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This post is a smorgasbord of things we’re currently loving that I’d like to share with you. There are some finds here that I am tickled pink to have discovered. I started writing this with just a few items, but as I was discovering things this was getting longer and longer and at this point, I am SOOOOO happy with some of the items here. Some of these are so cool you might not want to miss out on reading this, ESPECIALLY if you have a baby/child. I buy quite a few things on daily basis that I think might be cool ( it’s a problem really) that don’t always work out, but then once in a while we find a real hit.
In addition to this post, I am currently working on a page where I can put all the products and finds that I have written about over the years, things I use and believe in and think are great. That way it will be very easy for new and old readers to find something they are looking for. So look for that new page announcement some time in the next week or so.
So here are a few of our OBSESSIONS:
B Toys
Oh man, get me away from Amazon and hide my debit cards. Ever since I’ve discovered B. Toys, I have been a sucker for them. I will actually be writing a feature about B. Toys next week with a giveaway, so I don’t want to say too much right now, except that I daily drool over the next B. toys I will be buying for Lexi . I want almost everything off their collection, dreaming about when Lexi will be old enough to get her some of their cool play things. I have full intention on purchasing almost every single toy they offer. We already have the Links, the Fish & Splish and Bazillion Buckets and Lexi loves all of them (I will be writing a review on the first two and mentioning the rest, so hang tight)
My favorites (aside from what Lexi already has): Zany Zoo, Youniversity, Parum Pum Pum Drum, Jungle Jingles, Rain Rush, A-Maze Loopty Loo, Meowsic, Piccolo Carousel Bells. [10 minutes later] And I just ordered 5 toys out of this list. Just couldn’t resist while writing this, damn you blog! {update: since I wrote this I received my order of these toys and Rain Rush, Loopty Loo and Bells are for a slightly older baby (12 months and up, though I had plenty of fun playing with them myself), but she’s obsessed with the Meowsic and the drumsticks of Parum Pum Pum and the sounds when I play the drums.}
Nature Box
Ok, so you know how everyone is obsessed with different monthly subscription boxes? I am usually a sucker for those, however I just don’t dig getting samples of stuff. And at this point I am so picky about skin products I use and baby products I use that it doesn’t make sense for me. However, those boxes are addictive and I have come across one that might be even more addictive, because it’s SNACKS. Healthy snacks!
NatureBox sent me one box to try out and the snacks were gone in….well, less than a day. Honestly, if I were away from home more often, I would be all over this. Each box has 4-6 different snack bags, all snacks are SUPER HEALTHY (they promise not to have HF corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, etc). Here’s what September box looked like. I am not currently subscribed to them, because all I’d be doing is snacking all day, but I wanted to share with you, guys, since it’s brilliant for people on-the-go and older kids (those who can have nuts).
Peeled Snacks
Another healthy snack brand, this one works for smaller babies, like Lexi. This is simply dried fruit, but DRIED WITHOUT any preservatives and additives. You’d be surprised how much junk there is in conventionally dried fruit (like did you know that naturally dried apricots ARE NOT supposed to be orange. Oops!) When you look at the ingredient list, you’ll find out that there is no list. There is ONE ingredient- ORGANIC FRUIT! Only after tasting these will you realize that you’ve never REALLY had dried fruit before. My God! My favorites are bananas, apricots and pineapple. It’s definitely worth giving a try. I found that their dried apples are cut perfectly for Alexis. She will sit there and chew and suck on that dried apple slice for hours. It’s perfect when I need to make her food and have to have her busy with something for a longer period of time (and toys won’t do it, because she now expects food when in her high chair). I sit her up in a high chair and give her a dried apple slice. She absolutely loves it. I haven’t been giving her other fruits, since they are cut into smaller pieces and pose a chocking hazard. But apples are perfect. I just wish my favorite apricot bag didn’t have, like, 5 of them in there. I get it that they are trying to keep the portions and calories down to a snack size, but come on, they are too good to have only 5!!!! I’ve been ordering them off of Amazon in a 12 pack, just FYI.
