I’ve had thinking about a new furniture arrangement for our living room. Ever since we bought our house, I’ve been struggling to come up with a layout that works. The biggest issue is the piano - I really feel like it needs to remain in the back of the room since it’s so honking big. Also, with a grand piano, it needs to face a certain direction so that the lid opens towards the audience and not towards a wall. The fireplace, which we don’t use, just seems to be an impediment. The IKEA Lack bookcase isn’t really cutting it - it’s difficult to arrange books in it and is probably better used as a display case or an artfully designed bookcase/display case hybrid.

Here’s the current layout (designed in Google Sketchup - all pieces are to scale). The arrow represents the entry way:

In Sketchup, I recently came up with a layout that works much better, I think. I’ve placed IKEA Billy book cases (which we don’t have yet) against the far wall flanking the oddly-sized windows we have back there. I’ve moved the piano to a less than ideal position, but I think in the grand scheme of things, the room is a lot more comfortable this way. Unfortunately, it does block the fireplace a bit and I’m not sure how I’m going to like that. I kind of wish we could get rid of the fireplace altogether.

Here’s the improved layout:

If anyone has any suggestions, I’d welcome the advice!

I’ve discovered this online community dedicated to “babywearing,” the practice of “wearing” your baby in various types of carriers. The term was coined by Dr. Sears, the author of many child rearing books and the man behind the attachment parenting philosophy. The website is The Babywearer and it’s full of carrier and vendor reviews as well as a message board where moms (and dads) discuss babywearing and parenting in general. Julianna is usually happiest when she’s being held, so finding the perfect carrier has been important to me just so I can function throughout the day. There are many different types of carriers - pouches, ring slings, mei tais, wraps … the list goes on. I started first with a Baby Bjorn, which is OK but not all that comfortable. Then I purchased a Babyhawk mei tai, which I’ve been pretty happy with - it’s much more comfortable (and good looking) than the Baby Bjorn. I recently purchased a Hoppediz (a German brand) wrap from Attached To Baby which I LOVE. It’s a bit of a learning curve to wear it correctly, but it’s extremely comfortable. Now I’ve got my eye on the Didymos (another German brand), which is referred to as the “Rolls Royce of Wraps” according to the babywearing community. There are many videos on YouTube from parents demonstrating how to use these things. One of my favorites is this video from a woman in Germany - I can’t understand a word, but it doesn’t matter:

Isn’t this the cutest little bunny stuffed animal? “Stripes the Bunny” is available for $20 at http://www.modernseed.com.

Wow, these past 10 weeks have been extraordinary. A crash course in parenthood - I guess it’s the only way to learn. We’re doing really well … Julianna is over 14 pounds now and healthy as can be. Breastfeeding has finally become comfortable and she’s actually starting to sleep for stretches longer than 3 hours! We’ve even ventured out of the house a handful of times! And yesterday my parents gave us a very nice Valentine’s Day gift - 2.5 hours of babysitting so we could enjoy dinner at a local Thai restaurant. It was the first time Andrew and I had been out without Julianna, and we were OK!

Here’s a little video of Julianna observing her mobile while on the changing table. We have to play with the mobile for a good 5 - 10 minutes before even attempting a diaper change since she seems to be potty trained to poop at just the moment we’re placing a new diaper under her. With a little delay, we might get lucky and whatever needs to come out will happen in those first few minutes.

Julianna loves her IKEA mobile from jennyology on Vimeo.