARS since Lee LOVES Mater. (even though he's yet to sit through the movie) It's a simple magnetic metal tin that opens up to reveal a scene and about 30 magnetic cars.
*I got mine through Amazon Prime for $9.

2. Melissa & Doug Water Wow! coloring book. 
This thing is awesome. You fill the "paintbrush" it comes with with water and the water reveals all these different scenes. (I picked a car one...bet you can't tell what my 2 year old is obsessed with right now...) Creativity-wise obviously not as cool but good CLEAN fun for the car, perfect. 
*I got mine through Amazon Prime for $4.99.

3. Melissa & Doug Fishbowl fill and spill.
This was the most expensive toy I got, ironically because it's pretty straight forward, unfortunately it's listed for a bit more than I got it for this summer right now too. But it was also the ONLY toy I got that was for sure age appropriate for my 1 year old. (this age is SO much harder to entertain.) The boys both ended up loving it, and I knew they would throw the pieces but they are plush so no harm no foul.  Each piece makes a different noise, which I thought both my boys had grown out of but...they both loved that about it.
*I got mine through Amazon Prime, now $21.91.

4. DK First Word Cards: touch and feel.
These cards are similar to those touch and feel books with furry animals and shiny objects.  (the jelly is actually sticky, it's my personal favorite...) The boys both enjoyed looking through these cards and talking about the objects but they definitely didn't hold their attention nearly as long as some of the other toys.  
I got mine through Amazon Prime for $5.52.

5. Melissa & Doug Magnet Animal Puzzle.
This is a magnetic puzzle book of all different kinds of animals. I know I put this one in last place but that's mostly because it was more difficult to use in the car so Lee preferred more Car magnet tin time to using this quite as much. Course it's a huge favorite now that we're home for both boys and one of my favorites for church.
I got mine through Amazon Prime for $16.99.

Overall the trip went much better than I'd anticipated and the boys were really champions, even though neither slept well on the way out especially.  That being said, it may take about a year before I'm ready to make that kind of trip again,  I am still sick of the car. :)

New Hairdryer Heaven Over Here: DEAL on this dream machine.

I'd been using my trusty hair dryer for oh, about 6 years (yeah, I like them to last...) when recently, it started shorting and stopping in the middle of blowing my hair.  Eventually it started happening every few minutes.  So before it completely died I knew it was time to look for a replacement.

I knew BaByliss was a good brand because my sister has had one of their dryers for several years now. I wanted a good, reliable but not break-the-bank expensive dryer to replace mine.  Turns out BaByliss has quite a range of quality and cost, I found something somewhere toward the low/middle end (that retailed on the high end) and I LOVE IT.

Meet the BaByliss Pro BABP2800 Porcelain Ceramic 2000-Watt Dryer, it retails at $139.99 (I know, ouch!!) But I scored mine from Amazon (link here) for only $57.09 (with free two-day shipping through Amazon Prime)

Now for those with curly hair like mine a dryer is basically pointless without a good diffuser attachment. I'm really picky about mine, I don't like them to attach in a way that makes them slide or fall off...ever... while I'm blowing my hair.  This diffuser from Babyliss fits my requirements perfectly and costs $10.69, again with free two-day shipping through Amazon Prime.  

I love love love it, even in this Texas heat and humidity, it dries my hair SO FAST and THOROUGHLY. Anything that works well AND speeds up the getting ready process always makes me happy.  

If you're looking for a replacement, I highly recommend this one. I was so happy to find it at this price, here's to at least another 6 years of hair drying goodness. :)