Baby Tank Tops
Ever since my modeling days, I’ve had this slight obsession with white tank tops. Jeans and a white tank top under a few layers were my staple when running to castings. And I have just as soft of a spot for baby tank tops, in general. We’ve got this adorable white Polarn O Pyretbodysuit for Lexi and I just swoon when she wears it. I’m glad it’s sized 1.5 years, because I hope to get a lot of wear out of it. The other day I put some sneakers on her to match the onesie and oh my God, that was adorable. I’ll post it in an outfit post one of these days. Looking at these pictures, I do need to girly it up, though. Some bow or flower in her hair would look cute. Oh and I can’t wait till she walks so I can put jeans on her. Ah!
{Picture from almost 2 months ago. It’s amazing how she has changed!}
Lexi’s playroom
Currently, I am feverishly planning Lexi’s playroom. At least in my head, because that’s all I have time for right now. So here’s what I’ve got so far.
- RUGS. I already bought two 100% wool rugs for the room since it has hard cold tile. I got them on a big MyHabit sale ($145 each, down from $400). My cats are obsessed with it and Lexi does this snaky little thing of eating loose carpet fibers that the cats bring up with their nails. She’s smart though, she knows she is not supposed to do it, so she sees a fuzzy on the carpet, quickly reaches out, grabs it and puts it in her mouth. Then she does this little butt dance and a sly smile while looking at me, knowing that she got away with it. LOL. Because once it’s in her mouth, good luck fishing it out. Not much I can do about that except for vacuum the carpet maniacally. Unfortunately, Lexi has developed this strange fear of vacuums, so I’ve had to have Andrew vacuum while I take her to another room or do it during nap time. That got old REALLY fast and I bought a small cordless vacuum to see if that handy little thing wouldn’t work more efficiently and be more convenient than our behemoth Dyson. I’ll report on its status once it’s done charging for the first 16 hours.
- ART. I haven’t decided on what I am doing for wall art yet. Most likely I will do a ton of photos of Lexi playing and swap them out each year. I also got this HUGE canvas of my favorite photo of Lexi. I guess I never realized that REAL canvas are supposed to be printed on true CANVAS, not some cheaper version of the material (duh!). This thing is serious! It looks like the quality of a piece of expensive art. You get what you pay for, I guess. I ordered it from Photo Canvas, if anyone is interested. Got it within a few days via International shipping (these guys are in the UK).
- GATES! I am currently knee deep in obsession with gates. I know, strange thing to obsess over, but it’s just I am tickled pink that I found these awesome gates that fit our MASSIVE openings (100” for the playroom) and don’t look like crap. I love these gates! They also form into a play yard, or if you buy two of them, a huge 4×6 play area, which we will set up in the family room and kitchen for when we have to do something there. Again, I love these things. I will be writing a childproofing post some time in the future with all the items we’ve been using to childproof our humongous house and how we are going about it and I will be sure to let you know how these gates have been working out. In the meantime, I think we’ll be ordering a third set.
- TUMBLING/PLAY FURNITURE: Another obsession of mine! I ordered $800 worth of tumbling furniture and while I don’t have anything to report on it until it gets here, one thing I can say is it’s THE BEST STINKING THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO PLAY FURNITURE (exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark)… and I haven’t even used them yet . 🙂 Again, I’ll write more in detail once I get the pieces and put the to some good use, but it’s THE ONLY tumbling furniture I found that isn’t made out of PVC or some other crap we don’t want our kids inhaling, let alone touching. It’s non-toxic, easy to clean, looks fun and helps develop motor skills. It’s reasonably priced too, not cheap, but reasonable enough for something this cool.
- STORAGE/FURNITURE I have not bought this yet, but I am currently thinking about something along these lines: http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Baxter_Unit/210/ in white. Basically, modular furniture so that I could put it together the way I want to. Keep it low to the ground, with chalkboards and cubby holes and baskets. It will be around 800 dollars for the set that I am thinking to buy, but I will wait till Black Friday to see if I can get 20% discount.
