Officially "Un-cool"

After weeks of avoiding it, Mike and I finally succumbed to getting a play yard fence for the living room.  Since Zoe has been moving sooo much now, it's hard to keep her in the family room area.  She's always trying to crawl towards the stairs or into the kitchen.  We needed something to prevent her from going to places that were unsafe while at the same time give her enough room to roam and play.  Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of designer-chic options for these types of things.  The ugly light grey fence looking thing is pretty much the best thing you can get to serve that particular purpose.

After Mike put it together, he sighed and said, "We are now officially un-cool".  Lol!  Even though it looks horrible, I'm glad we have it -- it's a win-win ... Zoe gets to roam and play and we have the peace of mind knowing she doesn't have access to dangerous places.  And now I don't have to go chasing after her every 2 minutes.  Before, when I'd go into people's homes who had kids and had all the kid's toys and gear everywhere I never thought I'd have the same thing happen in my home.  I guess it takes you becoming a parent to understand why people "let" their kid's stuff take over their entire home.  Not only is it important to have a safe environment for your child, but it's also important to let your child be a child.  And that can only happen if he/she has toys and uber colorful things to spark their imagination.  Besides, this stage won't last forever.  Eventually, we can take down all the baby proofing stuff and go back to having our house look "normal".  So I'll embrace the kiddy chaos for now and look forward to more peaceful surroundings later =)