Now speaking of home design…
FRETTE
I have been drooling over the bedding at www.frette.com. I have an unusual fascination with luxurious looking beds and bedding and have been on the hunt for that perfect bedset for our guest room for literally 2 years. We have a really gorgeous (read: massive) bed in our master with a fitting bedset, but for the life of me I have not been able to find the perfect duvet for the guest bedroom. Sorry, guests!
So I have finally found a bedspread that I love. It’s sunny and yellow and expensive as hell (but currently on sale). I also love Majesty (I like it even better than yellow), and Cult and Millionaire. I have not splurged on it yet, but my cursor has hung over the check out button for a few minutes too long a couple of times.
Clek’s Foonf
I am a little bit ( No, a lot of bit) excited about Clek’s Foonf. Like, giddy that I get to try it out for 2 weeks. I am in love with our current car seat (Pria 70), but I am just very curious about Foonf. I don’t know if it’s going to beat Pria 70, but it might very well just blow my mind. I won’t bore you with details, but it’s a super cool convertible car seat. As in next generation of coolness. Look forward to the review.
Nununu
I tend to obsess over a brand or food or book or anything for that matter for a while and then cool down. Well, currently I am obsessing with NUNUNU. It’s a baby/child clothing brand that is just TOO COOL. You might recognize some of the pieces from my favorite photos of Lexi here. I first discovered them when they went on sale on MyHabit and ordered a few pieces, because I thought they looked cool. Well, they look even better in person, smell heavenly and are just THE SHIT. 🙂 So this week they were on sale on MyHabit AGAIN (and will be till 10/17), so I couldn’t resist and I bought a pair of shorts and a skirt 🙂 I love that they are such a departure from the typical store bought baby clothes and are completely gender neutral ( except for the pink stuff).
Little Board Books
This is Lexi’s obsession. As you all know, she’s a total bookworm, which makes me very happy. She would much rather play with books, read books, look at pictures in a book, be recited stories than do ANYTHING else. Usually, she prefers full length books, not the ones meant for babies, because she really likes to sit, listen and study pictures. But lately she’s been pretty much crazy over certain longer small sized board books. I carry them with me EVERYWHERE, because it’s THE thing that makes her happy regardless of how upset she is. It’d be too hard for me to list all the board books she loves, so here’s a link to the Amazon list of all of them. The ones that are her favorites are marked so. She loves the pictures and the stories, because they tend to be longer and more interesting and well, it’s Dr Seuss (mostly), who doesn’t like that?
Making my own cleaning supplies
I have a whole list of things I want to make, but it’s been going slow because it’s hard to get any time to do it when I am not with Lexi, since you have to handle essential oils and borax and other non-kid-friendly stuff. But the few things I made work fabulously: wood polishing spray ( Endust and the like, is sooooo toxic it’s crazy), multi-surface spray (works awesome on glass too), fabric softener and air freshener ( again, the commercial versions are incredibly unhealthy). On the list to make: gel air fresheners, laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, dishwashing detergent, hand soap, shampoo and a few more. And it saves money, we spend crazy amount of money on “green” cleaning products that aren’t really that green. This way it costs so much less to make them that I can pay for more housekeeping hours to help clean the house or continue feeding my unhealthy baby product buying habit. I will be posting a list of recipes I used, but in the meantime if you’re interested, most of them are on my Pinterest board: NATURAL HOME CARE
Herbal Animals
I saw these guys on Fab.com and thought it was such a good idea. These are organic toys stuffed with herbs for aromatherapy. They make perfect companions for children’s bedtime, as well as pregnant women and just plain old adults. Each collection of herbs has an effect on your body: calming/relaxing/exciting/etc. I am obsessed with the concept and can’t wait till Lexi is old enough to use it (you shouldn’t get it until your kid is 3 y.o.)
Lexi is in love with the banana brush
We have been {almost} diligently trying to brush the three teeth Lexster has with gauze, like instructed by numerous baby books, but she has been hating the process. Well, it turns out it’s the taste of gauze that is so revolting to her, not the actual brushing process. So I decided to find a baby toothbrush. After looking at all the option, I ordered 3 different ones and now she’s OBSESSED with this banana brush. As in, uses it as a toy (thankfully, it’s safe), which means her teeth and gums get constantly brushed and massaged. It’s made of medical grade silicone, so it’s pvc/bpa/lead free. Lexi didn’t part with it for the first 2 weeks. Now she’s calmed down, but happily chews on it/brushes her teeth whenever given. I loved her reaction so much that I also ordered a toddler brush from the same company, for when we want to “officially” brush her teeth with a non-flouridated toothpaste.
Rollerblading
As I mentioned in the postpartum body post, I am now rollerblading daily to help tone up and get in shape. I was using my ancient rollerblades from 7 years ago and it has honestly started getting scary to rollerblade with them, since the velcro has almost worn off. After searching for good blades online, I decided to splurge on these rollerblades (???)… I am not sure how much rollerblades are supposed to cost, but these were on the expensive side compared to some others. I am glad I didn’t go with the cheaper ones though, because THEY ROCK. They look good, feel good, are super secure, fast and just really good quality. I’ve been having so much fun rollerblading in them. So if anyone is looking to find an exercise that is not boring and doesn’t take much effort but burns a ton of calories, rollerblading is IT. I’ve considered trying to rollerblade with a stroller, but I need to look more into the safety aspect of it. For now, Andrew runs alongside me with Lexi in our Baby Jogger while I speed past them and then back to meet them again. I know that it is possible to rollerblade with a jogging stroller, especially if you’re a confident experienced rollerblader. Our jogger has a handbrake, which would pretty much make all the dangers of rollerblading with a stroller void. If anyone has any info on the precautions one has to take when rollerblading with a jogging stroller, please share.
Non-Toxic Brush and Comb
This is a bit silly, BUT…tell me if you have had this problem? You give your baby a bath, you go to brush her/his hair and all she wants to do is eat the brush or comb that you’re using. You can’t put it down, because inevitably she will go for it and put it in her mouth and you have concerns as to what contents that plastic cheap looking brush is made out of, but somehow you are almost positive it is NOT something you want your baby to suck on. However, you’re struggling to put a diaper on a squirmy baby and THE ONLY thing that will keep her still(and it’s NOT A TOY) is that possibly toxic brush. UGH! That happened every stinking night, until I had the “BRILLIANT” idea to look for a safe brush and comb set, so that I could give it to her to play with, while I try to put pjs on a tired fussy baby. Duh! Why it took me 6 months to do that I will never know…
So after a bit of searching I found this: BRUSH AND COMB SET (bpa free, pthalate-free, pvc- free) in a shape of a cute bunny. I HAD to share it with the new (and old) mommies because that tiny purchase made our evenings 100% easier.
Hi!
I am loving rollerblading too and I would love to do it when I will have a baby one day. It seems like a joy for both mother and baby. What I wanted to say is that there are courses about how to rollerblade with a stroller. Just try to find a place where they teach rollerblading and maybe they offer courses like that as well?
Lots of greetings from Germany! 🙂
Anne
Yey, I’m so glad you like B. Toys! We have some of the ones that you mentioned put away for Amelia to start playing with in the next few months. I sooo happy to know that someone is as over the moon about them as I am!
Thanks for sharing that brush and comb set, I’ve been looking for something like this for what now seems like forever!
There’s still something very wrong with your site – this post won’t open for me in firefox, chrome, or safari. I finally got it open by enabling Hotspot Shield, and opening in IE (which I hate using!). Otherwise your links don’t work, and the latest post I can see is the Instagram one, in the old format.
Also, the comment boxes above don’t tell me what to enter, so I’m just taking a wild guess!
Hope you don’t tear your hair out trying to fix it all!
As far as board books go, Sandra Boynton is a MUST. I’ve bought 5 of her books so far and they are awesome! Moo Baa LaLaLa is by far my son’s favorite. I know it by heart already and can recite it for him whenever he’s fussy and he cheers right up 🙂 Love some of your other suggestions and have already put a few on my Amazon wishlist. Thanks!
Ohmygah, I love this! You should get kickbacks from these companies, because legit, every time I see an Elena-approved product, I immediately either order it, or put it on our Amazon wish list. Because I know you’ve done all the research and the products meet your standards! There’s no one I trust more than you!
Hahaha! Thank you Heather! I think this is one of those cases where if you put out good product, you’ll get free publicity because it gets people excited!
I love your reviews, because unlike most other bloggers, you actually spend your hard-earned money on things instead of getting things given to you for free by the companies, so I believe your reviews are, well, real. I know that you sometimes get things free, but it’s not the majority like on most blogs. I put several of these things on my Amazon Christmas list!
I think she actually does get most things for free. Maybe not to keep, and definitely things she WOULD have purchased had the companies not given her samples to review. But, yes, most are free (from what I’ve read-she’ll put a disclaimer at the bottom of the review stating whether it was given her or not)
Corinne, this isn’t a review so a majority of things here in this post were bought not given.
I didn’t say you got these items for free. I said you do get a lot c/o from the companies, and in those instances you put a disclaimer about it.
And my reply was specific to her saying she loves your REVIEWS. And most of THOSE items ARE free to you.
I can’t see what comment people reply to on my iphone 🙂 I had an idea, but wanted to make sure!
Man, I know this is all done in the spirit of wanting to help, but this list is just so incredibly consumption oriented! I know you’re concerned about being green, but do you realize that the greenest thing of all to do would be to consume less, and use some of the literal tons of secondhand baby items that are already overflowing this planet of ours? There is SO much nice stuff already out there – why not look into that first, and buy something brand-new as a last option or treat? Saves money, saves the planet, saves your brain from coming too materialistic. I very very much don’t want to seem critical or mean, just thought a new perspective might interest you. Thank you for sharing your life, and again, don’t mean to be critical – there’s a lot on this list that looks awesome (banana toothbrush?!)!
In her defense, I’m not sure Elena has ever shown concern for being ‘green’ for environmental purposes. But yes, I am also turned off a bit by this post. More stuff isn’t ‘best for baby’. Baby’s don’t need any of these things. I could never justify spending all of this money on SO many unnecessary items when the money could be going to things that will actually be beneficial to my child… Education, family trips, etc. but hay, that’s just me.
Hey, I’m not taking money away from education and travel. It’s not an either/or situation. It can all be done. And none of these are a must, they are just really cool items that we love.
That’s because it is meant to be consumer oriented. It’s about THINGS we love…
You know I thought about what you said and in my head I was like “ok so what if I DID want to buy second hand?” The problem is this: when I think of most the items I mentioned here, second hand isn’t an option. Gates-those are very specific ones: 100″ and hardware mount. There are only 2 gates I found that are over 100″ and chances that I can get these second hand are slim to none.
Snacks- no comment lol.
Nununu rompers- no way they can be found in a local store or on Craigslist
rugs- used rugs? Yuck!
Canvas? Nope
Toothbrush- gross!
Books and btoys- that’s possible but there’s an issue of her putting it all in her mouth which would be very unsanitary if it is secondhand. Plus the amount of time it would take me to find those particular books and toys locally or on Craigslist. I just don’t have that time to waste, especially for such low priced items.
Tumble furniture- I guarantee you can’t find it secondhand. Any other brand I’ve found is made of PVC.
I don’t remember what else I mentioned in the post (answering from phone) but while the concept of buying second hand for the sake of remedying consumerism is great, it only works when one is willing to make concessions on the items they buy.
The issue is these are mostly products not traditionally bought by the majority of parents who shop at local stores., which means they cannot be found second hand.
Also if we had trouble affording some of this stuff or didn’t think it was worth it, I’d be the first one looking on Craigslist (which I do for things that I don’t want to waste money on and will do just fine secondhand, like certain furniture pieces)
I have to laugh because everything except the baby toothbrush we do buy/get used! We are pretty passionate about environmentalism and being frugal (and these are values that I feel pretty strongly about modeling to our daughter) so:
-We have a small house (1300 sq ft, perfect size for 3 people, not to mention easy to clean lol!) so normal sized gates (and strategically placed furniture) work fine to baby proof. We got 2 gates from my sister-in-law, and a third from a neighbor down the street.
-All of our baby clothes come from used from relatives and friends – if I want to splurge, there’s a great high-end baby consignment shop nearby that has half off sales twice a year, so I can wait and get name brand organic cotton dresses and outfits for $6-7 each.
-All our rugs are from yard sales.
-I’m an artist so I often buy canvases at the Goodwill and paint over them.
-We have a few new toys (we usually get one nice one every month or two), but most of our toys and books are gifts, hand-me-downs, or from yard sales. You can get totally good quality toys from yard sales if you wait and are patient. I clean all the used toys with a bleach solution. We also get lots of library books for variety. There is a lot of research that shows keeping a kid too “clean” (different from exposure to BPA, etc. of course) will result in more illness later in life (their immune systems are never strengthened) so I have no qualms with used toys or books. And to be honest, my girl’s favorite “toys” are mixing bowls, cardboard boxes, paper, and wooden spoons!
-We use couch cushions and pillows for “tumbling” and we spend lots of time at the local Children’s museum and at free local music and dance classes where they have all that equipment (plus lots of other fun babies to play with!).
For me, it’s less about saving money (which is nice of course, I love being able to max out our retirement and college savings funds), and more about being environmentally conscious. I’d recommend reading “Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things” and “Living More With Less.”
There’s no need to laugh, Jessica! Not everyone has family around with kids to give them second hand, used things, or standard hallways where standard gates fit. Not everyone has families that live near to buy toys and books or Children’s museum where they can go tumble. I am not talking about myself per se, but you gotta remember that everyone is in a different situation or wants to do the same things for that matter. Personally, as you know I am not frugal, never have been even though I grew up in less than well-off family. And I like my comforts and conveniences, I make it no secret.
P.S. As fr as getting books and toys at yard sales and consignment shops ( as well as other stuff), I just don’t have enough time to sit and patiently wait for that one toy I need to pop up and then have to go to yard sales just in case there’s something? Whew! I’d never get anything done. I don’t go to stores and order everything online for that reason and to stake out yard sales is just not feasible with the amount of time I have.
But in some other life, I would like to live in a cabin in the woods and spend my time reading books, having less and being an environmentalist…who knows.. maybe when i get old and retire… 🙂 lol
If you really like organic preservative free dried fruit, try looking at your local health food store. The one near mine has lots of different kinds in the bulk bins and when it’s fresh, it’s so dangerous and delicious! I especially love the mango and pineapple. I hope you’re able to find some!
I’ve been buying preserved stuff at whole foods but its not the same and I’m pretty sure they add sugar to most of them.
I heard it is super easy to make your own, we plan on doing it in a few months. All you need is the dehydrator and your fruit! I think you may even be able to do it in your oven. P.S finally getting a peek of the new site, hopefully I can continue to see it, it’s wonderful
Oh wow is it your first time seeing it? Glad you’re here. Right now I am “running” tow websites, because some people see the old ones, others see the new one.
I’ll look into the dried fruit DIY
Some of the comments posted on the old website might not be displayed here. I apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during the transition.
A couple of the things on your list have me interested. But, especially the B Toys.
I’d also like to say that you’ve made me want a space for a playroom so badly. I’m going to have to figure something out…
Oh you have no idea how awesome it is. She loves it too. If we didn’t have that room I’d def turn a dining room or a family room into a play room.
I love this article & I do agree w/comments, we need to become greener & less wasteful..but I have a major concern about what we put on our babies/children’s bodies. The chemcials are outrageous! We need to use only organic on our families’ bodies, for the skin is trans-dermal & things penetrate right to the blood stream quickly!
That modular furniture looks so awesome, and is exactly what we need in our new home. But I looked into that company (Home Decorators), and they get some pretty awful reviews, which you can find by doing a Google search of the company. It sounds like you might be considering some other brands, too, but I just wanted to warn you about this one.
I was super bummed to find the terrible reviews because the photo of that Baxter set you posted looks so good. That said, I’d love to hear if you find a comparable alternative!
I have ordered a lot from them over the years and am generally happy. What do the reviews say?
Oh really? Oh in that case, I’m relieved. The reviews complain mostly about their customer service, including examples of back ordered items that never arrive, or general issues with quality.
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Home_Decorators_Collection
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Online_Stores_Services-Home_Decorators_Collection?sb=1
But I’m glad to hear your experience with them has been positive. Maybe it’s hit or miss?
I’ve ordered quite a lot and never had a problem. Maybe it’s competitors’ reviews?
Could be!
We’re starting to get some Christmas gifts for our daughter, and we plan on getting the Meowsic Keyboard! We have a small simple keyboard now and she loves it, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how she enjoys the Meowsic one. You mentioned you were going to do a big review on BToys. Do you know when you’re planning on doing that? Target sells a lot of B Toys in their store so it’ll be super easy to just go there to buy.
That keyboard is probably the best toy at this moment! I’d definitely recommend it.
I bought it hoping it would be fun but it’s more impressive that I thought.
Btoys review is next week
Hey Elena,
I love these posts. I tend to buy some of the things you recommend too! I trust that you have done your research and buy products that are safe and non-toxic. I am going to buy the gates you mentioned, but I have a question. My daughter’s play room is 210 inches long! The gates are 144 inches. Do you know if it is possible to buy two gates and attach them to make it longer? Does that make sense?
P.S. I can’t believe some of the comments from people! You are just discussing items that you like and work for you. Just because they may not be what someone else wants, doesn’t mean they should criticize you — on your blog. If they are that passionate about it, they should write their own blog!!!
Thank you Tammy!
Yes the gates absolutely can be assembled as one big gate. You can also get 2 Gates and make a larger play yard out of them.
Good to know. I will buy two and attach them together to allow the gates to connect wall-to wall (210 inches). Thanks Elena!
One more question. 🙂 Do the gates somehow attach to the floor so that they are sturdy enough that my daughter will not push them over if she leans on them? Thanks!
They don’t really attach ( as far as I know, but they are pretty sturdy). They WILL slide on the tile, but not on carpet. We’ve had no issues with her knocking them over or anything.
Did you notice that the furniture you selected is not made from real wood but from Mdf ?
> Ie crap that will constantly leaks chemicals to your home.
Ugh! Uou just can’t get away from it! Thanks for pointing it out! I will def look into it.
Dont know how to edit my post but here is what wikipedia says about it :
“Formaldehyde resins are commonly used to bind MDF together, and testing has consistently revealed that MDF products emit urea-formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds that pose health risks at sufficient concentrations, for at least several months after manufacture.[6][7][8] Urea-formaldehyde is always being slowly released from the surface of MDF. When painting, it is a good idea to coat all sides of the finished piece in order to seal in the urea-formaldehyde. Wax and oil finishes may be used as finishes but they are less effective at sealing in the urea-formaldehyde.[4]
Whether these constant emissions of formaldehyde reach harmful levels in real-world environments is not yet fully determined. The primary concern is for the industries using formaldehyde. As far back as 1987 the U.S. EPA classified it as a “probable human carcinogen” and after more studies the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in 1995, also classified it as a “probable human carcinogen”. Further information and evaluation of all known data led the IARC to reclassify formaldehyde as a “known human carcinogen”[9] associated with nasal sinus cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer, and possibly with leukaemia in June 2004.
Hi Elena,
Just ordered a bunch of B Toys! I am trying to get rid of all the crappy FP and Disney toys I have. 🙁 Anyhow, where did you get the tunnel that is in Lexie’s playroom?
Oh Btoys are amazing! You’re soooo going to love them! The tunnel is pacific tents, I bought it on amazon